Robert Beavers

{{short description|American filmmaker (born 1949)|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Infobox person | name = Robert Beavers | image = Robert Beavers 2019.jpg | caption = Robert Beavers in 2019 | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1949}} | birth_place = Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | education = Deerfield Academy (dropped out) | occupation = Filmmaker | notable_works = | partner = Gregory Markopoulos (1966–1992; his death) | children = }} '''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) <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.courtisane.be/en/event/03-robert-beavers-recent-films|title = 03: Robert Beavers - recent films | Courtisane}}</ref> :16mm, color; 4 minutes *''“Der Klang, die Welt…”'' (2018) <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.courtisane.be/en/event/03-robert-beavers-recent-films|title = 03: Robert Beavers - recent films | Courtisane}}</ref> :16mm, color, sound; 4 minutes *''Dedication: Bernice Hodges'' (2024)<ref>{{cite web | title=An Evening with Robert Beavers | MoMA | url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/9802 }}</ref> :5 minutes

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

== Bibliography == Selected articles: * Beavers, Robert. [http://www.mfj-online.org/journalPages/MFJ32%2C33/beavers.html ''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. [http://mfj-online.org/journalPages/MFJ32,33/pipolointerview.html "An Interview with Robert Beavers"] Millennium Film Journal no. 32/33 Fall 1988. * Iles, Chrissie. [http://www.artforum.com/inprint/id=9408 "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.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.the-temenos.org/ The Temenos Association] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209005206/http://www.the-temenos.org/ |date=2006-02-09 }} *[http://www.mfj-online.org/journalPages/MFJ32%2C33/MFJ32TOC.HTML Millennium Film Journal no. 32/33] Devoted to Gregory Markopoulos and Robert Beavers *[http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/pfa_programs/beavers/content.html The Films of Robert Beavers: My Hand Outstretched] *[http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/audio/robert-beavers To The Winged Distance: Films by Robert Beavers] *[http://www.filmmuseum.at/jart/prj3/filmmuseum/main.jart?rel=en&reserve-mode=active&content-id=1219068743272&schienen_id=1285742261924 ''Robert Beavers. My Hand Outstretched to the Winged Distance and Sightless Measure'', Retrospective at the Austrian Film Museum, 2010]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beavers, Robert}} Category:American experimental filmmakers Category:Film directors from Massachusetts Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:Deerfield Academy alumni Category:American LGBTQ film directors Category:LGBTQ people from Massachusetts Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people