HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Chris Marker (; 29 July 1921 – 29 July 2012) (born ''Christian-François Bouche-Villeneuve'') was a French writer, photographer, documentary film director,
multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...
artist and film essayist. His best known films are '' La Jetée'' (1962), '' A Grin Without a Cat'' (1977) and ''
Sans Soleil ''Sans Soleil'' (; "Sunless") is a 1983 French documentary film directed by Chris Marker. It is a meditation on the nature of human memory, showing the inability to recall the context and nuances of memory, and how, as a result, the perception of ...
'' (1983). Marker is usually associated with the
Left Bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...
subset of the
French New Wave The New Wave (, ), also called the French New Wave, is a French European art cinema, art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentat ...
that occurred in the late 1950s and 1960s, and included such other filmmakers as
Alain Resnais Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct short films including '' Night and Fog ...
,
Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter and photographer. Varda's work employed location shooting in an era when the limitations of sound technology made it easier ...
and
Jacques Demy Jacques Demy (; 5 June 1931 – 27 October 1990) was a French director, screenwriter and lyricist. He appeared at the height of the French New Wave alongside contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Demy's films are celebrated ...
. His friend and sometime collaborator
Alain Resnais Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct short films including '' Night and Fog ...
called him "the prototype of the twenty-first-century man."Wakeman, John. World Film Directors, Volume 2. The H. W. Wilson Company. 1988. 649–654. Film theorist Roy Armes has said of him: "Marker is unclassifiable because he is unique... French Cinema has its dramatists and its poets, its technicians, and its autobiographers, but only has one true essayist: Chris Marker."


Early life

Marker was born Christian François Bouche-Villeneuve. He was always elusive about his past and known to refuse interviews and not allow photographs to be taken of him; his place of birth is highly disputed. Some sources and Marker himself claim that he was born in
Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...
, Mongolia. Other sources say he was born in
Belleville, Paris Belleville () is a neighbourhood of Paris, France, parts of which lie in four different arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements. The major portion of Belleville straddles the borderline between the 20th arrondissement of Paris, 20th arrondisse ...
, and others, in
Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...
. The 1949 edition of ''Le Cœur Net'' gives his birthday as 22 July. Film critic David Thomson has said, "Marker told me himself that Mongolia is correct. I have since concluded that Belleville is correct—but that does not spoil the spiritual truth of Ulan Bator." When asked about his secretive nature, Marker said, "My films are enough for them he audience" Marker was a philosophy student in France before
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. During the German occupation of France, he joined the Maquis (FTP), a part of the
French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...
. At some point during the war he left France and joined the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
as a paratrooper, although some sources claim that this is not true. After the war, he began a career as a journalist, first writing for the journal '' Esprit'', a neo-Catholic,
Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
magazine where he met fellow journalist
André Bazin André Bazin (; 18 April 1918 – 11 November 1958) was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist. He started to write about movies in 1943 and was a co-founder of the renowned film magazine '' Cahiers du cinéma'' in 1951 ...
. For ''Esprit'', Marker wrote political commentaries, poems, short stories, and film reviews. During this period, Marker began to travel around the world as a journalist and photographer, a vocation he pursued for the rest of his life. The French publishing company
Éditions du Seuil Éditions du Seuil (), also known as Le Seuil, is a French publishing house established in 1935 by Catholic intellectual Jean Plaquevent (1901–1965), and currently owned by La Martinière Groupe. It owes its name to this goal "The ''seuil'' (th ...
hired him as editor of the series ''Petite Planète'' ("Small World"). That collection devoted one edition to each country and included information and photographs, and would later be published in English translation by Studio Vista and The Viking Press. In 1949 Marker published his first novel, ''Le Coeur net'' (''The Forthright Spirit''), which was about aviation. In 1952 Marker published an illustrated essay on French writer
Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; ; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His wo ...
, ''Giraudoux Par Lui-Même''.


Early career (1950–1961)

