"The 35th Mill Valley Film Festival, which runs through Oct. 14, is particularly strong on local filmmakers' work, and one of the most intriguing is Emiko Omori's rumination on the maker of the great 1962 science fiction short "La Jetee." Marker, who died July 29 on his 91st birthday, was one of the most influential independent filmmakers ever, and Omori worked with him as a cinematographer in the 1980s. Her "To Chris Marker" is a video essay that has the inquisitive, reflective yet easygoing observational style that any Marker fan should recognize - especially those who have seen his other great film, "San Soleil." Weighing in on Marker's legacy are critics, filmmakers and fans, including noted film historian and author David Thomson and Berkeley screenwriters David and Janet Peoples, who adapted "La Jetee" as "12 Monkeys" for Terry Gilliam." -SFGate

"To Chris Marker, An Unsent Letter by the Emmy-winning, Bernal Heights resident Emiko Omori, is a brilliantly composed love paean to the late great French new wave photographer-filmmaker. From its opening frames and mesmerizing soundtrack, Letter traces the enigmatic Marker - perhaps best known for his 28-minute 1962 science fiction featurette La jetée, which inspired director Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys - and an astounding body of profound, socially relevant work. Marker passed away at age 91 in July." -The Potrero View

"They say Marker watched Hitchcock's Vertigo 19 times before producing his 35-minute homage, La Jetee. Bay Area filmmaker Emiko Omori concocts a most affectionate tribute from the French filmmaker's wide circle of fiends – a film that rushes by with barely a glimpse of the notoriously camera-shy artist, but which has plenty of shots of his cat. Rian Johnson's new Joe Levitt science-fiction thriller Looper is also said to contain a loving tip of the hat to Chris Marker." - The Bay Area Reporter

"Omori’s tribute does not suggest itself as historical assessment of Marker’s filmography, nor a close reading akin to Marker’s own Last Bolshevik, AK (1985), or One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevitch (2000). It’s something much more modest than that—a gathering of friends, really, less about the films themselves than their effect on viewers. In this regard, the passing shots of elephants’ trunks, yawning subway riders and Asian women at market are every bit as significant as the talking heads. I suspect that Marker might well have preferred such indirect acts of homage, mediated by a series of preferred symbols or charms, to all the breath spent singing his praises. Omori points her camera at things Marker would have liked for the same reason Peter Scarlet sent him an autographed picture of Kim Novak; it’s a response to the intimate address of Marker’s films, in which the “I” of the author may be left obscured while the “You” of the viewer is made to feel at home." - Fandor