Marcel Ichac
Directing
Biography
Marcel Ichac, born October 22, 1906 in Rueil-Malmaison (Seine-et-Oise) and died April 9, 1994 in Ézanville (Val-d'Oise), was a French filmmaker, photographer, explorer, and mountaineer. He was the brother of Pierre Ichac (1901-1978). "A great master of documentary filmmaking," according to historian Jean Tulard, Marcel Ichac is particularly considered "the greatest filmmaker specializing in mountain films in France and undoubtedly in the world" of his generation by Georges Sadoul. Initially a skier and mountaineer, a great witness to French mountaineering, Marcel Ichac went on to become, through the diversity of the spaces he explored, the filmmaker of French exploration in the 1930s and 1950s (the first two French expeditions to the Himalayas in 1936 and 1950, scuba diving with Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Greenland with Paul-Émile Victor, the world's first caving documentaries, notably with Norbert Casteret, etc.). Marcel Ichac revolutionized documentary filmmaking with his desire to place the viewer at the heart of the action, obsessing over authenticity. This required, beyond accompanying the athlete in his efforts, technical innovations (the widespread use of lightweight cameras, whereas the cameras of the time were generally heavy and fixed), artistic innovations (the subjective camera, mounted on skis, carried on the shoulder, etc., shooting from the mountaineer's perspective), and narrative innovations. Marcel Ichac is considered a pioneer of "cinema verité" and docu-fiction. Beyond that, Marcel Ichac played a pioneering role, both in the technical field (notably with the production of the first French film in CinemaScope, etc.), institutions (founding the Group of Thirty to promote short films), and individuals (launching Jacques Ertaud, Jean-Jacques Languepin, Gérard Oury, Jean-Louis Trintignant, and Robert Enrico into the film industry). Marcel Ichac received the highest accolades in world cinema (an Oscar in Hollywood, awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival, not to mention festivals specializing in mountain and exploration cinema). Marcel Ichac boasted over a hundred ascents to his name as a mountaineer. He was a member of the Explorers Club of New York, the French Society of Explorers, and the Groupe de Haute Montagne (GHM), as was his wife, Gabrielle Ichac-Lartigue, herself an experienced mountaineer. When high mountain climbing was closed to him at the age of 70, Marcel Ichac took up running and long-distance walking. He regularly competed in the Millau 100K (France) and the New York City Marathon, where he won first place in the Diamond Age category for those over 80 in 1986.
Known For
An anthology series containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.
The Twilight Zone
Biography of ski instructor, mountain guide, mountaineer and filmmaker-lecturer Lionel Terray. Film-portrait of an emblematic figure of French mountaineering in the 1950s and 1960s, reconstructing the life, the great races and the expeditions of the "conqueror" of the most difficult walls and summits of Europe, the Himalayas, the Andes and North America. Marcel Ichac produced in 1966, the day after the Gerbier accident, this illustrated tribute by bringing together personal archive documents, unpublished animated sequences or extracts from expedition images as well as comments taken from the autobiographical texts of Lionel Terray " The Conquerors of the Useless" and "Battle for Jannu". This film, presented at the Cannes Film Festival, has won numerous awards at specialized film festivals, including the Trente Festival and the Banff Festival.
The Conqueror Of The Useless
Join renowned explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau as he investigates aquatic habitats worldwide, showcasing whales, sharks, and diverse marine life. The film highlights the brutal realities of nature while capturing the wonder of underwater exploration, as the team ventures into previously unseen ocean depths.
The Silent World
No description available.
Les Danses de Tami
Les Etoiles de Midi is an engaging docudrama about some of the more spectacular exploits of French mountain climbers over the last several decades. In one re-enacted story, there is a wartime escape through the mountains, and in another, a daring rescue of a pair of climbers who had been missing. The actors themselves are adept at the sport of climbing, and they give the scenes an immediacy and real daring that brings the stories alive. A combination of their acrobatics and skill and the outstanding episodes in the history of French climbing creates a winning 78 minutes.
