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
~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,
Alexander Horwath / Österreichisches Filmmuseum (Ed.): Robert Beavers. Die ausgestreckte Hand, Vienna: 2010.
References
External links
The Temenos Association
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
American experimental filmmakers
Film directors from Massachusetts
1949 births
Living people
Deerfield Academy alumni
American LGBT film directors
LGBT people from Massachusetts
21st-century American LGBT people
20th-century American LGBT people