Chris Marker

Christian François BoucheVilleneuve 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 groupparallel to but distinct from the Nouvelle Vaguewith 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 likehe 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 GuillaumeenÉgypte his feline avatar though his bestknown 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 AK 1985 Level Five 1997 and One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich 1999 He also explored interactive and digital media with the CDROM Immemory 1997 maintained a website titled Gorgomancy a YouTube channel called Kosinki and created a virtual gallery Ouvroir within the online world Second Life