Chris Marker's masterpiece A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT is premiering Wednesday, May 1st, at Film Forum in New York City (and in other cities throughout the year). "Marker doesn't boast that he has succeeded in making a dialectical film. But he has tried (having in his time, he says, abused the exercise of power by the commentator-director) for once to give back to the viewer, through montage, his own commentary; which is to say, his own power." - Richard Roud, Sight and Sound (1977) "Much more than a weapon, more than a history lesson intended to provoke our revolutionary consciousness, this feature film is the result of lucid reflection and profound honesty." - Michel Perez, Le Matin (November 25, 1977) "The subject at hand is how, in the sixties, the 'universal standard of civilization' assumed from the fifties began to collapse. The war in Vietnam - that 'nation placed at the convergence of the world's contradictions' - was the watershed, and Marker skillfully and hauntingly depicts its effect. He goes on to show the many civilian-police battles throughout Europe; the revolution within the revolution in Asia, South America, and Czechoslovakia; the space between the police and union stewards into which the French Left rushed in May '68; the assassination of princes (Che Guevara) and the deposing of kings (Richard Nixon); and those Cheshire Cats commonly known as politicians who cannot explain why what was in the air never quite materialized on the ground." - Pacific Film Archives (1998) A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT (its French title is just as charmingly seductive, LE FOND DE L'AIR EST ROUGE) is Marker's magnum opus: a 3-hour overview of the success and failure of the left during the 1960s and 70s. Marker interweaves stunning amount and diversity of footage into A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT, from May '68 in Paris, to the Vietnam War and the anti-war protests, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Che Guevara and Regis Debray in Bolivia, the Shah of Iran, Fidel Castro, et alia. Marker ("The still little-known genius of documentary" - David Thomson, NY Times Book Review) is a modern legend: an elusive French filmmaker with an American sounding name who has rarely been seen or interviewed, but whose films are among the most influential philosophical and political meditations to be committed to celluloid. "This film is a mirror held up to each of us, a mirror that wanders through all the paths that we have taken or crossed (Vietnam war protests, pro-Latin America movement, May of '68, the rise and fall of the Left) and encourages us to reflect along with it about the journey and its goal." - Regis Debray, Rouge, December 28, (1977) " [5 Stars]. One of the most towering and extraordinary films to grace the screen! Staggering in its depth and scope.... A monumental political elegy to a not-so-distant era. An event of major importance." - Film Threat (2002) Dylan M. McGinty Acquisitions and Marketing First Run / Icarus Films, Inc. 32 Court Street, 21st Floor Brooklyn NY 11201 Tel........................(718) 488 8900 / (800) 876 1710 Fax.......................(718) 488 8642 [log in to unmask] Web....................http://www.frif.com ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html