Marcel Ichac

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.

“Grand master of documentaries” according to historian Jean Tulard, Marcel Ichac is considered in particular as “the greatest filmmaker specializing in mountain films in France and undoubtedly in the world” of his generation by Georges Sadoul. First a skier and mountaineer, a great witness of French mountaineering, Marcel Ichac then became, through the diversity of the spaces 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 very first speleology documentaries in the world with in particular Norbert Casteret, etc.).

Marcel Ichac revolutionized documentary cinema with his desire to insert the viewer into the action with an obsession with authenticity. This required, beyond the accompaniment of the sportsman in his effort, technical innovations (the generalized use of light cameras whereas the cameras of the time were generally heavy and fixed), artistic (the subjective camera, mounted on skis, worn on the shoulder, etc., shooting with the mountaineer’s gaze) and narratives. Marcel Ichac is considered a precursor of “cinéma verité” and docu-fiction. Beyond that, Marcel Ichac played a pioneering role, both in the technical field (with in particular the production of the first French film in cinemascope, etc.), institutions (foundation of the Group of thirty to defend the short film), that men (launch of Jacques Ertaud, Jean-Jacques Languepin, Gérard Oury, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Robert Enrico in the cinema). Marcel Ichac has received the highest awards in world cinema (Oscar in Hollywood, awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and at the Venice Film Festival, not to mention the festivals specializing in mountain and exploration cinema).

Marcel Ichac had more than a hundred ascents to his credit as a mountaineer. He was a member of the Explorers Club of New York, the Society of French Explorers and the High Mountain Group (GHM), as was his wife, Gabrielle Ichac-Lartigue, herself a confirmed mountaineer. When the high mountains were closed to him, at the age of 70, Marcel Ichac threw himself into running and long-distance walking. He regularly participated in the 100 Km of Millau (France), and in the New York Marathon, from which he obtained in 1986, first place in the diamond age category, for the over 80s.