Stars at Noon
Marcel Ichac accompanied the mountaineer Armand Charlet, in 1943, in the repetition of the first crossing of the Aiguilles du Diable that the guide of the Chamonix valley had made in 1925. A roped party joined on snow and ice the Col du Géant, reached at the Mont-Blanc-du-Tacul stop and on the Col du Diable. The men cross the needles by climbing chimneys, cracks and abseiling walls. They access the eastern slope of the Mont-Blanc massif which offers a panorama of the Grandes Jorasses and Mont-Blanc. Armand Charlet was the first to reach the summits of four needles above 4000 meters: the Devil's Horn, Pointe Chaubert, Pointe Médiane and Pointe Carmen; he also tells how he successfully climbed the furthest, the Isolated. Marcel Ichac shot these scenes as close as possible to his subject, he responded with this film with a “truth” cinema, the principle of which we find in his later productions.
A l'Assaut Des Aiguilles Du Diable
During the American Civil War, a Southerner is about to be hanged from a bridge for sabotage when something unexpected happens.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Groenland: twenty thousand leagues on the ice is a French documentary film directed by Marcel Ichac and Jean-Jacques Languepin, released in 1952 on the expedition of Paul-Émile Victor and his team in Greenland, in 1948-1949. The film received the Special Jury Prize - scientific or educational film at the Cannes Film Festival in 1952.
Greenland
Retrospective of four major peaks climbed by French expeditions: Annapurna (8078m) in 1950; Makalu (8481m) in 1955; Mustagh Tower (7273m) in 1956 and Le Jannu (7710m) in 1962. A film by Lucien Berardini and Jean-Marie Perthus with the support of the French Alpine Club and the FFME (French Mountain and Climbing Federation).
Victories on the Himalayas
Many mountaineers as part of their activity have used cameras and films to allow us to participate through images in their adventures and their emotions. Many of them have become true film professionals: Joseph Vallot, Lionel Terray, Marcel Ichac, Renè Vernadet, Jean Afanasieff, Pierre Royer, Denis Ducroz, Kurt Diemberg and many others are among the conquerors of the image of the mountain. The film depicts the passion of these men on the highest mountains in the world... behind the lens.
When the Mountaineers Make Their Cinema
In 1950, a French expedition led by Maurice Herzog went to central Nepal to conquer the highest peak (8,091 meters): Annapurna. The film is not only made of what we see, but even more of what we don't see. Its imperfections are the negative imprint of the adventure. Memory is the most faithful of films.
Victory over Annapurna
No description available.
La Lumière du Rocher
Account of the first French expedition to the Himalayas, which attempted to climb the hidden peak (Gasherbrum I) in 1936, from the preparations for the trip to the end of the ascent. After a long approach walk through quasi-desert regions, then on a huge glacier, the caravan of 700 porters arrives at the foot of Hidden Peak. The expedition was led by Henry de Ségogne, with Jean Charignon, Pierre Allain, Raymond Leininger, Jean Carle, Jean Deudon, Louis Neltner, Jacques Azémar, doctor Jeand Arlaud and director Marcel Ichac. Weather conditions, logistical problems and a strike among Sherpas forced the team to retire at 6900m on the south face. The film received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1938.
Karakoram
From Trento to Chamonix, via Zermatt; from the Morgiou cove to the Eiger's north face; from Planica to the Lavaredo peaks, the Alps are depicted, illustrated, and magnified in all their unique and sublime beauty, through the sports practiced there and the most typical customs and traditions of their inhabitants. A helicopter rescue and a parachute jump from the Red Wall by Wolfgang Weizenbocks are experiences not to be missed.
Sensation Alpen
Marcel Ichac captures the mountain warfare of the French Alps in World War II, the highest battles to take place during the war. The film also features footage of the liberation of Torino, Italy.
Storm over the Alps
Documents the long and arduous journey made by Muslims every year, from North Africa to Mecca. Footage inside the city was filmed by a Muslim crew.
The Pilgrims of Mecca
No description available.
The Cousteau Collection N°34-1 | The Legend of Lake Titicaca
Diving logs of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Documentary Maritime Resources of Mahdia, Tunisia. Selected for Canes International Film 1949 and 1951.
Diving Logs
The first French short shot in CinemaScope; begins in a car and ends with a plane ride over the Alps.