Robert Beavers
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- February 10, 1949
- Birthplace
- Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
Robert Beavers (born February 10, 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.
Filmography
My Hand Outstretched to the Winged Distance and Sightless Measure TBA
as Himself, Director
Making films out of light and memory 2026
Actor
Dedication: Bernice Hodges 2024
as Himself, Director
A Visit With Robert 2024
Actor
The Sparrow Dream 2022
Director
Cape Cod 2018
as himself
“Der Klang, die Welt…” 2018
Director
Among the Eucalyptuses 2017
Director
Shared Table 2016
Director, Editor, Cinematography, Sound
- First Weeks
First Weeks 2014
Director
Listening to the Space in My Room 2013
as Himself, Director, Editor, Cinematography
- Due film-maker in giardino - Robert Beavers & Gregory J. Markopoulos
Due film-maker in giardino - Robert Beavers & Gregory J. Markopoulos 2010
as Self - director
The Suppliant 2010
Director, Cinematography, Editor
Zuoz 2008
as Ice skater
Pitcher of Colored Light 2007
Director, Editor, Cinematography, Sound
Mother's Day 2006
Actor
My Hand Outstretched to the Winged Distance and Sightless Measure 2005
as Himself, Director, Editor, Cinematography, Sound
Early Monthly Segments 2003
Actor, Director, Cinematography, Editor, Sound
The Hedge Theater 2002
as Himself, Director, Cinematography, Editor, Sound
The Ground 2001
as Himself, Director, Cinematography, Editor, Sound
Sotiros 2000
Actor, Director, Editor, Cinematography, Sound
- Laboratorium Anthology
Laboratorium Anthology 1999
Actor
The Stoas 1997
Director
Birth of a Nation 1997
as Self
Wingseed 1985
Director
Efpsychi 1983
Director
AMOR 1980
Director, Cinematography, Editor, Sound
Sotiros in the Elements 1978
Director
Sotiros (Alone) 1978
Director
Sotiros Responds 1977
Director
Ruskin 1974
Director
Work Done 1973
Director
From the Notebook of... 1972
as Himself, Director, Editor, Sound, Cinematography
The Painting 1972
Director, Cinematography, Editor
Still Light 1971
Actor, Director
Diminished Frame 1971
Director
Palinode 1970
Director
The Count of Days 1969
Director
- View
View 1969
Director
Plan of Brussels 1968
Actor, Director
Winged Dialogue 1967
Actor, Director, Editor, Cinematography, Sound
Spiracle 1967
Director
Eros, O Basileus 1967
as Eros
The Mirror Garden 1967
Actor
Jabbok 1967
as Jabbok
- On the Everyday Use of the Eyes of Death
On the Everyday Use of the Eyes of Death 1966
Director
Credits from TMDB.