Chris Marker
Chris Marker is known for La Jetée (1962), Sans Soleil (1983), The Beaches of Agnès (2008).
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.
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.
Questions about Chris Marker
How many Chris Marker films are in the catalogue?
The CineQuiz catalogue has 48 films with Chris Marker, from 1953 to 2026.
What is the best rated Chris Marker film?
The best rated Chris Marker film in the catalogue is La Jetée (1962), rated 7.9.
What was the first Chris Marker film?
The first Chris Marker film in the catalogue is Statues Also Die, from 1953.
Who has Chris Marker worked with the most?
In the catalogue, Chris Marker shares the most credits with Anatole Dauman (3 films), Jean Négroni (2 films) and Jean Ravel (2 films).
People data: TMDb.
- Awards
- César Award for Best Documentary Short Film (1983) · Sutherland Trophy (1983) · Louis Delluc Prize (1958)
- Nominations
- Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (1996) · César Award for Best Documentary Short Film (1983) · César Award for Best Editing (1978)
Known for
Trivia
- Also works as
- film producer · film critic · film director · photographer · screenwriter · film editor · television producer · multimedia artist · journalist · cinematographer · teacher · poet · writer · documentarian · video artist · new media artist · director
- Studied at
- Lycée Pasteur
Trivia from Wikidata, licensed CC0.
Full filmography
57 films — 48 in the catalogue
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L’indispensable
2026 · Photos/Extrait
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Nostalgia for the Future
2026 · Self (Archive footage)
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Ten Lives of a Cat: A Film about Chris Marker
2023 · Kaibyō (archive footage)
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The Invention of Chris Marker
2020 · Self
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Chris Marker: Never Explain, Never Complain
2015 · Self (archive footage)
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6.4 Dans l'atelier de Chris Marker
2011 · Self
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7.6 Agnès Varda: From Here to There
2011 · Self
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5.7 La Traversée du désir
2009 · Self
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7.7 The Beaches of Agnès
2008 · Self (archive footage)
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7.5 One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
1999 · Self (voice) (uncredited)
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6.1 Level Five
1997 · Self (voice) (uncredited)
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Rush - Voyage à Moscou
1990 · Self
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5.6 Tokyo Days
1988 · Self (voice) (uncredited)
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6.4 A. K.
1985 · Self - Narrator (voice)
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7.1 Tokyo-Ga
1985 · Self (uncredited)
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7.5 Sans Soleil
1983 · Self (uncredited)
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7.2 Grandes Noites e Manhãs Tristes
1978 · Self
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7.7 Kashima Paradise
1973 · Narrator (voice)
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6.8 The Sixth Side of the Pentagon
1968
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6.9 The Koumiko Mystery
1965 · Narrator
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8.0 The Lovely Month of May
1963 · Self / Interviewer (voice)
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Prix Lumière à Chris Marker
1962 · Self
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6.9 Letter from Siberia
1957 · Stargazer (uncredited)
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6.0 La Jétee
2013
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7.6 The Last Bolshevik
1994
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7.0 If I Had Four Dromedaries
1966
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8.0
The Forbidden Volcano
1966
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6.3 The Heat of a Thousand Suns
1965
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6.5 Django Reinhardt
1957
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The Battle of Chile: Part II
1976
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6.3 Be Seeing You
1968
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7.9 La Jetée
1962
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6.9 The Case of the Grinning Cat
2006
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8.0 A Grin Without a Cat
1977
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8.0 Mémoires pour Simone
1986
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6.8 The Spiral
1976
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6.0 Les Deux mémoires
1974
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6.6 You Speak of Prague: The Second Trial of Artur London
1971
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6.0 Report on Brazil: Carlos Marighella
1970
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7.1 Far from Vietnam
1967
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6.9 America as Seen by a Frenchman
1960
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6.4 2084: Video Clip for the Trade Unions' Reflection and Pleasure
1984
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7.5 The Battle of Chile: Part III
1979
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6.9 Statues Also Die
1953
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6.8 Remembrance of Things to Come
2001
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6.0 Junkopia
1981
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6.5 The Embassy
1973
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7.0 Valparaiso
1964
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7.5 ¡Cuba Sí!
1961
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7.3 Description of a Struggle
1960
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6.3 The Astronauts
1959
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6.8 Broadway by Light
1958
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6.4 Sunday in Peking
1956
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5.5 Eclipse
1999
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4.5
An Owl Is an Owl Is an Owl
1990
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6.5
We Maintain It Is Possible
1973
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7.3 Three Cheers for the Whale
1972
People data: TMDb.
Cast
