Live stream preview

Watch this video and more on OVID.tv

Watch this video and more on OVID.tv

Start your free trial

Already subscribed? Sign in

A Grin Without a Cat

Classic Documentaries • 2h 57m

Directed by Chris Marker • Documentary • 1977 • 178 minutes

Newly restored! 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:

Part 1: Fragile Hands
1. From Vietnam to Che's death
2. May 1968 and all that

Part 2: Severed Hands
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.

Tags
68, 1968, a grin without a cat, allende, anthropology and archaeology, bolivia, bravo, castro, cat, che, chile, chris, citizenship, communism, coup, cultural anthropology, de, debray, documentary, douglas, essay, europe, expository, film, fond, france, gaulle, grin, guevara, icarus films, invasion, left, mao, marker, marxism and communism, may, new, nixon, ovid, paris, political, political philosophy, politics and political science, prague, regis, revolution, rouge, s_0041, s_0065, s_0186, s_0230, s_0231, s_0286, s_0339, social issues, social movements and activism, soviet union, strike, striking, students, title_g, video, vietnam johnson, war, war and peace, western europe, without, world regions

Up Next in Classic Documentaries

  • Lonely Boy
    26:39
    Lonely Boy

    Lonely Boy

    Directed by Wolf Koening, Roman Kroiter • Documentary • 1962 • 26 minutes

    The story of popular singer Paul Anka. He rose from obscurity to become the idol of millions of adolescent fans around the world. This film takes a candid look at both sides of the footlights as well as the promotion indus...

  • Heimat is a Space in Time
    3:38:25
    Heimat is a Space in Time

    Heimat is a Space in Time

    Directed by Thomas Heise • Documentary • 2019 • 218 minutes

    In HEIMAT IS A SPACE IN TIME, German filmmaker Thomas Heise shares the stories of three generations of his family, in their own words.

    Heise sets the tone early, reading an anti-war essay written in 1912 by his grandfather Wilhelm, whe...

  • 56 UP
    2:23:36
    56 UP

    56 UP

    Directed by Michael Apted • Documentary • With Bruce Balden, Jacqueline Basset, Symon Basterfield, Andrew Brackfield, John Brisby, Suzanne Dewey, Nicholas Hitchon, Neil Hughes, Lynn Johnson, Paul Kligerman, Susan Sullivan, Tony Walker, Charles Furneaux • 2012 • 138 minutes

    ”Give me the child ...

×