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The Embassy is on the same DVD as Chris Marker's The Sixth Side of the Pentagon

One of Chris Marker's few fiction films, THE EMBASSY shows political dissidents seeking refuge in a foreign embassy after a military coup d'état in an unidentified country. Over the next few days, more and more people fleeing the military assault-teachers, students, intellectuals, artists, and politicians-arrive at the embassy.

An anonymous cameraman records the tense situation with his Super-8 camera, and provides a voice-over commentary, as the Ambassador and his wife arrange to house and feed the growing group, who monitor radio reports of the alarming political developments-including thousands of political prisoners detained in a stadium, and reports of executions-and glimpse activities on the streets outside. The refuge-seekers accommodate themselves to the makeshift living arrangements, find ways to pass the time, and engage in often heated political debates.

"Two of Chris Marker's most boldly political films… [THE EMBASSY] is an emotionally powerful film, especially in its closing moments, speaking more about the temper of the times than any history of the era has yet expressed… [THE SIXTH SIDE OF THE PENTAGON] is equally powerful documentary footage… breathtaking and emboldening."-Bob Ham, DVD Corner

"A trenchant political allegory."—Catherine Lupton, Chris Marker: Memories of the Future

"Something of a cross between the immersive docufiction of Peter Watkins and the reflexive diaries of Jonas Mekas… serves as both a portent and potent statement on the myth of cinema as a direct representation of reality."—Acquarello, The Auteurs Cinema Blog