During his early journalism career, Marker became increasingly interested in filmmaking and in the early 1950s experimented with photography. Around this time Marker met and befriended many members of the Left Bank Film Movement, including
Alain Resnais Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct short films including '' Night and Fog ...
,
Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter and photographer. Varda's work employed location shooting in an era when the limitations of sound technology made it easier ...
, Henri Colpi, Armand Gatti, and the novelists
Marguerite Duras Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) ea ...
and Jean Cayrol. This group is often associated with the
French New Wave The New Wave (, ), also called the French New Wave, is a French European art cinema, art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentat ...
directors who came to prominence during the same time period, and the groups were often friends and journalistic co-workers. The term ''Left Bank'' was first coined by film critic Richard Roud, who described them as having "fondness for a kind of
Bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...
life and an impatience with the conformity of the Right Bank, a high degree of involvement in literature and the
plastic arts Plastic arts are art forms which involve physical manipulation of a ''plastic medium'', such as clay, wax, paint or even plastic in the modern sense of the word (a ductile polymer) to create works of art. The term is used more generally to ...
, and a consequent interest in
experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that does not apply standard cinematic conventions, instead adopting Non-narrative film, non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many e ...
making", as well as an identification with the political
left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...
. Anatole Dauman produced many of Marker's earliest films. In 1952 Marker made his first film, '' Olympia 52'', a 16mm feature documentary about the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games. In 1953 he collaborated with Resnais on the documentary '' Statues Also Die''. The film examines traditional
African art African art encompasses modern and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, and other visual cultures originating from indigenous African diaspora, African communities across the African continent. The definition may also include the ar ...
such as sculptures and masks, and its decline with the coming of Western colonialism. It won the 1954
Prix Jean Vigo The Prix Jean Vigo () is an award in the Cinema of France , French cinema given annually since 1951 to a French film director, in homage to Jean Vigo. Since 1960, the award has been given to both a director of a feature film and to a director of a ...
, but was banned by French censors for its criticism of French colonialism. After working as assistant director on Resnais's '' Night and Fog'' in 1955, Marker made ''Sunday in Peking'', a short documentary " film essay" in the style that characterized Marker's output for most of his career. Marker shot the film in two weeks while traveling through China with Armand Gatti in September 1955. In the film, Marker's commentary overlaps scenes from China, such as tombs that, contrary to Westernized understandings of Chinese legends, do not contain the remains of
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
emperors. After working on the commentary for Resnais's film ''Le mystère de l'atelier quinze'' in 1957, Marker continued to refine his style with the feature documentary ''Letter from Siberia''. An essay film on the narrativization of Siberia, it contains Marker's signature commentary, which takes the form of a letter from the director, in the long tradition of epistolary treatments by French explorers of the "undeveloped" world. ''Letter ''looks at Siberia's movement into the 20th century and at some of the tribal cultural practices receding into the past. It combines footage Marker shot in
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
with old newsreel footage, cartoon sequences, stills, and even an illustration of Alfred E. Neuman from ''
Mad Magazine ''Mad'' (stylized in all caps) is an American humor magazine which was launched in 1952 and currently published by DC Comics, a unit of the DC Entertainment subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. ''Mad'' was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman an ...
'' as well as a fake TV commercial as part of a humorous attack on Western mass culture. In producing a meta-commentary on narrativity and film, Marker uses the same brief filmic sequence three times but with different commentary—the first praising the Soviet Union, the second denouncing it, and the third taking an apparently neutral or "objective" stance. In 1959 Marker made the animated film ''Les Astronautes'' with
Walerian Borowczyk Walerian Borowczyk (21 October 1923 – 3 February 2006) was a Polish film director described by film critics as a "genius who also happened to be a pornographer". He directed 40 films between 1946 and 1988. Borowczyk settled in Paris in 1959. A ...
. The film was a combination of traditional drawings with still photography. In 1960 he made '' Description d'un combat'', (''
Description of a Struggle "Description of a Struggle" () is a short story by Franz Kafka. It contains the dialogues "Conversation with the Supplicant" ("Gespräch mit dem Beter") and "Conversation with the Drunk" ("Gespräch mit dem Betrunkenen"). Origins "Description of ...
'') a documentary on the
State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
that reflects on its past and future. The film won the
Golden Bear The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...
for Best Documentary at the 1961 Berlin Film Festival. In January 1961, Marker travelled to Cuba and shot the film ''¡Cuba Sí!'' The film promotes and defends
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
and includes two interviews with him. It ends with an anti-American epilogue in which the United States is embarrassed by the
Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called or after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in April 1961 by the United States of America and the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front ...
fiasco, and was subsequently banned. The banned essay was included in Marker's first volume of collected film commentaries, ''Commentaires I'', published in 1961. The following year Marker published ''Coréennes'', a collection of photographs and essays on conditions in
Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
.


