The Sixth Side of the Pentagon

On October 21, 1967, over 100,000 protestors gathered in Washington, D.C., for the Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam. It was the largest protest gathering yet, and it brought together a wide cross-section of liberals, radicals, hippies, and Yippies. Che Guevara had been killed in Bolivia only two weeks previously, and, for many, it was the transition from simply marching against the war, to taking direct action to try to stop the 'American war machine.' Norman Mailer wrote about the events in Armies of the Night. French filmmaker Chris ...

When the Century Took Shape (War and Revolution)

In 1978, just after Le fond de l'Air Est Rouge, which mercilessly analyzed the previous ten years of the revolutionary left's momentum until its collapse, Chris Marker made this complementary piece entitled Quand le Siècle a Pris Forme (Guerre et Révolution).

Sans Soleil

A woman narrates the thoughts of a world traveler, meditations on time and memory expressed in words and images from places as far-flung as Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, and San Francisco.

Berliner Ballade

Some months after the fall of the Berlin wall, during the time of federal elections in Germany in 1990, Chris Marker shot this passionate documentary, reflecting the state of the place and its spirit with remarkable acuity.

¡Cuba Sí!

A chronicle of the evolution of the Cuban Revolution, ending with the Bay of Pigs incident and including two interviews with Fidel Castro.

If I Had Four Dromedaries

Composed entirely of still photographs shot by Marker himself over the course of his restless travel through twenty-six countries, If I Had Four Dromedaries stages a probing, at times agitated, search for the meanings of the photographic image, in the form of an extended voiceover conversation and debate between the "amateur photographer" credited with the images and two of his colleagues. Anticipating later writings by Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag (who professed her admiration for the film) If I Had Four Dromedaries reveals Marker's inst...

Three Haiku Videos

A collection of three short 'haiku videos' by Chris Marker. The first haiku, 'Yanka / Tchaika', shows the river Seine passing under a bridge. A bird in flight stays motionless in the air. The second haiku, 'Owl Gets in Your Eyes', shows Catherine Belkhodja smoking a cigarette while a superimposed shot of an owl in flight fades in and out over her face. The third haiku is a tribute to the Lumière brothers. In an homage to their style, Marker documents an event of daily life in only a minute, choosing to film work on the Petite Centure (a P...

Petite Ceinture

A cinematic haiku by Chris Marker.

Tchaïka

A still, highly overexposed shot of a car bridge and the river below. A cinematic haiku by Chris Marker.

Owl Gets in Your Eyes

A cinematic haiku by Chris Marker.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Singer

This documentary chronicles an Yves Montand concert for Chilean refugees in France.

A. K.

An intimate chronicle of the shooting of Ran (1985), a film directed by the legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.

Blue Helmet

A young man, who served as a peacekeeper in Bosnia and Herzegovina for a few months during the war, recounts his experiences. Throughout the film, we only see his face filmed in close-up, along with a few photos. The interview acts as a strong testimony to the failure of the international community in the Yugoslav crisis.

2084: Video Clip for the Trade Unions' Reflection and Pleasure

Filmed on the 100th anniversary of the labour union laws in France, the quasi-science fiction film is set in 2084. A robot moderator helps us look 'back' at the contemporary labour situation and different directions the movement could take.

La Jetée

A man is sent back and forth and in and out of time in an experiment that attempts to unravel the fate and the solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world during the aftermath of WW3. The experiment results in him getting caught up in a perpetual reminiscence of past events that are recreated on an airport’s viewing pier.

Theory of Sets

Made entirely on Roger Wagner's HyperStudio software, Chris Marker explores set theory, using Noah's Ark as an example.

Eclipse

During the solar eclipse of August 11, 1999, Chris Marker documents the French public looking up to the skies, with many of them wearing eclipse glasses.

Metrotopia

A subway jigsaw of Marker's work: PASSENGERS.

An Owl Is an Owl Is an Owl

From Chris Marker's collection Bestiaire aka Petit Bestiaire (1990), consisting of three video haikus.