Chris Marker. La Jetée

Chris Marker is a pioneering figure in the history of film. One of his most influential works is La Jetée (1962), a 22-minute short that, with the exception of one moving image that is on-screen for a few seconds, consists exclusively of black-and-white stills. As in all Marker's films, time is an important component. In the science-fiction story, the nameless protagonist is able to travel back in time. In this publication, the film is reproduced through the medium of the book, with the temporal dimension of the still images transposed onto double-page spreads. The sizes of the images in the book are proportional to the duration of the stills. The result is a synoptic view that analytically reproduces the film. In looking at a double page, the reader can register at a glance several images with their subtitles.

Chris Marker (1921-2012) was a French writer, photographer, and documentary filmmaker. The Hollywood production Twelve Monkeys (1995) was modelled on his award-winning
film La Jetée.