''La Jetée'' and ''Le Joli Mai'' (1962–1966)

Marker became known internationally for the short film '' La Jetée'' (''The Pier'') in 1962. It tells of a post-nuclear war experiment in
time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...
by using a series of filmed photographs developed as a
photomontage Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. Sometimes the resulting composite image is photographed so that the final imag ...
of varying pace, with limited narration and sound effects. In the film, a survivor of a futuristic third World War is obsessed with distant and disconnected memories of a pier at the
Orly Airport Paris Orly Airport (, ) is one of two international airports serving Paris, France, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly and partially in Villeneuve-le-Roi, south of Paris. It serves as a sec ...
, the image of a mysterious woman, and a man's death. Scientists experimenting in time travel choose him for their studies, and the man travels back in time to contact the mysterious woman, and discovers that the man's death at the Orly Airport was his own. Except for one shot of the woman mentioned above sleeping and suddenly waking up, the film is composed entirely of photographs by Jean Chiabaud and stars Davos Hanich as the man, Hélène Châtelain as the woman and photographer-film director William Klein as a man from the future. While making ''La Jetée'', Marker was simultaneously making the 150-minute documentary essay-film '' Le joli mai'', released in 1963. Beginning in the spring of 1962, Marker and his camera operator Pierre Lhomme shot 55 hours of footage interviewing random people on the streets of Paris. The questions, asked by the unseen Marker, range from their personal lives, as well as social and political issues of relevance at that time. As he had with montages of landscapes and indigenous art, Marker created a film essay that contrasted and juxtaposed a variety of lives with his signature commentary (spoken by Marker's friends, singer-actor
Yves Montand Ivo Livi (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), better known as Yves Montand (), was an Italian-born French actor and singer. He is said to be one of France's greatest 20th-century artists. Early life Montand was born Ivo Livi in Stignano, a ...
in the French version and
Simone Signoret Simone Signoret (; born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker; 25 March 1921 – 30 September 1985) was a French actress. She received various accolades, including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, a César Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and ...
in the English version). The film has been compared to the ''
Cinéma vérité Cinéma vérité (, , ) is a style of documentary filmmaking developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about '' Kino-Pravda''. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or highlight subje ...
'' films of
Jean Rouch Jean Rouch (; 31 May 1917 – 18 February 2004) was a French Filmmaking, filmmaker and anthropologist. He is considered one of the founders of cinéma vérité in France. Rouch's practice as a filmmaker, for over 60 years in Africa, was char ...
, and criticized by its practitioners at the time. The term "Cinéma vérité" was itself anathema to Marker, who never used it. Instead, he preferred his own term "ciné, ma vérité," meaning "cinéma, my truth." It was shown in competition at the 1963
Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
, where it won the award for Best First Work. It also won the Golden Dove Award at the Leipzig DOK Festival. After the documentary ''Le Mystère Koumiko'' in 1965, Marker made ''Si j'avais quatre dromadaires'', an essay-film that, like ''La Jetée'', is a
photomontage Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. Sometimes the resulting composite image is photographed so that the final imag ...
of over 800 photographs Marker had taken over the previous 10 years in 26 countries. The commentary involves a conversation between a fictitious photographer and two friends, who discuss the photos. The film's title is an allusion to a poem by
Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire (; ; born Kostrowicki; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist and art critic of Poland, Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...
. It was the last film in which Marker included "travel footage" for many years.


SLON and ISKRA (1967–1974)

In 1967 Marker published his second volume of collected film essays, ''Commentaires II''. That same year, Marker organized the omnibus film '' Loin du Vietnam'', a protest against the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
with segments contributed by Marker,
Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...
,
Alain Resnais Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct short films including '' Night and Fog ...
,
Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter and photographer. Varda's work employed location shooting in an era when the limitations of sound technology made it easier ...
,
Claude Lelouch Claude Barruck Joseph Lelouch (; born 30 October 1937) is a French film director, writer, cinematographer, actor and producer. Lelouch grew up in an Algerian Jewish family. He emerged as a prominent director in the 1960s. Lelouch gained critical ...
, William Klein, Michele Ray and
Joris Ivens Georg Henri Anton "Joris" Ivens (18 November 1898 – 28 June 1989) was a Dutch documentary filmmaker. Among the notable films he directed or co-directed are '' A Tale of the Wind'', ''The Spanish Earth'', ''Rain'', ''...A Valparaiso'', '' Misèr ...
. The film includes footage of the war, from both sides, as well as anti-war protests in New York and Paris and other anti-war activities. From this initial collection of filmmakers with left-wing political agendas, Marker created the group S.L.O.N. (''Société pour le lancement des oeuvres nouvelles'', "Society for launching new works", but also the Russian word for "elephant"). SLON was a film collective whose objectives were to make films and to encourage industrial workers to create film collectives of their own. Its members included Valerie Mayoux, Jean-Claude Lerner, Alain Adair and John Tooker. Marker is usually credited as director or co-director of all of the films made by SLON. After the events of
May 1968 The following events occurred in May 1968: May 1, 1968 (Wednesday) *In Dallas, at its first meeting since its creation through a merger, the United Methodist Church removed its rule that Methodist ministers could not drink alcohol nor sm ...
, Marker felt a moral obligation to abandon his own personal film career and devote himself to SLON and its activities. SLON's first film was about a strike at a Rhodiacéta factory in France, '' À bientôt, j'espère'' (''Rhodiacéta'') in 1968. Later that year SLON made ''La Sixième face du pentagone'', about an anti-war protest in Washington, D.C., and was a reaction to what SLON considered to be the unfair and censored reportage of such events on mainstream television. The film was shot by
François Reichenbach François Arnold Reichenbach (3 July 1921 – 2 February 1993) was a French film director, cinematographer producer and screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft ...
, who received co-director credit. ''La Bataille des dix millions'' was made in 1970 with Mayoux as co-director and Santiago Álvarez as cameraman and is about the 1970 sugar crop in Cuba and its disastrous effects on the country. In 1971, SLON made ''Le Train en marche'', a new prologue to Soviet filmmaker Aleksandr Medvedkin's 1935 film ''Schastye'', which had recently been re-released in France. In 1974, SLON became I.S.K.R.A. (''Images, Sons, Kinescope, Réalisations, Audiovisuelles'', but also the name of
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
's political newspaper ''
Iskra ''Iskra'' (, , ''the Spark'') was a fortnightly political newspaper of Russian socialist emigrants established as the official organ of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). History ''Iskra'' was published in exile and then smuggl ...
,'' which also is a Russian word for "spark").


