Chris Marker
Directing
Born: July 29, 1921 · Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France
Died: July 29, 2012 (aged 91)
Highest Rated
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
Twelve Monkeys
1995
La Jetée
1962
Night and Fog
1956
Sans Soleil
1983
The Confession
1970
The Beaches of Agnès
2008
Tokyo-Ga
1985
Valparaiso
1964
Statues Also Die
1953
The Astronauts
1959
Junkopia
1981
The Battle of Chile: Part II
1976
Photos (12)
Movies (6)
Self / Appearances (17)
A. K.
Self - Narrator (voice)
The Beaches of Agnès
Self (archive footage)
Sans Soleil
Self (uncredited)
Nostalgia for the Future
Self (Archive footage)
Tokyo-Ga
Self (uncredited)
The Lovely Month of May
Self / Interviewer (voice)
Rush - Voyage à Moscou
Self
La Traversée du désir
Self
Agnès Varda: From Here to There
Self
The Invention of Chris Marker
Self
Tokyo Days
Self (voice) (uncredited)
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
Self (voice) (uncredited)
Level Five
Self (voice) (uncredited)
Lumière Award to Chris Marker
Self
Chris Marker: Never Explain, Never Complain
Self (archive footage)
In Chris Marker's Studio
Self
May Days
Self
Directing (66)
Night and Fog
Assistant Director
La Jetée
Director
Be Seeing You
Director
A. K.
Director
Three Cheers for the Whale
Director
The Koumiko Mystery
Director
The Owl's Legacy
Director
Sans Soleil
Director
The Lovely Month of May
Director
The Case of the Grinning Cat
Director
Rush - Voyage à Moscou
Director
Berlin 1990
Director
Report on Brazil: Carlos Marighella
Director
20 Little Films
Director
Far from Vietnam
Director
Guillaume Movie
Director
Statues Also Die
Director
The Embassy
Director
Sunday in Peking
Director
A Grin Without a Cat
Director
The Train Rolls On
Director
Remembrance of Things to Come
Director
Eclipse
Director
Petite Ceinture
Director
Concours de rêve : La Clé des songes
Director
Tokyo Days
Director
Olympia 52
Director
Overnight
Director
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Singer
Director
Blue Helmet
Director
Imagine
Director
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
Director
When the Century Took Shape (War and Revolution)
Director
Zoo Piece
Director
You Speak of Chile: What Allende Said
Director
Metrotopia
Director
The Last Bolshevik
Director
From Chris to Christo
Director
Level Five
Director
Kino
Director
The Andrei Tarkovsky Companion
Director
Three Haiku Videos
Director
Junkopia
Director
Cuba: Battle of the 10,000,000
Director
Slon Tango
Director
A Year of TV Seen by Guillaume
Director
Cat Listening to Music
Director
Cinétracts
Director
You Speak of Prague: The Second Trial of Artur London
Director
The Astronauts
Director
Description of a Struggle
Director
Letter from Siberia
Director
¡Cuba Sí!
Director
A Mayor in Kosovo
Director
Henchman Glance
Director
Stopover in Dubai
Director
iDead
Director
Prime Time in the Camps
Director
2084: Video Clip for the Trade Unions' Reflection and Pleasure
Director
If I Had Four Dromedaries
Director
Mémoires pour Simone
Director
Pictures at an Exhibition
Director
The Sixth Side of the Pentagon
Director
Bullfight in Okinawa
Director
ROYAL POLKA.mov
Director
Ouvroir the Movie
Director
Writing (51)
Twelve Monkeys
Original Film Writer
Night and Fog
Script Editor
Django Reinhardt
Screenplay
La Jetée
Screenplay
A. K.
Writer
Three Cheers for the Whale
Writer
The Koumiko Mystery
Writer
The Owl's Legacy
Writer
Sans Soleil
Writer
Valparaiso
Screenplay
The Lovely Month of May
Writer
The Case of the Grinning Cat
Writer
Berlin 1990
Writer
Report on Brazil: Carlos Marighella
Writer
Les hommes de la baleine
Writer
Far from Vietnam
Writer
Guillaume Movie
Writer
The Mystery of Workshop 15
Writer
Statues Also Die
Writer
America as Seen by a Frenchman
Writer
The Embassy
Writer
Sunday in Peking
Writer
A Grin Without a Cat
Writer
The Train Rolls On
Writer
Remembrance of Things to Come
Writer
Concours de rêve : La Clé des songes
Writer
Tokyo Days
Writer
Broadway by Light
Writer
The Battle of Chile: Part III
Other
Olympia 52
Writer
Overnight
Writer
Des Hommes Dans Le Ciel
Writer
Blue Helmet
Writer
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
Writer
Metrotopia
Writer
The Last Bolshevik
Writer
Level Five
Writer
Three Haiku Videos
Writer
Junkopia
Writer
Cinétracts
Writer
Description of a Struggle
Writer
Letter from Siberia
Writer
¡Cuba Sí!
Writer
¡Cuba Sí!
Screenplay
2084: Video Clip for the Trade Unions' Reflection and Pleasure
Writer
If I Had Four Dromedaries
Writer
The Sea and the Days
Writer
The Zone
Short Story
Ouvroir the Movie
Writer
Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke
Writer
Kashima Paradise
Writer
Producing (6)
Other Crew (52)
La Jetée
Director of Photography
A. K.
Editor
Three Cheers for the Whale
Editor
Three Cheers for the Whale
Sound
The Koumiko Mystery
Director of Photography
The Koumiko Mystery
Editor
The Owl's Legacy
Creator
Sans Soleil
Music
Sans Soleil
Director of Photography
Sans Soleil
Editor
Sans Soleil
Visual Effects
The Confession
Still Photographer
The Spiral
Editor
Green Vinyl
Thanks
The Case of the Grinning Cat
Editor
The Case of the Grinning Cat
Music
The Case of the Grinning Cat
Cinematography
Berlin 1990
Editor
Report on Brazil: Carlos Marighella
Editor
Havre
Thanks
Lluvia de jaulas
Thanks
Far from Vietnam
Editor
The Embassy
Cinematography
Les Deux mémoires
Editor
Playtime in Paris
Editor
Sunday in Peking
Director of Photography
A Grin Without a Cat
Editor
The Train Rolls On
Editor
Remembrance of Things to Come
Music
Concours de rêve : La Clé des songes
Creator
Tokyo Days
Editor
Tokyo Days
Director of Photography
From a Distant Gaze
Director of Photography
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Singer
Editor
Blue Helmet
Editor
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
Editor
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
Director of Photography
The Last Bolshevik
Editor
The Last Bolshevik
Director of Photography
Level Five
Original Music Composer
Level Five
Director of Photography
Junkopia
Original Music Composer
Junkopia
Editor
A Year of TV Seen by Guillaume
Editor
Congo Oyé (We Have Come Back)
Editor
The Heat of a Thousand Suns
Editor
¡Cuba Sí!
Director of Photography
Stopover in Dubai
Editor
2084: Video Clip for the Trade Unions' Reflection and Pleasure
Editor
If I Had Four Dromedaries
Editor
If I Had Four Dromedaries
Director of Photography
The Sixth Side of the Pentagon
Director of Photography