Chris Marker
- Directing
- July 29, 1921 · Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France
- July 29, 2012
Biography
Christian François Bouche-Villeneuve, better known as Chris Marker (France, 29 July 1921 – 29 July 2012), was a French writer, poet, activist, critic, photographer, traveler, journalist, film essayist, multimedia artist, and documentary filmmaker. He began his career as part of the French Rive Gauche group—parallel to but distinct from the Nouvelle Vague—with which he would later share certain themes and collaborators. Marker is credited with developing the subjective documentary and is considered a pioneer of collective cinema in France. His films are known for their poetic, essayistic, and often experimental qualities, blending a reflective voice with a fascination for memory, art, war, politics, culture, and nature. Over six decades of work, he observed the world with meticulous curiosity, irony, and compassion, continually experimenting with new forms of image manipulation and montage. He was also famously elusive. For many years, few people knew what Chris Marker looked like—he disliked being photographed, and no confirmed portraits were publicly available. He often amused himself by giving contradictory accounts of his life in the rare interviews he granted. As Philippe Dubois observed, “Chris Marker is, in a way, the most celebrated of the unknown filmmakers.” His official website adds: “Rather than a man without qualities, he is a man without biography.” Marker also worked under numerous pseudonyms, including Hayao Yamaneko, Jacopo Berenzini, Kosinki, Michel Krasna, Sandor Krasna, and Guillaume-en-Égypte (his feline avatar), though his best-known identity remains Chris Marker. Among his most significant works are La Jetée (1962), Sans Soleil (1983), Far from Vietnam (1967), A Grin Without a Cat (1977), A.K. (1985), Level Five (1997), and One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich (1999). He also explored interactive and digital media with the CD-ROM Immemory (1997), maintained a website titled Gorgomancy, a YouTube channel called Kosinki, and created a virtual gallery, Ouvroir, within the online world Second Life.
Known for
Filmography
- L’indispensable · Photos/Extrait
- Nostalgia for the Future · Self
- Ten Lives of a Cat: A Film about Chris Marker · Kaibyō (archive footage)
- The Invention of Chris Marker · Self
- Lluvia de jaulas · Thanks
- The Zone · Short Story
- Chris Marker: Never Explain, Never Complain · Self
- La Jétee · Story
- Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke · Writer
- 20 Little Films · Director
- In Chris Marker's Studio · Self
- iDead · Director
- Kino · Director
- Agnès Varda: From Here to There · Self
- Imagine · Director
- Stopover in Dubai · Director, Editing
- ROYAL POLKA.mov · Director
- Tempo Risoluto · Director, Editing
- Overnight · Director, Writer
- Ouvroir the Movie · Director, Writer
- La Traversée du désir · Self
- The Beaches of Agnès · Self
- The Morning After · Editing, Director
- Henchman Glance · Director
- Pictures at an Exhibition · Director
- Metrotopia · Director, Writer
- Guillaume Movie · Director, Writer
- A Year of TV Seen by Guillaume · Director, Editing
- Leila Attacks · Director, Cinematography
- The Andrei Tarkovsky Companion · Director
- The Case of the Grinning Cat · Director, Writer
- Green Vinyl · Thanks
- Remembrance of Things to Come · Director, Writer
- A Mayor in Kosovo · Director
- Eclipse · Director
- One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich · Self, Director
- Level Five · Self, Director
- Twelve Monkeys · Original Film Writer
- Silent Movie (Edit 2) · Director
- Blue Helmet · Director, Writer
- The Last Bolshevik · Self, Director
- Bullfight in Okinawa · Director
- Three Haiku Videos · Director, Writer
- Owl Gets in Your Eyes · Director
- Tchaïka · Director, Editing
- Petite Ceinture · Director
- Slon Tango · Director
- Prime Time in the Camps · Director
- Theory of Sets · Director, Producer
- Berlin 1990 · Director, Editing
- An Owl Is an Owl Is an Owl · Director
- Zoo Piece · Director
- Berlin 1990 · Director
- Rush - Voyage à Moscou · Self, Director
- Zapping Zone · Director
- Détour Ceausescu · Director, Writer
- The Owl's Legacy · Director, Producer
- Tokyo Days · Self, Director
- Cat Listening to Music · Director
- Havre · Thanks
- Mémoires pour Simone · Director
- Matta '85 · Director
- A. K. · Self, Writer
- Tokyo-Ga · Self
- From Chris to Christo · Director
- 2084: Video Clip for the Trade Unions' Reflection and Pleasure · Director, Writer
- Sans Soleil · Self, Director
- Junkopia · Director, Writer
- The Battle of Chile: Part III · Producer, Other
- When the Century Took Shape (War and Revolution) · Director
- May Days · Self
- A Grin Without a Cat · Writer, Director
- The Spiral · Editing
- The Battle of Chile: Part II · Producer
- The Loneliness of the Long Distance Singer · Director, Editing
- Les Deux mémoires · Editing
- The Embassy · Director, Writer
- You Speak of Chile: What Allende Said · Director
- We Maintain It Is Possible · Director
- Kashima Paradise · Narrator (Voice), Writer