Return to personal work (1974–1986)

In 1974 Marker returned to his personal work and made a film outside of ISKRA. ''La Solitude du chanteur de fond'' is a one-hour documentary about Marker's friend
Yves Montand Ivo Livi (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), better known as Yves Montand (), was an Italian-born French actor and singer. He is said to be one of France's greatest 20th-century artists. Early life Montand was born Ivo Livi in Stignano, a ...
's benefit concert for Chilean refugees. The concert was Montand's first public performance in four years, and the documentary includes film clips from his long career as a singer and actor. Marker had been working on a film about
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
with ISKRA since 1973. Marker had collaborated with Belgian sociologist Armand Mattelart and ISKRA members Valérie Mayoux and Jacqueline Meppiel to shoot and collect the visual materials, which Marker then edited together and provided the commentary for. The resulting film was the two and a half-hour documentary ''La Spirale'', released in 1975. The film chronicles events in Chile, beginning with the 1970 election of socialist President
Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his death in 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 1973. As a ...
until his
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
and the resulting coup in 1973. Marker then began work on one of his most ambitious films, '' A Grin Without a Cat'', released in 1977. The film's title refers to the
Cheshire Cat The Cheshire Cat ( ) is a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll in ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and known for its distinctive mischievous grin. While now most often used in ''Alice''-related contexts, the association of a "Chesh ...
from ''
Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...
''. The metaphor compares the promise of the global socialist movement before
May 1968 The following events occurred in May 1968: May 1, 1968 (Wednesday) *In Dallas, at its first meeting since its creation through a merger, the United Methodist Church removed its rule that Methodist ministers could not drink alcohol nor sm ...
(the grin) with its actual presence in the world after May 1968 (the cat). The film's original French title is ''Le fond de l'air est rouge'', which means "the air is essentially red", or "revolution is in the air", implying that the socialist movement was everywhere around the world. The film was intended to be an all-encompassing portrait of political movements since May 1968, a summation of the work which he had taken part in for ten years. The film is divided into two parts: the first half focuses on the hopes and idealism before May 1968, and the second half on the disillusion and disappointments since those events. Marker begins the film with the Odessa Steps sequence from
Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein; (11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, film editor and film theorist. Considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he was a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is no ...
's film ''
The Battleship Potemkin '' Battleship Potemkin'' (, ), sometimes rendered as ''Battleship Potyomkin'', is a 1925 Soviet silent epic film produced by Mosfilm. Directed and co-written by Sergei Eisenstein, it presents a dramatization of the mutiny that occurred in 1905 ...
'', which Marker points out is a fictitious creation of Eisenstein which has still influenced the image of the historical event. Marker used very little commentary in this film, but the film's montage structure and preoccupation with memory make it a Marker film. Upon release, the film was criticized for not addressing many current issues of the New Left such as the woman's movement, sexual liberation and worker self-management. The film was re-released in the US in 2002. In the late 1970s, Marker traveled extensively throughout the world, including an extended period in Japan. From this inspiration, he first published the
photo-essay A photographic essay or photo-essay for short is a form of visual storytelling, a way to present a narrative through a series of images. A photo essay delivers a story using a series of photographs and brings the viewer along a narrative journey. ...
''Le Dépays'' in 1982, and then used the experience for his next film ''
Sans Soleil ''Sans Soleil'' (; "Sunless") is a 1983 French documentary film directed by Chris Marker. It is a meditation on the nature of human memory, showing the inability to recall the context and nuances of memory, and how, as a result, the perception of ...
'', released in 1982. ''
Sans Soleil ''Sans Soleil'' (; "Sunless") is a 1983 French documentary film directed by Chris Marker. It is a meditation on the nature of human memory, showing the inability to recall the context and nuances of memory, and how, as a result, the perception of ...
'' stretches the limits of what could be called a documentary. It is an essay, a montage, mixing pieces of documentary with fiction and philosophical comments, creating an atmosphere of
dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...
and science fiction. The main themes are Japan, Africa,
memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembe ...
and travel. A sequence in the middle of the film takes place in San Francisco, and heavily references
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
's ''
Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...
''. Marker has said that ''Vertigo'' is the only film "capable of portraying impossible memory, insane memory." The film's commentary are credited to the fictitious cameraman Sandor Krasna, and read in the form of letters by an unnamed woman. Though centered around Japan, the film was also shot in such other countries as Guinea Bissau, Ireland and
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
. ''Sans Soleil'' was shown at the 1983 Berlin Film Festival where it won the OCIC Award. It was also awarded the Sutherland Trophy at the 1983
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
Awards. In 1984, Marker was invited by producer
Serge Silberman Serge Silberman (1 May 1917 – 22 July 2003) was a French film producer known for his collaborations with several major European and Japanese filmmakers, including Luis Buñuel, Akira Kurosawa, Jean-Pierre Melville, René Clément, Jacques Becker, ...
to document the making of
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...
's film '' Ran''. From this Marker made '' A.K.'', released in 1985. The film focuses more on Kurosawa's remote but polite personality than on the making of the film. The film was screened in the
Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...
section at the
1985 Cannes Film Festival The 38th Cannes Film Festival took place from 8 to 20 May 1985. Czechoslovakian filmmaker Miloš Forman served as jury president for the main competition. Yugoslavian filmmaker Emir Kusturica won the ''Palme d'Or'', the festival's top prize, for t ...
, before ''Ran'' itself had been released. In 1985, Marker's long-time friend and neighbor
Simone Signoret Simone Signoret (; born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker; 25 March 1921 – 30 September 1985) was a French actress. She received various accolades, including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, a César Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and ...
died of cancer. Marker then made the one-hour TV documentary ''Mémoires pour Simone'' as a tribute to her in 1986.


