Les films de Chris Marker
Tënk is honouring French filmmaker Chris Marker, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday on July 29, 2021. Director, activist, journalist and poet, Chris Marker has left behind a multifaceted oeuvre that examines civilizations as well as the relationship between image and memory. To celebrate this legacy, we have created a special program of 5 films, with one revealed each week throughout the month of August. The documentaries we have chosen were filmed between 1956 and 1992, to best demonstrate the scope of this absolutely indispensable filmmaker’s considerable work.
MARKER THE MYSTERY – THE MOST FAMOUS UNKNOWN FILMMAKER OF ALL TIME by Denys Desjardins, filmmaker and producer*
Chris Marker passed away on July 29, 2012. Some believe that he sagely planned his own departure, dying as he did on his birthday. He had just turned 91. Filmmaker, musician, writer and photographer, Chris Marker was careful to leave behind practically no photographs of himself. To add to the mystery, he made use of multiple pseudonyms.
Christian Villeneuve, Marc Dornier, Palotin Giron, Chris Mayor, Chris Marker, Chris. Marker, Chris and Magic Marker, Christian Marker, Fritz Markassin, T. T. Toukanov, Jacopo Berezini, Boris Villeneuve, Sandor Krasna, Michel Krasna, Dolorès Walfisch, Hayao Yamaneko, Guillaume-en-Egypte, Sergei Murasaki, Kosinki, Christophe Berger, Iterovitch.
The truth is that Chris Marker is a fictional character created by Marker himself to maintain his anonymity. It’s a pseudonym, a kind of doppelgänger, perhaps even the man he would have liked to be.
His real name was Christian Bouche-Villeneuve. While he was born in France, in the suburbs of Paris, some sources believe that he was of Russian-American extraction, probably born in the Mongolian city of Ulaanbaatar before spending part of his childhood in Cuba. Others claim that he was a paratrooper in the US Army and joined the French Resistance during World War II to help liberate France. How can we be sure? Especially considering that Marker himself sowed confusion by feeding false information about himself to the public.
We know that his best-known avatar was Chris Marker: it was his nom de plume, de camera and de producer for the majority of his cinematic works. The name under which he created a robust body of work of over forty films, including several masterpieces, not to mention books, essays, novels and other works. Through his extreme dedication and political engagement, Marker served as a role model, a precursor in the world of experimental and art film. To this day, he stands as a source of inspiration for many filmmakers: a master of writing commentary that was as hard-hitting as it was poetic.
An only child, Marker had no brothers or sisters and had no children. This means that, at the hour of his death, the only inheritance he left was his work: a gift of immeasurable value for the 7th art.
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La jetée
On the Orly pier, a child is struck by the face of a woman who watches a man die. Later, after World War III which has destroyed Paris, the survivors take refuge in the underground passages of Chaillot, where technicians experiment with time travel. Time itself becomes the sole means to survive in this new world. Only the future and the past can save the present …
The Embassy
Fragments of Super 8 films found in an embassy show political refugees organizing their lives in transit in this asylum territory, after a military coup in an unknown country.
The Last Bolshevik
Based on the life and work of the Russian film director Alexander Medvedkin (1900-1989), _The Last Bolshevik_ is a tribute from one filmmaker to another. An archeological expedition into film history that reveals new cinematic treasures, the film prompts a reflection on the relation between art and politics in the former Soviet Union.
Letter from Siberia
In this film-essay, a traveller takes a journey through the vast and mysterious territory of Siberia, recording his observations on its people and places, wildlife and culture.
Sunday in Peking
Chris Marker recounts his childhood dream of visiting the city of Beijing, which he could only admire through books. The viewer is then taken on a journey to the heart of the city, as if experiencing it from the director's brain and eyes.
La jetée
On the Orly pier, a child is struck by the face of a woman who watches a man die. Later, after World War III which has destroyed Paris, the survivors take refuge in the underground passages of Chaillot, where technicians experiment with time travel. Time itself becomes the sole means to survive in this new world. Only the future and the past can save the present …
The Embassy
Fragments of Super 8 films found in an embassy show political refugees organizing their lives in transit in this asylum territory, after a military coup in an unknown country.
The Last Bolshevik
Based on the life and work of the Russian film director Alexander Medvedkin (1900-1989), _The Last Bolshevik_ is a tribute from one filmmaker to another. An archeological expedition into film history that reveals new cinematic treasures, the film prompts a reflection on the relation between art and politics in the former Soviet Union.
Letter from Siberia
In this film-essay, a traveller takes a journey through the vast and mysterious territory of Siberia, recording his observations on its people and places, wildlife and culture.
Sunday in Peking
Chris Marker recounts his childhood dream of visiting the city of Beijing, which he could only admire through books. The viewer is then taken on a journey to the heart of the city, as if experiencing it from the director's brain and eyes.
