Chris Marker
101 movies · 2 TV shows
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- Jul 29, 1921
- Died
- Jul 29, 2012 (age 91)
- Place of birth
- Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France
- Also known as
- 크리스 마르케 · Крис Маркер · クリス・マルケル · Christian Bouche-Villeneuve
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.
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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.
Profiles IMDb
Known for
Chris Marker: movies and TV shows
Acting (6)
- 2026 L’indispensable
as Photos/Extrait
- 2023 Ten Lives of a Cat: A Film about Chris Marker
as Kaibyō (archive footage)
- 1973 Kashima Paradise
as Narrator (voice)
- 1968
- 1965 The Koumiko Mystery
as Narrator
- 1957 Letter from Siberia
as Stargazer (uncredited)
Behind the camera (109)
- 2019 Lluvia de jaulas
Thanks
- 2017 The Zone
Short Story
- 2013 La Jétee
Story
- 2012
- 2012 20 Little Films
Director
- 2011 iDead
Director
- 2011 Kino
Director
- 2011 Imagine
Director
- 2011 Stopover in Dubai
Director, Editor
- 2011 ROYAL POLKA.mov
Director
- 2011 Tempo Risoluto
Director, Editor
- 2011 Overnight
Director, Writer
- 2010 Ouvroir the Movie
Director, Writer
- 2008 The Morning After
Director, Editor
- 2008 Henchman Glance
Director
- 2008 Pictures at an Exhibition
Director
- 2008 Metrotopia
Director, Writer
- 2008 Guillaume Movie
Director, Writer
- 2007 A Year of TV Seen by Guillaume
Director, Editor
- 2007 Leila Attacks
Director, Director of Photography
- 2007 The Andrei Tarkovsky Companion
Director
- 2006 The Case of the Grinning Cat
Director, Writer, Editor, Music, Cinematography
- 2004 Green Vinyl
Thanks
- 2001 Remembrance of Things to Come
Director, Writer, Music
- 2000 A Mayor in Kosovo
Director
- 1999 Eclipse
Director
- 1999 One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
Director, Writer, Editor, Director of Photography
- 1997 Level Five
Director, Writer, Original Music Composer, Director of Photography
- 1995 Twelve Monkeys
Original Film Writer
- 1995 Silent Movie (Edit 2)
Director
- 1995 Blue Helmet
Director, Writer, Editor
- 1994 The Last Bolshevik
Director, Writer, Editor, Director of Photography
- 1994 Bullfight in Okinawa
Director
- 1994 Three Haiku Videos
Director, Producer, Writer
- 1994 Owl Gets in Your Eyes
Director
- 1994 Tchaïka
Director, Editor
- 1994 Petite Ceinture
Director
- 1993 Prime Time in the Camps
Director
- 1993 Slon Tango
Director
- 1991 Theory of Sets
Director, Producer
- 1990 Berlin 1990
Director, Editor, Writer
- 1990 Berlin 1990
Director
- 1990 An Owl Is an Owl Is an Owl
Director
- 1990 Zoo Piece
Director
- 1990 Rush - Voyage à Moscou
Director
- 1990 Zapping Zone
Director
- 1990 Détour Ceausescu
Director, Writer
- 1989
- 1988 Tokyo Days
Director, Editor, Writer, Director of Photography
- 1988 Cat Listening to Music
Director
- 1986 Havre
Thanks
- 1986 Mémoires pour Simone
Director
- 1985 Matta '85
Director
- 1985 A. K.
Director, Writer, Editor
- 1985 From Chris to Christo
Director
- 1984 2084: Video Clip for the Trade Unions' Reflection and Pleasure
Director, Writer, Editor
- 1983 Sans Soleil
Director, Writer, Music, Director of Photography, Editor, Visual Effects
- 1981 Junkopia
Director, Writer, Original Music Composer, Editor
- 1979 The Battle of Chile: Part III
Producer, Other
- 1978
- 1977 A Grin Without a Cat
Director, Writer, Editor
- 1976 The Spiral
Editor
- 1976 The Battle of Chile: Part II
Producer
- 1974 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Singer
Director, Editor
- 1974 Les Deux mémoires
Editor
- 1973 The Embassy
Director, Writer, Cinematography
- 1973
- 1973 We Maintain It Is Possible
Director
- 1973 Kashima Paradise
Writer
- 1972 Three Cheers for the Whale
Director, Writer, Editor, Sound
- 1971 The Train Rolls On
Director, Writer, Editor
- 1971
- 1971
- 1971
- 1971 Cuba: Battle of the 10,000,000
Director
- 1970 Report on Brazil: Carlos Marighella
Director, Writer, Editor
- 1970 The Confession
Still Photographer
- 1969 Jour de tournage
Director
- 1969 Report on Brazil: Torture
Director, Writer
- 1968 The Sixth Side of the Pentagon
Director, Producer, Director of Photography
- 1968 Cinétracts
Director, Writer
- 1968 Be Seeing You
Director
- 1967 Far from Vietnam
Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
- 1966 If I Had Four Dromedaries
Director, Writer, Editor, Director of Photography
- 1966 The Forbidden Volcano
Writer, Screenplay
- 1965 The Koumiko Mystery
Director, Writer, Director of Photography, Editor
- 1965 The Heat of a Thousand Suns
Editor
- 1964 From a Distant Gaze
Director of Photography
- 1964 Valparaiso
Screenplay
- 1963 The Lovely Month of May
Director, Writer
- 1962 Playtime in Paris
Editor
- 1962 La Jetée
Director, Director of Photography, Screenplay
- 1961 ¡Cuba Sí!
Writer, Screenplay, Director of Photography, Director
- 1960 Description of a Struggle
Director, Writer
- 1960
- 1959 The Astronauts
Director
- 1958 Broadway by Light
Writer
- 1958 The Sea and the Days
Writer
- 1958 Des Hommes Dans Le Ciel
Writer
- 1958 Les hommes de la baleine
Writer
- 1957 Letter from Siberia
Director, Writer
- 1957 The Mystery of Workshop 15
Writer
- 1957 Django Reinhardt
Screenplay
- 1956 Sunday in Peking
Director, Writer, Director of Photography
- 1956 Night and Fog
Assistant Director, Script Editor
- 1953 Statues Also Die
Director, Writer
- 1952 Olympia 52
Director, Writer
- 1950
- 1947 The End of the World Seen by the Angel Gabriel
Director, Writer, Editor, Director of Photography
Talk shows and appearances (10)
- 2026
- 2020
- 2015
- 2011
- 2011
- 2009
- 2008
- 1985
- 1978
- 1962