178 minutes / Color
English / English subtitles
Release: 2001
Copyright: 1977
A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT is Chris Marker's epic film-essay on the worldwide political wars of the 60's and 70's: Vietnam, Bolivia, May '68, Prague, Chile, and the fate of the New Left. Released in France in 1978, restored and "re-actualized" by Marker fifteen years later (after the fall of the Soviet Union), we are proud to release the film now for the first time in the United States.
Described by Marker as "scenes of the Third World War," the film (the original French title is virtually untranslatable) is divided into two parts, each weaving together two strands:
1. From Vietnam to Che's death
2. May 1968 and all that
1. From Spring in Prague to the Common Program of Government in France
2. From Chile to - to what?
From 1967 (the year Marker argues was the real turning point) on, A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT is a sweeping, global contemplation of a defining ten years' political history.
Scenes of the third World War 1967-1977
Some think the third World War will be set off by a nuclear missile. For me, that's the way it will end. In the meantime, the figures of an intricate game are developing, a game whose de-coding will give historians of the future - if they are still around - a very hard time.
A weird game. Its rules change as the match evolves. To start with, the super powers' rivalry transforms itself not only into a Holy Alliance of the Rich against the Poor, but also into a selective co-elimination of Revolutionary Vanguards, wherever bombs would endanger sources of raw materials. As well as into the manipulation of these vanguards to pursue goals that are not their own.
During the last ten years, some groups of forces (often more instinctive than organized) have been trying to play the game themselves - even if they knocked over the pieces. Wherever they tried, they failed. Nevertheless, it's been their being that has the most profoundly transformed politics in our time. This film intends to show some of the steps of this transformation.
- Chris Marker
“An ingenious collage of archival footage elucidated with a trenchant, sarcastic commentary." —Richard Brody, The New Yorker
"The ultimate achievement of an utterly unique cinematic figure, and we've been waiting for it a long time. One of the home-video releases of the year, if not the decade." —Andrew O'Hehir, Salon
"No scan of Marker's redoubtable career achievement is complete without strapping oneself to this restless behemoth of a historical documentary… Along the way, Marker is a master weaver of colliding perspectives, forgotten stories and unanswered questions… the poetic questions he raises are never less than stunning." —Michael Atkinson, Sight & Sound
"If, as Albert Camus wrote, 'The journalist is the historian of the moment,' it follows that documentarians such as Chris Marker serve as historians for the ages. Whether or not you lived through the heady times of the '60s' and '70s, A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT should be required viewing as a reminder of the cyclical nature of history." —Cathleen Rountree, Documentary Magazine
In Chris Marker's film, workers at a textile factory on strike in pre-May '68 France, not just for more money, but for a different way of life.
Mario Marret and Chris Marker | 2003 | 39 minutes | Color | French | English subtitles
This tapestry of still photographs, subject-skipping montage and rapid shuttle of wit and philosophy is pure Chris Marker.
Yannick Bellon & Chris Marker | 2003 | 42 minutes | Color | English
Chronicle of the 1967 Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam protest march on the Pentagon, by documentary essayist Chris Marker. Also on this disc is a second film, THE EMBASSY.
Chris Marker and François Reichenbach | 2007 | 26 minutes | Color | English
Guy Debord's cinematic analysis of consumer society based on his influential book.
Guy Debord | 2020 | 91 minutes | French | English subtitles
