Chris Marker - Janet Harbord

Chris Marker's legendary "cin roman" ("film novel")
La Jete is considered one of the greatest and most influential
experimental films of all time. This short film--a postapocalyptic story composed
almost entirely of black-and-white still photographs -- has been praised by cultural
theorists and Netflix subscribers alike. In this illustrated study of La
Jete, Janet Harbord focuses in part on the film's treatment of time --
its shifts from a pre-war past to a projected future a further future of the future
(each with its own signature images and sound) -- arguing that in this way it
addresses the nature of consciousness and the simultaneity of time-frames that we
inhabit. Harbord moves easily from a close reading of the film to discussions of
broader cultural issues, lucidly piecing together the enigma that is La
Jete.