Two poets of the cinema discuss cinema and life! Michael Guillen and Robert Beavers compose an interview so expansive, esoteric, ocular, open-hearted, and mythic; you will never be the same! :)
Winged Distance/Sightless Measure: A Conversation with Robert Beavers, Part One
Winged Distance/Sightless Measure: A Conversation with Robert Beavers, Part Two*
A few excerpts:
Michael Guillen: I was walking to my bus stop and there was a pigeon on the sidewalk and --as I drew near--the pigeon startled and took flight and there was that sound of the flapping wings which runs throughout your films. I immediately saw a flash of images from your films. I saw the image of your film layered upon the surface of the world. That association and layering of meaning onto the physical world is a quality of psychoid consciousness. It's a way of living in the world where everything means something of personal value. I have to thank you for adding onto that natural phenomenon a cerebral overlay.
Robert Beavers: Cerebral?
Michael Guillen: Cerebral and emotional, as in emotional intelligence.
Rober Beavers: And sensuous?
*
Robert Beavers: . . . It is an intuitive searching and the central part of the filming as it develops. In a number of films--I know which ones--I can feel that I did not really know what I was doing. This must be true of many people. There are probably artists and composers and others who do know what they're doing; but I'm one of those mixtures: I know what I'm doing, I'm thinking certain things, and then I also don't know what I'm doing.
*
Robert Beavers: All the filmmakers of my kind of filmmaking are using our elements to express what we either cannot or do not want to express in words; we want to give you another experience.
Ah, thanks for the shout-out! Much appreciated. Start saving your pennies and come join us at Temenos in Greece come 2012.
Posted by: Maya | November 16, 2009 at 12:54 PM
What's happening in Temenos? I've been fascinated by Greece, ever since I read BEAUTIFUL LOSERS . . . By the way, I still need to see Robert Beavers's films. Please ask him to stop by NY again! :)
Posted by: jmac | November 16, 2009 at 01:50 PM
The Temenos events! There is a screening of Markopoulos' films in a site near a small village in Greece. Last time was in June 2008 and I missed the chance to go. But I won't miss the next one!
https://www.the-temenos.org/tt_album.htm
Thanks for those links!
Posted by: Marcos | November 16, 2009 at 02:35 PM
Marcos, it's great to hear from you! Maybe I'll see you in Temenos! :)
Posted by: jmac | November 16, 2009 at 04:56 PM
Drove a very long way to attend this (the first run through), but it was more than worth it, and this interview certainly illustrates why...
Posted by: Jacob W. | November 16, 2009 at 05:10 PM
I'm glad to hear that you attended this screening, Jacob! By the way, are you a film student?
Posted by: jmac | November 17, 2009 at 02:23 PM
Not currently, at least not in the institutional sense. I am completing my general degree at the local community college, after which I hope to pursue a more specified education in this field when it is a bit more financially feasible for me. Said college does not offer any courses focusing on what I am interested in, so I figured I am better off studying on my own for now...
Posted by: Jacob W. | November 17, 2009 at 08:30 PM
Jacob, it is wonderful that you are studying experimental cinema in your free time and discovering this genre on your own terms! I am impressed with your knowledge of avant-garde film,and I hope that whatever you officially are studying in college inspires you too! (Fyi, I studied microbiology. :)
Posted by: jmac | November 17, 2009 at 08:57 PM
I studied economics and work as a software architect. Go figure... :-D
Posted by: Marcos | November 18, 2009 at 07:08 AM