Issue No. 29 of Takriv, the journal of the Documentary Forum, edited by Prof. Dan Geva, is entirely dedicated to the life and work of Chris Marker, the French filmmaker, thinker, time-and-space traveler, and photographer who viewed the camera as a tool for deep dialogue with both history and humanity.
The issue was born out of a collaboration between the Israel Museum, the Jerusalem Cinematheque, and Takriv journal, following the comprehensive exhibition “Chris Marker: The Lost Photographs from Israel,” curated by Shuka Glotman and Dr. Gilad Reich. The exhibition features black-and-white photographs taken by Marker, revealing Israel in the year 1960 through his lens.
The everyday scenes he documented, combined with Marker's humanist, compassionate gaze, form the raw material for the film “Description of a Struggle” (1960), a documentary about Israel unlike any that preceded it - distinct from the more propagandistic informational films of the time. The film was produced by Wim and Lia van Leer, founders of the Jerusalem Cinematheque. It is a poetic documentary, interwoven with piercing, almost prophetic truths about our present condition. The film won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival.
In conjunction with the exhibition and journal issue, a tribute to Marker will take place at the cinematheques of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Herzliya. This collaboration repositions Marker at the center of the local cultural discourse, inviting a renewed reading and creative dialogue with his rich body of thought and artistic work.
Chris Marker (1921-2012) was one of the most important and esteemed documentary filmmakers in the history of world cinema. During World War II, as a Frenchman, he was active in the resistance against the Nazi occupation. After the war, he became a writer, poet, and critic for the journal Esprit. In the early 1950s, he befriended members of the Left Bank group, including Alain Resnais, Marguerite Duras, and Agnès Varda, and began experimenting with photography.
Later in the decade, he directed several documentary films. In 1962, with the release of La Jetée, Marker achieved international success. The 28-minute film, which Marker described as a "photo novel," is composed almost entirely of black-and-white still photographs and voiceover narration. Its plot involves time travel and presents a post-apocalyptic reality, following the outbreak of a third world war. 12 Monkeys, Terry Gilliam’s 1995 film, was influenced by La Jetée and includes an homage to Marker.
This program is made possible thanks to the support of the Institut Français, Tel Aviv.
