Robert Beavers
Robert Beavers is known for From the Notebook of... (1972), The Ground (2001), Amor (1980).
Biography
Robert Beavers (born 1949) is an American experimental filmmaker whose work stands among the most significant in postwar avant-garde cinema. He is best known for My Hand Outstretched to the Winged Distance and Sightless Measure, an 18-film cycle spanning decades of work, much of it later re-edited.
Beavers developed a distinctive visual language using hand-cut mattes, filters, and precise sound–image structures, often focusing on craft and manual labor as metaphors for filmmaking itself. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, he began making films in New York before moving to Europe in 1967 with his partner, Gregory J. Markopoulos. Together they withdrew their films from distribution, presenting them only at the Temenos screenings in Arcadia, Greece (1980–86). After Markopoulos’s death in 1992, Beavers founded Temenos, Inc. to preserve both of their legacies.
His films draw deeply on place and history, from Florence in From the Notebook of… (1971/1998) and Venice in Ruskin (1975/1997) to the Greek landscapes of Wingseed (1985), The Hedge Theater (1986–90/2002), and The Ground (1993–2001). Later works include Pitcher of Colored Light (2007), The Suppliant (2012), Listening to the Space in My Room (2013), and The Sparrow Dream (2022).
Beavers continues to live and work between Berlin and Massachusetts with filmmaker Ute Aurand, while overseeing the preservation of both his own films and Markopoulos’s Eniaios.
Questions about Robert Beavers
How many Robert Beavers films are in the catalogue?
The CineQuiz catalogue has 4 films with Robert Beavers, from 1972 to 2002.
What was the first Robert Beavers film?
The first Robert Beavers film in the catalogue is From the Notebook of..., from 1972.
People data: TMDb.
Known for
Full filmography
22 films — 4 in the catalogue
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Making films out of light and memory
2026
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A Visit With Robert
2024
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Cape Cod
2018 · himself
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8.5 Listening to the Space in My Room
2013 · Himself
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Due film-maker in giardino - Robert Beavers & Gregory J. Markopoulos
2010 · Self - director
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6.0 Zuoz
2008 · Ice skater
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Mother's Day
2006
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My Hand Outstretched to the Winged Distance and Sightless Measure
2005 · Himself
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8.0 Early Monthly Segments
2003
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6.5 The Hedge Theater
2002 · Himself
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6.8 Sotiros
2000
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7.0 Birth of a Nation
1997 · Self
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6.3 From the Notebook of...
1972 · Himself
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6.5 Still Light
1971
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6.0 Plan of Brussels
1968
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Winged Dialogue
1967
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4.0 Eros, O Basileus
1967 · Eros
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Jabbok
1967 · Jabbok
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The Mirror Garden
1967
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My Hand Outstretched to the Winged Distance and Sightless Measure
no date · Himself
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6.2 Amor
1980
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6.2 The Ground
2001
People data: TMDb.
Cast
