Three Cheers for the Whale
Vive la baleine
FRANCE / 1972 / French / Color / Blu-ray (Original: 35mm) / 16 min
Directors: Mario Ruspoli, Chris Marker
Photography: Mario Ruspoli
Editing, Sound, Commentary: Chris Marker
Music: Lalan
Narration: Louis Casamayor, Valérie Mayoux
Production Company: Argos Films
Source: Tamasa Distribution
Having written a commentary on Mario Ruspoli’s Les hommes de la baleine, Marker joins him in making a new film about whaling. Once a necessary practice for human survival, whaling is shown in this film to have transformed by the influence of big capital into a means to create profit.
The Embassy
L’Ambassade
FRANCE / 1973 / French / Color / Video / 21 min
Director, Script, Photography: Chris Marker
Cast: Carole Roussopoulos, Paul Roussopoulos
Production Company: E.K.F.
Source: Les Films du Jeudi
A short film shot with a Super 8 camera, which records people evacuating to the embassy after a coup d’état in the style of a home movie. Inspired by the military coup in Chile, this film features appearances by feminist filmmaker Carole Roussopoulos and her husband Paul.
Report on Chile: What Allende Said
On vous parle du Chili: ce que disait Allende
FRANCE / 1973 / French / B&W / Video (Original: 16mm) / 16 min
Director: Miguel Littin
Post Production: Chris Marker
Source: ISKRA
After the establishment of the left-wing Allende regime, Marker travels to Chile to deepen his ties with filmmakers there and introduce their work to Europe. However, in 1973 the administration was overthrown in a military coup. This film records an interview conducted by Régis Debray with President Allende. Collaborating with director Miguel Littin, who was in exile in Mexico, Marker assisted with this film’s postproduction.
A Grin Without a Cat
Le fond de l’air est rouge
FRANCE / 1977 / French, English and others / Color / DVD (Original: 16mm) / 180 min
Director, Editing: Chris Marker
Narration: Simone Signoret, Yves Montant, Jorge Semprun, Davos Hanich, François Maspero, Sandra Scarnati, Laurence Cuvillier, François Périer
Production Companies: ISKRA, INA, DOVIDIS
Source: Institut français
A four hour opus built from the large ISKRA archive of visual documentation of the political movements that occurred around the world in the 1960s and 1970s. Its first chapter focuses events before 1968, and its second focuses events after 1968. This film is a precious document of an important and turbulent period in 20th Century history. The version that will screened in this program is not the original 1977 film, but rather a later version that Marker re-edited himself.