On September 23, 2012, the Berlin International Film Festival will honour documentary and experimental filmmaker Chris Marker, who passed away in late July, by screening his film Description d’un combat (Description of a Struggle). In this film, which received the Golden Bear for Best Documentary in 1961, Chris Marker took a personal look at the development of Israeli society and its identity twelve years after the state of Israel was founded. Chris Marker’s cinematic oeuvre co...

This week the spotlight is on Chris Marker, a French avant-garde director known for his controversial documentaries, who has just died at the age of 91. He steered away from the conventional norms of Hollywood cinema and opted for an experimental approach to his filmmaking. He was the innovator of the essay film, a now accepted genre which unites documentary, narrative and personal reflection. (Image of Chris Marker) He was one the industry’s most mysterious filmmakers who wo...