The Embassy (Chris Marker)
Short Films
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21m
Directed by Chris Marker • Drama • 1973 • 21 minutes
One of Chris Marker's few fiction films, THE EMBASSY shows political dissidents seeking refuge in a foreign embassy after a military coup d'état in an unidentified country. Over the next few days, more and more people fleeing the military assault-teachers, students, intellectuals, artists, and politicians-arrive at the embassy.
An anonymous cameraman records the tense situation with his Super-8 camera, and provides a voice-over commentary, as the Ambassador and his wife arrange to house and feed the growing group, who monitor radio reports of the alarming political developments-including thousands of political prisoners detained in a stadium, and reports of executions-and glimpse activities on the streets outside. The refuge-seekers accommodate themselves to the makeshift living arrangements, find ways to pass the time, and engage in often heated political debates.
"Something of a cross between the immersive docufiction of Peter Watkins and the reflexive diaries of Jonas Mekas… serves as both a portent and potent statement on the myth of cinema as a direct representation of reality." —Acquarello, The Auteurs Cinema Blog
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