Celebrating Earth Day

Here at OVID, we are celebrating with three new films, but we’d also like to share Chris Marker and his cat.

Made in 1988 and starring his famous cat, muse and part-time alter ego Guillaume-en-Egypte, “Cat Listening to Music” could be considered a forerunner to the internet cat videos we know and love today. Chris Marker’s love and appreciation for animals is evident throughout his wild and wonderful body of work, and it shines brightly in Bestiary, a collection of five short films that includes a hypnotic look at owls, an elephant at the Ljubjana Zoo, and the piece you see here, of Guillaume enjoying a sonata.

Chris Marker believed that by watching animals, we can catch a glimpse of something “that points to the truest of humanity better than images of humanity itself.” It’s a good day to reflect on how many connections we share with the creatures that have no choice but to live in the world we shape – for better and increasingly, for worse.