East Bay Premiere!

In his latest study of French political consciousness, legendary film-essayist Chris Marker (La jetée, Le joli mai, Sans soleil, The Last Bolshevik) examines the appearance in Paris of a series of graffiti murals depicting a grinning cat. The work covers the years from 2001 to 2004, beginning in the weeks following the September 11 attacks on the United States and continuing through the period of mounting international frustration with the Bush government, as embodied in the anti-Iraq War demonstrations. Marker poses a number of poignant questions in his evaluation of street art, public protest, the rise of the National Front, the state of international affairs-and the importance of cats.