Video Essay: "Letter from Marker"

A video essay by Luís Azevedo using the words filmmaker Chris Marker spoke about himself to tell his story. For the accompanying text, visit the Notebook: mubi.io/2utLQvM In 1958, after watching LETTRE DE SIBÉRIE (1957), André Bazin wrote that Marker’s first feature film resembles nothing hitherto seen in documentary films: “The important word is ‘essay,’ understood in the same sense that it has in literature – an essay at once historical and political, written by a poet as well. Generally, even in politically engaged documentaries or those with a specific point to make, the image (which is to say, the uniquely cinematic element) effectively constitutes the primary material of the film (…) with Marker it works quite differently. I would say that the primary material is intelligence, that its immediate means of expression is language, and that the image only intervenes in the third position, in reference to this verbal intelligence”. In 2017, the intelligence in his essay films still flows in the fringes of filmmaking. For Study Purposes Only. 30 Days of Great Cinema Free: https://mubi.com/youtube Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://mubi.io/2XVL0VN Follow us on Instagram: http://mubi.tv/299eJ7G Follow us on Twitter: http://mubi.tv/1PcdRyO Follow us on Facebook: http://mubi.tv/29adiHj