Squeaky Wheel: CHRIS MARKER'S BESTIARY + THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT

CHRIS MARKER'S BESTIARY + THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT
FRI., NOV. 9TH @ 7:00 PM       LOCATION: SQUEAKY WHEEL MICROCINEMA
COST: $7 NON-MEMBERS / $5 MEMBERS

Celebrate the life and work of legendary French filmmaker Chris Marker (1921-2012) with this double feature. The Case of the Grinning Cat (2004) takes us meandering through Paris, ostensibly in search of a series of mysterious grinning cats whose stenciled image has sprung up in the most unlikely places as the filmmaker reflects on international politics, art and culture at the start of the new millennium. Marker’s Bestiary is a collection of 5 shorts devoted exclusively to animals - a subject matter that insistently pops up throughout his work.

THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT

The Case of the Grinning Cat, the latest creation from legendary French filmmaker Chris Marker, takes us meandering through Paris over the course of three years—2001 to 2004—ostensibly in search of a series of mysterious grinning cats whose stenciled image has sprung up in the most unlikely places: high atop buildings all over the city. The film—of which he has just prepared the English version—begins in November 2001 in a Paris still fresh from the shock of the September 11 attacks on the U.S., and where newspaper headlines read "We are all Americans." Over the next year, in the lead-up to the Iraq war, the city's youth march in numerous demonstrations for all manner of causes as Marker continues his pursuit of the mysterious cats. He finds them again, to his surprise, showing up as the emblem of the new French youth movement. "Make cats not war!" street art is the flip side of the idealism and exuberance driving the young people marching in protests the likes of which Paris hasn't seen since the mythic events of May 1968. While at times it might seem that the spirit of idealism has survived intact, the filmmaker's observation of it is tempered. Causes too, he observes, are a matter of fashion, and the film ends on a somber note. Cats and owls, politics and art, nimbly take their places in this Marker shuffle. The whole is woven together by the filmmaker's at times surreal humor, and by his astute and effortless camera that never fails to linger on the odd, ordinary, ineffable moments that only his eye can turn to gold dust. (Dorna Khazeni, 2006 Tribeca Film Festival Catalog)

CHRIS MARKER'S BESTIARY

Marker is best known for politically engaged documentaries (A Grin without a Cat, Le Joli Mai and Cuba Si!), for his personalized "cine-essay" films (Sans Soleil, Remembrance of Things to Come and The Case of the Grinning Cat) and the science-fiction classic La Jetée. No matter the subject, however, his films always reflect his deep and abiding love for animals. Indeed, virtually all of his work is suffused with images of animals—real ones as well as fine-art and pop-culture representations—especially cats, owls, wolves, horses, and elephants. Chris Marker's Bestiary collects his short films devoted exclusively to animals:

Cat Listening to Music Marker fans are familiar with the cartoon representation of Guillaume-en-Egypte, Marker's beloved pet cat, which has become the reclusive filmmaker's alter ego. In this charming short, Marker reveals the real-life Guillaume, stretched out lazily in the filmmaker's apartment, as he listens to the lilting rhythms of a piano sonata by Federico Mompou.

An Owl Is An Owl Is An Owl A visit to an aviary yields a rhythmically edited series of close-ups of the rapidly rotating or intently staring feathered heads of a colorful variety of owls, accompanied by an ambient electronic soundtrack.

Zoo Piece A leisurely-paced montage of animals, many of them confined in cages or enclosures-including seals, kangaroos, leopards, gorillas, wolves, monkeys, ostriches, and a sleeping rhinoceros.

Bullfight in Okinawa Two enormous black bulls engage in a contest of brute force, egged on by their screaming handlers, as they butt heads and lock horns in an attempt to rout their opponent.

Slon Tango In this astonishing, sustained shot, an elephant in the Ljubjana Zoo ambles around its enclosure, performing syncopated dance steps to the accompaniment of Igor Stravinsky's "Tango."