Chris Marker
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- July 29, 1921
- Died
- July 29, 2012 (aged 91)
- Birthplace
- Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France
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
Photos
Filmography
20 Little Films
Movie · Director
Imagine
Movie · Director
ROYAL POLKA.mov
Movie · Director
Overnight
Movie · Director
Tempo Risoluto
Movie · Director
Stopover in Dubai
Movie · Director
iDead
Movie · Director
Kino
Movie · Director
Ouvroir the Movie
Movie · Director
Guillaume Movie
Movie · Director
The Morning After
Movie · Director
Pictures at an Exhibition
Movie · Director
Metrotopia
Movie · Director
Henchman Glance
Movie · Director
A Year of TV Seen by Guillaume
Movie · Director
Leila Attacks
Movie · Director
The Andrei Tarkovsky Companion
Movie · Director
The Case of the Grinning Cat
Movie · Director
Remembrance of Things to Come
Movie · Director
A Mayor in Kosovo
Movie · Director
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
Movie · Director
Eclipse
Movie · Director
Level Five
Movie · Director
Silent Movie (Edit 2)
Movie · Director
Blue Helmet
Movie · Director
The Last Bolshevik
Movie · Director
Bullfight in Okinawa
Movie · Director
Three Haiku Videos
Movie · Director
Owl Gets in Your Eyes
Movie · Director
Tchaïka
Movie · Director
Petite Ceinture
Movie · Director
Slon Tango
Movie · Director
Prime Time in the Camps
Movie · Director
Theory of Sets
Movie · Director
Rush - Voyage à Moscou
Movie · Director
An Owl Is an Owl Is an Owl
Movie · Director
Zoo Piece
Movie · Director
Berlin 1990
Movie · Director
Zapping Zone
Movie · Director
Détour Ceausescu
Movie · Director
Berlin 1990
Movie · Director
The Owl's Legacy
TV · Director · 13 eps
Cat Listening to Music
Movie · Director
Tokyo Days
Movie · Director
Mémoires pour Simone
Movie · Director
Matta '85
Movie · Director
From Chris to Christo
Movie · Director
A. K.
Movie · Director
2084: Video Clip for the Trade Unions' Reflection and Pleasure
Movie · Director
Sans Soleil
Movie · Director
Junkopia
Movie · Director
When the Century Took Shape (War and Revolution)
Movie · Director
A Grin Without a Cat
Movie · Director
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Singer
Movie · Director
The Embassy
Movie · Director
We Maintain It Is Possible
Movie · Director
You Speak of Chile: What Allende Said
Movie · Director
Three Cheers for the Whale
Movie · Director
The Train Rolls On
Movie · Director
Cuba: Battle of the 10,000,000
Movie · Director
You Speak of Prague: The Second Trial of Artur London
Movie · Director
You Speak of Paris: Maspero. Words Have Meaning
Movie · Director
Report on Brazil: Carlos Marighella
Movie · Director
Report on Brazil: Torture
Movie · Director
Jour de tournage
Movie · Director
The Sixth Side of the Pentagon
Movie · Director
Be Seeing You
Movie · Director
Cinétracts
Movie · Director
Far from Vietnam
Movie · Director
If I Had Four Dromedaries
Movie · Director
The Koumiko Mystery
Movie · Director
The Lovely Month of May
Movie · Director
La Jetée
Movie · Director
¡Cuba Sí!
Movie · Director
Description of a Struggle
Movie · Director
The Astronauts
Movie · Director
Letter from Siberia
Movie · Director
Sunday in Peking
Movie · Director
Night and Fog
Movie · Assistant Director
Statues Also Die
Movie · Director
Olympia 52
Movie · Director
Concours de rêve : La Clé des songes
TV · Director · 6 eps
The End of the World Seen by the Angel Gabriel
Movie · Director