9.11.09 - 10.31.09
ROBERT BEAVERS IN PERSON

"[Robert] Beavers’ films occupy a noble place within the history of avant-garde film, positioned at the intersection of structural and lyrical filmmaking traditions. They seem to embody the ideals of the Renaissance in their fascination with perception, psychology, literature, the natural world, architectural space, musical phrasing and aesthetic beauty." -Susan Oxtoby, Pacific Film Archive 

This presentation of work by avant-garde filmmaker Robert Beavers represents the filmmaker’s Los Angeles debut, after a career spanning from the mid-1960s to the present day, and is organized in conjunction with the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, who will present Beavers’ complete cycle. This screening is also presented in cooperation with REDCAT, Los Angeles Filmforum, CalArts Film/Video and the Getty Research Center.

 

Sunday October 25 2009, 7:00PM* ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )

AMOR
(1980, Italy/Austria)

AMOR uses themes of cutting and sewing as metaphors. Cloth is cut and fabric is sewn; shrubs are trimmed and hedges form majestic garden archways; and a male figure claps his hands as if to signal a sync cue on which there is a visual cut. Central to this work are the complex emotions surrounding love, separation, and the metonymic twinning of objects, including that of edited image and sutured sound. —Susan Oxtoby, Pacific Film Archive

35mm, color, 15 min.

THE STOAS
(Greece)

The Stoas includes images of the deserted industrial arcades (stoas) of Athens during siesta and the refreshing waters of a bountiful river. “An ineffable, unnamable immanence flows through the images of The Stoas, a kind of presence of the human soul expressed through the sympathetic absence of the human figure” (Ed Halter).—Susan Oxtoby, Pacific Film Archive

35mm, 1991-97, color, 22 min.

THE GROUND
(Greece)

The Ground uses seemingly simple components – the sun-baked landscape of a Greek island, the blue waters of the Aegean Sea, and images of a man chiseling stone – to conjure the fundamental experience of holding something close to one’s heart. A repeated close up of a man pounding his bare chest, then gesturing with hand outstretched, lends dramatic tension to the film’s expression of devotional love. —Susan Oxtoby, Pacific Film Archive

35mm, 1993-2001, color, 20 min.

PITCHER OF COLORED LIGHT
(2007, United States/Switzerland)

Beavers’ most recent film, Pitcher of Colored Light is a loving portrait of his mother depicted in her Massachusetts home and garden, shot across several seasons.
—Susan Oxtoby, Pacific Film Archive

16mm, 24 min.

IN PERSON: ROBERT BEAVERS

* Please note the early start time.