Trivia

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

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.

He died on his 91st birthday.

Chris Marker took name Marker from Magic Marker pen.

Supported Barack Obama's 2008 bid for the US Presidency by making T-Shirts with his famous cat alter ego reading, "Cats go Barack," and donating the proceeds to Obama's campaign.

Sent film stock to Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán so that he could make La Bataille du Chili (1ère partie: L'Insurrection de la bourgeoisie) (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.

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

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.

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

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.

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)

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