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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.
91
Died at
21
Movies
7.3
Avg Rating
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.
1983
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.
Gender
Male
Birthday
July 29, 1921
Died
July 29, 2012
Birthplace
Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France
Also Known As
A. K.
1985
The Lovely Month of May
1963
Sans Soleil
1983
The Beaches of Agnès
2008
The Koumiko Mystery
1965
Tokyo-Ga
1985
Kashima Paradise
1973
La Traversée du désir
2009
Tokyo Days
1988
Rush - Voyage à Moscou
1990
Agnès Varda: From Here to There
2011
Level Five
1997
Letter from Siberia
1957
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
1999
The Invention of Chris Marker
2020
In Chris Marker's Studio
2011
Chris Marker: Never Explain, Never Complain
2015
Ten Lives of a Cat: A Film about Chris Marker
2023
The Sixth Side of the Pentagon
1968
May Days
1978
+ 1 more movies