A Grin Without a Cat
In its latest issue, the film magazine 24 images dedicates a special feature to the theme of our symposium, Film Archives Beget Films, to be held on April 28-29. In conjunction with this editorial coverage, and just ahead of the symposium, we are presenting a program entirely focused on this theme; the re-use of archival film footage in films. While not aiming to be exhaustive, the program highlights the diversity of practices from an aesthetic and historical perspective.
Entirely made up of archival footage, this film evokes the rise of the New Left in France and the development of socialist movements worldwide, particularly in Latin America.
Chris Marker
Christian Bouche-Villeneuve, known as Chris Marker, was a French filmmaker, writer, illustrator, photographer, editor, philosopher, essayist, critic, poet, and film producer. His work is best known through his major films: La jetée, Sans soleil, Le joli mai, Le fond de l'air est rouge, and Chats perchés. According to André Bazin, his films are essentially documentaries defined as "cinematographic essays" from the outset. However, his work was not limited to cinema. He actively collaborated with numerous filmmakers, writers, actors, artists, and workers, including Costa-Gavras, Yves Montand, Alain Resnais, Akira Kurosawa, and Patricio Guzmán, among others. He also supported young artists, notably the Kourtrajmé collective and Isild Le Besco, in whom he saw “a new French New Wave.” Throughout his career, Chris Marker observed the vicissitudes of both world and personal history with curiosity and discernment, poetry and wonder, irony and amusement—sometimes even with anger. At the heart of his work lies a deep reflection on memory, recollection, and nostalgia for a reinvented past, forever lost.
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