La Jetée (1962)

The rare short film in this list, Marker’s dazzling photo montage ruminates on memory from beyond the apocalypse.

“Chris Marker said so much about time and memory in this mid-length film essay that, to this day, it remains a touchstone reference.” Kiva Reardon

“This circle story of a man marked by an image of his childhood that is responsible for his travelling to the past only to see his own death is a photo-roman, a war story, a love story, a science-fiction film, an architectural construction and a painting of its time. It reveals the history of our future.” Miguel Valverde

“La Jetée is perfection, its mysterious narrative gripping the viewer with an extraordinarily moving moment of release when the black-and-white still photographs that comprise the film come to life. Chris Marker proves that a 30-minute film can be the intellectual and emotional equal of, or even superior to, the much bigger, longer, more lavish time-trip sci-fi movies that came in La Jetée’s wake.” Jane Giles

1962 France
Directed by
Chris Marker
Produced by
Anatole Dauman
Written by
Chris Marker
Featuring
Jean Négroni, Hélène Chatelain, Davos Hanich
Running time
28 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for La Jetée

Critics

Kaushik Bhaumik
India
Pip Chodorov
USA/France
Graiwoot CHULPHONGSATHORN
Thailand
Sarah Cooper
UK
Victor Courgeon
France
Simon Duffy
UK
John Ewing
USA
Arman Fatić
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Marc Francis
USA
Rosalind Galt
UK
Rubén García López
Spain
Jane Giles
UK
Evgeny Gusyatinskiy
Netherlands
Philippa Hawker
Australia
Peter Hourigan
Australia
Leila Latif
UK/Sudan
Danny Leigh
UK
Camilla Markvardsen
Denmark/UK
Jamie McLeish
UK
Lidia Merás
Spain
Petar Milat
Croatia
Jelena Mišeljić
Montenegro
Adam Nayman
Canada
Bill Nichols
USA
Domino Renee Perez
USA
Alberto Pezzotta
Italy
Robert Polito
USA
Ivan Ramljak
Croatia
Kiva Reardon
USA
Shelagh Rowan-Legg
Canada
James Schamus
USA
Steve Seid
USA
Srikanth Srinivasan
India
Marcel Stefančič
Slovenia
Isabel Stevens
UK
Miguel Valverde
Portugal
Catherine Wheatley
UK
Jason Wood
UK

Directors

Helen Grace
Australia
Asif Kapadia
UK
Patrick Keiller
UK
- Kogonada
USA
Mladen Kovačević
Serbia
Jackie Lentzou
Greece
Milcho Manchevski
Macedonia
Gabriel Mascaro
Brazil
Fisnik Maxville
Switzerland
Kleber Mendonça Filho
Brazil
Pat Murphy
Ireland
Laura Poitras
USA
Marta Popivoda
Serbia
Joanna Priestley
USA
Alonso Ruizpalacios
Mexico
Gary Tarn
UK
Pimpaka Towira
Thailand