Robert Beavers

Robert Beavers (born 1949) is an American experimental filmmaker. Born and raised in Massachusetts, he attended Deerfield Academy which he left before graduating to move to New York in 1965 to pursue filmmaking. He lived in New York until 1967 when he and his partner, Gregory Markopoulos, left the United States for Europe, where they continued to live and make films until Markopoulos's death in 1992.

Both filmmakers restricted the screenings of their films after leaving America, and instead held yearly screenings of their work from 1980 to 1986 at the Temenos, a site near Lyssaraia in Arcadia, Greece. After Markopoulos' death, Beavers founded Temenos, Inc., a non-profit devoted to the preservation of his and Markopoulos's work. Beavers has worked extensively on re-editing his films to create the larger film cycle My Hand Outstretched to the Winged Distance and Sightless Measure.

Selected filmography

• Spiracle (1966)

16mm, color, sound; 12 minutes

• ~Early Monthly Segments (1968?70/2002)~

35mm, color, silent; 33 minutes

• ~Winged Dialogue (1967/2000) and
• ~Plan of Brussels (1968/2000)

35mm, color, sound; 21 minutes

The final edit combines both films on one reel

• ~The Count of Days (1969/2001)

35 mm, color, sound; 21 minutes

The final edit includes part of Early Monthly Segments on the same reel

• ~Palinode (1970/2001)

35mm, color, sound; 21 minutes

The final edit includes part of Early Monthly Segments on the same reel

• ~Diminished Frame (1970/2001)

35mm, black and white, and color, sound; 24 minutes

The final edit includes part of Early Monthly Segments on the same reel

• ~Still Light (1970/2001)

35mm, black-and-white and color, sound; 25 minutes

• ~From the Notebook of (1971/1998)

35mm, color, sound 48 minutes

• ~The Painting (1972/1999)

35mm, color, sound; 22 minutes

• ~Work Done (1972/1999)

35mm, color, sound; 22 minutes

• ~Ruskin (1975/1997)

35mm, black-and-white and color, sound; 45 minutes

• ~Sotiros (1976-78/1996)

35mm, color, sound; 25 minutes

The final edit comprises three earlier films; Sotiros Responds (1976), Sotiros (Alone) (1977), and Sotiros in the Elements (1978)

• ~AMOR (1980)

35mm, color, sound; 15 minutes

• ~Efpsychi (1983/1996)

35mm, color, sound; 20 minutes

• ~Wingseed (1985)

35mm, color, sound; 15 minutes

• ~The Hedge Theater (1986?90/2002)

35mm, color, sound; 19 minutes

Includes footage from Borromini (1986) and San Martino/Il Sassetta (1987-1990)

• ~The Stoas (1991–97)

35mm, color, sound; 22 minutes

• ~The Ground (1993–2001)

35mm, color, sound; 20 minutes

• Pitcher of Colored Light (2007)

35mm, color, sound; 24 minutes

• The Suppliant (2010)

16mm, color, sound; 5 minutes

• Listening to the Space in my Room (2013)

16mm, color, sound; 19 minutes

• Among the Eucalyptuses (2017)

16mm, color; 4 minutes

• “Der Klang, die Welt…” (2018)

16mm, color, sound; 4 minutes

• Dedication: Bernice Hodges (2024)

5 minutes

~Part of the cycle My Hand Outstretched to the Winged Distance and Sightless Measure (1967–2002)

Bibliography

Selected articles:

• Beavers, Robert. Writings Millennium Film Journal no. 32/33 Fall 1988.
• Beavers, Robert. The Searching Measure. University of California, Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, 2004.
• Pipolo, Toni. "An Interview with Robert Beavers" Millennium Film Journal no. 32/33 Fall 1988.
• Iles, Chrissie. "Frames of Mind" Artforum September, 2005.

Further reading

• Rebekah Rutkoff (Ed.), Robert Beavers, FilmmuseumSynemaPublikationen Vol. 30, Vienna: 2017, ISBN 978-3-901644-69-6
• Alexander Horwath / Österreichisches Filmmuseum (Ed.): Robert Beavers. Die ausgestreckte Hand, Vienna: 2010.

External links

• The Temenos Association Archived 2006-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
• Millennium Film Journal no. 32/33 Devoted to Gregory Markopoulos and Robert Beavers
• The Films of Robert Beavers: My Hand Outstretched
• To The Winged Distance: Films by Robert Beavers
• Robert Beavers. My Hand Outstretched to the Winged Distance and Sightless Measure, Retrospective at the Austrian Film Museum, 2010