Marcel Ichac
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Marcel_Ichac".

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (August 2006)

Marcel Ichac (1906-1994) was a French alpinist, explorer, photographer and film director.

An explorer in the middle of the 20th century

Explorer and sportsman as well as an artist, Marcel Ichac was the main movie director of French explorations during the years 1930-1950 :

• Himalaya : "Karakoram" in 1936 (first French expedition in Himalaya, Karakoram) and "Victoire sur l'Annapurna" in 1950 (Annapurna is the first "8000" sumit reached in 1950 by Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal).

• Under sea : Jacques-Yves Cousteau expeditions in the Mediterranean sea (1948), in Red Sea (1955 : preparation of the realisation of the "The Silent World"), in Lake Titicaca (1968).

• French Polar Expedition in Greenland with Paul-Emile Victor (1949).

• Middle east : First documentary film in the world about the Pilgrimage to Mecca (1940).

A great mountain films director

Marcel Ichac was considered at its time as the best mountain film director with notably two masterpieces :

• "A l'Assaut des Aiguilles du Diable" (1942).

• "Les Etoiles de Midi" (1959).

• His movies during the years 1930-1940 made a lot in the promotion of skiing in France.

• He made of film about the life of his friend, the great mountain climber Lionel Terray : "Le Conquérent de l'inutile" (1967).

• He took the images of the highest fights of WWII and the freedom of Torino (Italy) ("Tempête sur les Alpes", 1944-1945)

Innovations in film industry

Curious of new techniques, he introduced electronic music in cinema with the Ondes Martenot (composer : Pierre Vellone) for "Karakoram" (1936).

He released the first French movie in Cinemascope ("Nouveaux Horizons", 1953), a French invention of Henri Chrétien.

Awards

Marcel Ichac won the highest awards of world cinema:

• Silver Lion in the Venice film festival (1937 for "Karakoram").

• Festival de Cannes.

• Academy Award ("Oscar") for the best live action short film (1963 : "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge").

• Grand Prix du cinéma français (1959 for "Les Etoiles de Midi").

• and many awards in specialised film festivals (Banff, Cortina d'Empezzo, Trente, Les Diablerets, etc.).

Sportsman, Marcel Ichac ran the New York City Marathon until he was 80.

Books by Marcel Ichac

• "A l'assaut des Aiguilles du Diable", 1945, Ed. Jean Susse.
• "Regards vers l'Annapurna", 1951, Ed. Arthaud.
• "Quand brillent les Etoiles de Midi", 1960, Ed. Arthaud.

Internet sources

Filmography on Internet

• Marcel Ichac in the Cannes Festival : http://www.festival-cannes.fr/perso/index.php?langue=6002&personne=281 et [1]
• Some movies of films de Marcel Ichac on http://calindex.eu ([2]).
• Some movies of Marcel Ichac on http://www.bfi.org.uk ([3])
• Marcel Ichac at the Internet Movie Database ([4]).

Other links

• In French : An universitary work on the mountain films by Florent Wolff ([5]) (Université Paris VII, 2004) (chapter 1C, page 9) : ([6]).
• In Spanish : at www.Desnivel.com ([7]).
• A critic of the movie and book "Les Etoiles de Midi" par Alain de Châtellus, 1961 ([8]).

Video links

• Images of Groenland in 1949 by Marcel Ichac([9]).
• Marcel Ichac receiving the "prix du documentaire" (price of best documentary movie) at Cannes film festival in 1952 ([10]).
• The movie "An occurrence at owl creek bridge" ("La Rivière du Hibou"), short movie Academy award 1964 ([11]).