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La Jetee (1962)
Written & Directed by Chris Marker
Starring Étienne Becker, Jean Négroni and Hélène Chatelain
Winner of Jean Vigo Prize 1963
Winner of GIFF WIFF Prize 1963
Winner of Grand Prize at Trieste Science-Fiction Festival 1963
Earth lies ruined in the aftermath of nuclear war. Memory becomes mankind’s only hope for survival. A prisoner is chosen to travel through time because of a haunting childhood memory, involving a woman and a murder. He first travels through the past, then through the future.
He meets the people of the future, who too travel through time… He asks to be sent back to the time of this childhood memory, only there does he finally understand none can escape time… A strangely wonderful short film with many memorable images that was the inspiration for Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys.
Sans Soleil (1983)
Directed by Chris Marker
Starring Florence Delay, Arielle Dombasle and Riyoko Ikeda
Winner of B.F.I. Award 1983
A woman narrates the thoughts of a world travelling cameraman. Through a series of his letters comes an analysis of many places he has visited – Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, San Francisco and Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Sans Soleil is a stylish meditation on time and memory expressed in both words and images.
Innovative, stunning visuals and outstanding editing.
RRP: £15.99
About the Director:
Chris Marker, a cinematic essayist and audio-visual poet, was one of the most innovative filmmakers to emerge during the postwar era. Working primarily in the arena of nonfiction, Marker rejected conventional narrative techniques, instead staking out a deeply political terrain defined by the use of still images, atmospheric soundtracks, and literate commentary.
Born Christian François Bouche-Villeneuve on July 29, 1921, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the intensely private and enigmatic Marker mounted a career as a writer and critic before creating his first short feature Olympia 52 in 1952.
His first widely acclaimed effort was 1953’s Les Statues Meurent Aussi, filmed with the assistance of frequent collaborator Alain Resnais.
Marker’s most famed film was not a documentary, but a work of science fiction: the 1962 masterpiece La Jetée. A time-travel parable consisting almost completely of still images and voice-over narration, the 30-minute work later served as the inspiration behind Terry Gilliam’s 1995 feature 12 Monkeys.
In 1982 Marker wrote and directed the superb Sans Soleil — a wry and complex global travelogue inspired by a series of letters which has been acclaimed as one of his best works.
During the 1980’s Marker’s work became more and more dominated by developing technology. Always the innovator, he worked increasingly on video, also experimenting with television, computers, and other multimedia outlets.
In 1997, he returned to feature filmmaking with Level Five.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.