Multimedia and later career (1987–2012)

Beginning with ''Sans Soleil'', Marker developed a deep interest in
digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...
technology. From 1985 to 1988, he worked on a conversational program (a prototypical chatbot) called "Dialector," which he wrote in
Applesoft BASIC Applesoft BASIC is a dialect of Microsoft BASIC, developed by Marc McDonald and Ric Weiland, supplied with Apple II computers. It supersedes Integer BASIC and is the BASIC in Read-only memory, ROM in all Apple II series computers after the ori ...
on an
Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...
. He incorporated audiovisual elements in addition to the snippets of dialogue and poetry that "Computer" exchanged with the user. Version 6 of this program was revived from a floppy disk (with Marker's help and permission) and emulated online in 2015. His interests in digital technology also led to his film '' Level Five'' (1996) and ''Immemory'' (1998, 2008), an interactive multimedia CD-ROM, produced for the Centre Pompidou (French language version) and from Exact Change (English version). Marker created a 19-minute multimedia piece in 2005 for the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
in New York City titled ''Owls at Noon Prelude: The Hollow Men'' which was influenced by
T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...
's
poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
. Marker lived in Paris, and very rarely granted interviews. One exception was a lengthy interview with ''
Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...
'' in 2003 in which he explained his approach to filmmaking. When asked for a picture of himself, he usually offered a photograph of a cat instead. (Marker was represented in Agnes Varda's 2008 documentary ''The Beaches of Agnes'' by a cartoon drawing of a cat, speaking in a technologically altered voice.) Marker's own cat was named ''Guillaume-en-égypte''. In 2009, Marker commissioned an Avatar of Guillaume-en-Egypte to represent him in
machinima Machinima () is the use of Real-time computing, real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. The word "Machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''machine'' and ''Film, cinema''. According to Guinness World Records, ma ...
works. The avatar was created by Exosius Woolley and first appeared in the short film / machinima, ''Ouvroir the Movie by Chris Marker''. In the 2007
Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of arthouse film distributo ...
release of ''La Jetée'' and ''Sans Soleil'', Marker included a short essay, "Working on a Shoestring Budget". He confessed to shooting all of ''Sans Soleil'' with a silent film camera, and recording all the audio on a primitive
audio cassette The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...
recorder. Marker also reminds the reader that only one short scene in ''La Jetée'' is of a moving image, as Marker could only borrow a movie camera for one afternoon while working on the film. From 2007 through 2011 Marker collaborated with the art dealer and publisher Peter Blum on a variety of projects that were exhibited at the Peter Blum galleries in New York City's Soho and Chelsea neighborhoods. Marker's works were also exhibited at the Peter Blum Gallery on 57th Street in 2014. These projects include several series of printed photographs titled ''PASSENGERS'', ''Koreans'', ''Crush Art'', ''Quelle heure est-elle?'', and ''Staring Back''; a set of photogravures titled ''After Dürer''; a book, ''PASSENGERS''; and digital prints of movie posters, whose titles were often appropriated, including ''Breathless'', ''Hiroshima Mon Amour'', ''Owl People'', and ''Rin Tin Tin''. The video installations ''Silent Movie'' and ''Owls at Noon Prelude: The Hollow Men'' were exhibited at Peter Blum in 2009. These works were also exhibited at the 2014 & 2015 Venice Biennale, Whitechapel Gallery in London, the MIT List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, the Moscow Photobiennale, Les Recontres d'Arles de la Photographie in Arles, France, the Centre de la Photographie in Geneva, Switzerland, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, California. Since 2014 the artworks of the Estate of Chris Marker are represented by Peter Blum Gallery, New York. Marker died on 29 July 2012, his 91st birthday.


