Biography for
Chris Marker More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

29 July 1921, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Date of Death

29 July 2012, Paris, France (natural causes)

Birth Name

Christian François Bouche-Villeneuve

Trivia

Chris Marker took name Marker from Magic Marker pen.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 649-654. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

Professor at L'IDHEC (La Fémis)

Sent film stock to Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán so that he could make La batalla de Chile: La lucha de un pueblo sin armas - Primera parte: La insurreción de la burguesía (1975) documenting the military coup in Chile in 1973 after the U.S. pulled film supplies due to ideological differences. Marker told Guzman that what he was trying to do was insane, but he wanted to support him no less.

Studied with philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.

An infamously private person, he has never granted an interview and fastidiously keeps his personal life and biographical information hidden. Many believe he sometimes attends events showing his films in disguise.

He was involved in the French Resistance during World War II.

Made more than two dozen films during a 6-decade career.

He produced "Far from Vietnam," a 1967 documentary made in collaboration with Godard and Resnais that opposed American involvement in Vietnam.

One of Marker's later works, from the late 1990s, was an interactive CD-ROM called "Immemory" that consists of more than 20 hours of stills, film clips, music, text and sound bites divided into several sections, including poetry, cinema, travel and photography.

Studied philosophy with Jean-Paul Sartre in the late 1930s.

In 1952 Marker made his first film, Olympia 52, a 16mm feature documentary about the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games.

In January 1961, Marker traveled to Cuba and shot the film ¡Cuba Sí!. The film promotes and defends Fidel Castro and includes two interviews with the Comandante.

He died on his 91st birthday.