La jetée (English: The Jetty or The Pier) (1962) is a 28-minute black and white science fiction film by Chris Marker. Constructed almost entirely from still photos, it tells the story of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel.[1] The film won the Prix Jean Vigo for short film.
Terry Gilliam‘s 12 Monkeys (1995) was inspired by, and takes several concepts directly from, La jetée. In 1996, Zone Books released a book version of La jetée.[5] It reproduced the film’s original images along with the script in both Englishand French and is now out of print,[6] though it was re-released in 2008 by Zone Books. The 2003 short film, La puppé, is both an homage to and a parody of La jetée.[7] The video for Sigue Sigue Sputnik‘s 1989 single “Dancerama” is also an homage to La jetée.[8][9]
In 2010, Time magazine ranked La Jetée first in its list of “Top 10 time-travel movies”.