Legacy

''La Jetée'' was the inspiration for
Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of acclaimed anime films, including ''Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer'' (1984), ''Angel's Egg'' (1985), '' ...
's 1987 debut live action feature '' The Red Spectacles'' (and later for parts of Oshii's 2001 film ''
Avalon Avalon () is an island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' as a place of magic where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was made and later where Arthur was taken to recove ...
'') and also inspired
Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam ( ; born 22 November 1940) is an American-British filmmaker, comedian, collage film, collage animator, and actor. He gained stardom as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe alongside John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Pa ...
's ''
12 Monkeys ''12 Monkeys'' is a 1995 American Science fiction film, science fiction thriller film directed by Terry Gilliam from a screenplay by David Peoples and Janet Peoples, based on Chris Marker's 1962 short film ''La Jetée''. It stars Bruce Willis, M ...
'',
Christopher Nolan Sir Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British and American filmmaker. Known for his Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters with complex storytelling, he is considered a leading filmma ...
's " Memento", (1995) and
Jonás Cuarón Jonás Cuarón Elizondo (born 1981) is a Mexican film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer, Film editor, editor and cinematographer. He is the son of the Academy Award-winner Alfonso Cuarón and his first wife, Mariana Elizondo. Cua ...
's '' Year of the Nail'' (2007) as well as many of
Mira Nair Mira Nair (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian-American filmmaker based in New York City. Her production company is Mirabai Films. Among her films are '' Mississippi Masala'', '' The Namesake'', the Golden Lion–winning '' Monsoon Wedding'', ...
's shots in her 2006 film '' The Namesake''.


