Chris Marker: A Grin Without a Cat, Whitechapel Gallery

Born Christian François Bouche-Villeneuve  – but known wholly by his punchier pseudonym – Chris Marker is not only one of France’s most influential filmmakers but also its most enigmatic. Throughout his long career that spanned six decades, Marker remained firmly on one side of the camera refusing to give interviews or be photographed; he preferred to be depicted as a cat. 

A Grin Without a Cat at Whitechapel Gallery, Marker's first retrospective in the UK, presents a rare opportunity to see an eclectic survey of his works and perhaps catch a glimpse of the man behind the lens. Encompassing his multiple artistic personas as film-maker, writer, and artist, this multimedia exhibition includes book works, photographs, collages, and installations. We are also blessed with such classics as La Jetée, a film made with only still images, and Sans Soleil, an experimental 'essay-film'. Marker was always one to embrace new technology: he experimented with television, CD-ROM, and even created a museum in the website Second Life. The technological evolution evident in this show celebrates both his innovative spirit and desire to stay on top of the times. 

Marker travelled extensively, capturing what he saw on celluloid, and in the 1950s and 60s he created a series of travel guides, Petite Planéte: Travelogues. But he also saw film-making as a kind of time travel, and he was fascinated by the way that film could conjure something from the past and make it appear in the present. Combining his own shots with found archival footage, Marker's films are part historical document and part cinematic construct, in-between documentary and fiction. 

Having made a concerted effort to maintain anonymity rather than exploit his fame, little is known of Marker's biography. One known and significant detail is his involvement in the French Resistance, and later in the political upheaval of 1968 – both continued to have a profound influence over his life and work. His films are politically charged and it is in their politics that they find their power. They interrogate the events that have shaped the world we live in, and continue to define us.  In its ability to move audiences across generations, this show proves Marker to be a true master of the moving image.