
Directing
Born July 29, 1921 · Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France
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.

20 Little Films
2012

iDead
2011

Kino
2011

Imagine
2011

Stopover in Dubai
2011

ROYAL POLKA.mov
2011
Tempo Risoluto
2011

Overnight
2011

Ouvroir the Movie
2010
The Morning After
2008

Henchman Glance
2008

Pictures at an Exhibition
2008

Metrotopia
2008

Guillaume Movie
2008

A Year of TV Seen by Guillaume
2007
Leila Attacks
2007

The Andrei Tarkovsky Companion
2007

The Case of the Grinning Cat
2006

Remembrance of Things to Come
2001

A Mayor in Kosovo
2000

Eclipse
1999

One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
1999

Level Five
1997
Silent Movie (Edit 2)
1995

Blue Helmet
1995

The Last Bolshevik
1994

Bullfight in Okinawa
1994

Three Haiku Videos
1994
Owl Gets in Your Eyes
1994
Tchaïka
1994

Petite Ceinture
1994

Prime Time in the Camps
1993

Slon Tango
1993
Theory of Sets
1991

Berlin 1990
1990
An Owl Is an Owl Is an Owl
1990
Berlin 1990
1990

Zoo Piece
1990

Rush - Voyage à Moscou
1990

Zapping Zone
1990
Détour Ceausescu
1990

Tokyo Days
1988

Cat Listening to Music
1988

Mémoires pour Simone
1986
Matta '85
1985

A. K.
1985

From Chris to Christo
1985

2084: Video Clip for the Trade Unions' Reflection and Pleasure
1984

Sans Soleil
1983

Junkopia
1981

When the Century Took Shape (War and Revolution)
1978

A Grin Without a Cat
1977

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Singer
1974

The Embassy
1973

You Speak of Chile: What Allende Said
1973
We Maintain It Is Possible
1973

Three Cheers for the Whale
1972

The Train Rolls On
1971

You Speak of Prague: The Second Trial of Artur London
1971
You Speak of Paris: Maspero. Words Have Meaning
1971

Cuba: Battle of the 10,000,000
1971

Report on Brazil: Carlos Marighella
1970
Jour de tournage
1969
Report on Brazil: Torture
1969

Class of Struggle
1969

The Sixth Side of the Pentagon
1968

Cinétracts
1968

Be Seeing You
1968

Far from Vietnam
1967

If I Had Four Dromedaries
1966

The Koumiko Mystery
1965

The Lovely Month of May
1963

La Jetée
1962

¡Cuba Sí!
1961

Description of a Struggle
1960

The Astronauts
1959

Letter from Siberia
1957

Sunday in Peking
1956

Statues Also Die
1953

Olympia 52
1952
The End of the World Seen by the Angel Gabriel
1947

Ten Lives of a Cat: A Film about Chris Marker
2023

The Invention of Chris Marker
2020

Chris Marker: Never Explain, Never Complain
2015

In Chris Marker's Studio
2011

Agnès Varda: From Here to There
2011

La Traversée du désir
2009

The Beaches of Agnès
2008

One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
1999

Level Five
1997

Rush - Voyage à Moscou
1990

Tokyo Days
1988

A. K.
1985

Tokyo-Ga
1985

Sans Soleil
1983

May Days
1978

Kashima Paradise
1973

The Sixth Side of the Pentagon
1968

The Koumiko Mystery
1965

The Lovely Month of May
1963

Lumière Award to Chris Marker
1962

Letter from Siberia
1957