Works


Filmography

*'' Olympia 52'' (1952) *'' Statues Also Die'' (1953 with
Alain Resnais Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct short films including '' Night and Fog ...
) *'' Sunday in Peking'' (1956) *'' Lettre de Sibérie'' (1957) *''Les Astronautes'' (1959 with
Walerian Borowczyk Walerian Borowczyk (21 October 1923 – 3 February 2006) was a Polish film director described by film critics as a "genius who also happened to be a pornographer". He directed 40 films between 1946 and 1988. Borowczyk settled in Paris in 1959. A ...
) *'' Description d'un combat'' (1960) *''¡Cuba Sí!'' (1961) *'' La Jetée'' (1962) *'' Le Joli Mai'' (1963, 2006 re-cut) *''Le Mystère Koumiko'' (1965) *''Si j'avais quatre dromadaires'' (1966) *'' Loin du Vietnam'' (1967) *''Rhodiacéta'' (1967) *'' La Sixième face du pentagone'' (1968 with Reichenbach) *''Cinétracts'' (1968) *'' À bientôt, j'espère'' (1968 with Marret) *''On vous parle du Brésil: Tortures'' (1969) *''Jour de tournage'' (1969) *''Classe de lutte'' (1969) *''On vous parle de Paris: Maspero, les mots ont un sens'' (1970) *''On vous parle du Brésil: Carlos Marighela'' (1970) *''La Bataille des dix millions'' (1971) *''Le Train en marche'' (1971) *''On vous parle de Prague: le deuxième procès d'Artur London'' (1971) *''Vive la baleine'' (1972) *''L'Ambassade'' (1973) *''On vous parle du Chili: ce que disait Allende'' (1973 with
Miguel Littín Miguel Ernesto Littin Cucumides (born 9 August 1942) is a Chilean film director, screenwriter, film producer and novelist. He was born in Palmilla, Colchagua Valley. CHILE. Career Miguel Littin directed ''Jackal of Nahueltoro, El Chacal de Nahu ...
) *''Puisqu'on vous dit que c'est possible'' (1974) *''La Solitude du chanteur de fond'' (1974) *''La Spirale'' (1975) *'' A Grin Without a Cat'' (1977) *''Quand le siècle a pris formes'' (1978) *''Junkopia'' (1981) *''
Sans Soleil ''Sans Soleil'' (; "Sunless") is a 1983 French documentary film directed by Chris Marker. It is a meditation on the nature of human memory, showing the inability to recall the context and nuances of memory, and how, as a result, the perception of ...
'' (1983) *''2084'' (1984) *''From Chris to Christo'' (1985) *''Matta'' (1985) *'' A.K.'' (1985) *''Eclats'' (1986) *''Mémoires pour Simone'' (1986) *''Tokyo Days'' (1988) *''Spectre'' (1988) *'' The Owl's Legacy'' (''L'héritage de la chouette'') (1989) *''Bestiaire'' (three short video haiku) (1990) **''Bestiaire 1. Chat écoutant la musique'' **''Bestiaire 2. An owl is An owl is an owl'' **''Bestiaire 3. Zoo Piece'' *'' Getting away with it'' (1990) *''Berlin 1990'' (1990) *''Détour Ceausescu'' (1991) *''Théorie des ensembles'' (1991) *''Coin fenêtre'' (1992) *''Azulmoon'' (1992) *'' Le Tombeau d'Alexandre'' a.k.a. ''The Last Bolshevik'' (1992) *''Le 20 heurs dans les camps'' (1993) *''Prime Time in the Camps'' (1993) *''SLON Tango'' (1993) *''Bullfight in Okinawa'' (1994) *''Eclipse'' (1994) *''Haiku'' (1994) **''Haiku 1. Petite Ceinture'' **''Haiku 2. Chaika'' **''Haiku 3. Owl Gets in Your Eyes'' *''Casque bleu'' (1995) *''Silent Movie'' (1995) *'' Level Five'' (1997) *'' One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich'' (2000) *''Un maire au Kosovo'' (2000) *''Le Facteur sonne toujours cheval'' (2001) *''Avril inquiet'' (2001) *''Le Souvenir d'un avenir'' (with Bellon 2003) *'' Chats Perchés'' (2004) a documentary about M. Chat
street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant gr ...
*''Leila Attacks'' (2006) *'' Stopover in Dubai'' (2011)


