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 (Chris Marker)

UR rating icon
Essay Films • 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 Essay Films

  • Le Joli Mai
    2:25:37
    Le Joli Mai

    Le Joli Mai

    Directed by Chris Marker, Pierre Lhomme • Documentary • 1963 • 145 minutes

    Filmed just after the March 1962 ceasefire between France and Algeria, LE JOLI MAI documents Paris during a turning point in French history: the first time since 1939 that France was not involved in any war.

    Part I, "A P...

  • Kingsley's Crossing
    19:49
    Kingsley's Crossing

    Kingsley's Crossing

    Directed by Brian Storm • Documentary • 2006 • 20 minutes

    Kingsley's Crossing is the story of one man's dream to leave the poverty of life in Africa for the promised land of Europe. We walk in his shoes, as photojournalist Olivier Jobard accompanies Kingsley on his uncertain and perilous journey.

  • Chantal Akerman's Down There
    1:18:57
    Chantal Akerman's Down There

    Chantal Akerman's Down There

    Directed by Chantal Akerman • Documentary • 2006 • 78 minutes

    According to director Chantal Akerman, she never planned to make a film in Israel. She was convinced that neutrality does not exist and that her subjectivity would get in her way. She was sure she would only be able to reflect on 'the...

×