Film collaborations

*'' Nuit et Brouillard'' (Resnais 1955) **Note: In a 1995 interview Resnais states that the final version of the commentary was a collaboration between Marker and Jean Cayrol (source: ''Film Comment''). *''Toute la mémoire du monde'' (Resnais 1956) **Note: Credited as "Chris and Magic Marker." *''Les hommes de la baleine'' (Ruspoli 1956) **Note: under the pseudonym "Jacopo Berenizi" Marker wrote the commentary for this short about whale hunters in the Azores. The two would return to this topic in 1972's Vive la Baleine (''Film Comment''). *''Broadway by Light'' (Klein 1957) **Note: Marker wrote the introductory text to this film. *''Le mystere de l'atelier quinze'' (Resnais et Heinrich 1957) **Note: Marker wrote the commentary for this fictional short (''Film Comment''). *''Le Siècle a soif'' (Vogel 1958) **Note: Marker wrote and spoke all the commentary for this short film about fruit juice in Alexandrine verse (''Film Comment''). *''La Mer et les jours'' (Vogel et Kaminker 1958) **Note: Marker present commentary for this "somber work about the daily lives of fishermen on Brittany's Île de Sein" (''Film Comment''). *'' L'Amérique insolite'' (Reichenbach 1958) **Note: Marker was eventually credited as a writer for this one, apparently, he wrote the dialogue (''Film Comment''). *''Django Reinhardt'' (Paviot 1959) **Note: Marker narrated this one (''Film Comment''). *''Jouer à Paris'' (Varlin 1962) **Note: This was edited by Marker essentially, this film is a 27-minute postscript to ''Le Joli Mai'' assembled from leftover footage and organized around a new commentary (''Film Comment''). *''A Valparaiso'' (Ivens 1963) **Note: This gem was written by Marker. It feels like a Marker film. *''Les Chemins de la fortune'' (Kassovitz 1964) **Note: Marker apparently helped edit and organise this Venezuela travelogue (''Film Comment''). *''La Douceur du village'' (Reichenbach 1964) **Note: Edited by Marker. *''La Brûlure de mille soleils'' (Kast 1964) **Note: Marker edited this (mostly) animated science-fiction existentialist short and (possibly) collaborated on the script (''Film Comment''). *'' Le volcan interdit'' (Tazieff 1966) **Note: Marker narrates this volcano documentary. *''Europort-Rotterdam'' (Ivens 1966) **Note: Marker did the textual adaptation (Film Comment. *''On vous parle de Flins'' (Devart 1970) **Note: Marker helped film and edit this short (Film Comment). *''L'Afrique express'' (Tessier et Lang 1970) **Note: Marker wrote the introductory text for this film under the name "Boris Villeneuve" (''Film Comment''). *''Congo Oyé (We Have Come Back)'' (Stephens and Cleaver 1971) **Note: Marker edited this film *''Kashima Paradise'' (Le Masson et Deswarte 1974) **Note: Marker collaborated on the commentary on this documentary about the destruction of Kashima and Narita (Film Comment). *''La Batalla de Chile'' (Guzman, 1975–1976) **Note: Marker helped produce and contributed to the screenplay for this, perhaps the greatest of all documentary films (''Film Comment''). *''One Sister and Many Brothers'' (Makavejev 1994) **Note: Marker tapes Makavejev circulating among the guests of a party in his honor as much jovial backslapping abounds (''Film comment'').


Photographic series

* ''Koreans'' (1957, printed in 2009) * ''Crush Art'' (2003–2008) * ''"Quelle heure est-elle?"'' (2004–2008) * ''PASSENGERS'' (2008–2010) * ''Staring Back'' (varying years)


Digital prints

* ''Breathless'' (1995, printed 2009) * ''Hiroshima Mon Amour'' (1995, printed 2009) * ''Owl People'' (1995, printed 2009) * ''Rin Tin Tin'' (1995, printed 2009)


Photogravures

* ''After Dürer'' (2005–07, printed in 2009)


Video installations

* ''Silent Movie'' (1995) * ''Owls at Noon Prelude: The Hollow Men'' (2005)


Bibliography (self-contained works by Marker)

*''Le Cœur Net'' (1949, Editions du Seuil, Paris) *''Giraudoux Par Lui-Même'' (1952, Editions du Seuil, Paris) *''Commentaires I'' (1961, Editions du Seuil, Paris) *''Coréennes'' (1962, Editions du Seuil, Paris) *''Commentaires II'' (1967, Editions du Seuil, Paris) *''Le Dépays'' (1982, Editions Herscher, Paris) *''Silent Movie'' (1995, Ohio State University Press) *''La Jetée ciné-roman'' (1996 / 2nd printing 2008, MIT Press, Cambridge; designed by Bruce Mau) *''Staring Back'' (2007, MIT Press, Cambridge) *''Immemory'' (CDROM) (1997 / 2nd printing 2008, Exact Change, Cambridge) *''Inner Time of Television'' (2010, The Otolith Group, London)


References


External links


Chris Marker: Notes from the Era of Imperfect Memory
A site, blog and search engine exploring all aspects of the work of Chris Marker
Chris Marker: Plongée en imméroire (French)
The most up-to-date site on Chris Marker's work *

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110121123131/http://eai.org/artistBio.htm?id=317 EAI: Chris Marker Biographyand list o
video works
by the artist.

via UC Berkeley Media Resources Center
Marker's book of photographs and essays: Staring Back Filmmaker As Socialist Anthologist
by Williams Cole, ''The Brooklyn Rail'', May 2009 Issue
Literature on Chris Marker

Chris Marker and the Audiovisual Archive
Oliver Mayer, ''Scope'' 20
Chris Marker
Fundació Antoni Tàpies
A grin without a cat
ISKRA films {{DEFAULTSORT:Marker, Chris 1921 births 2012 deaths Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery French documentary film directors French experimental filmmakers French animators French animated film directors French Marxists French Resistance members Lycée Pasteur (Neuilly-sur-Seine) alumni French multimedia artists Film people from Neuilly-sur-Seine Collage filmmakers Counterculture of the 1960s