Gregory J. Markopoulos
Gregory J. Markopoulos (March 12, 1928 - November 12, 1992) was an American experimental filmmaker. Born in Toledo, Ohio to Greek immigrant parents, Markopoulos began making 8 mm films at an early age. He attended USC Film School in the late 1940s, and went on to become a co-founder — with Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, Stan Brakhage and others — of the New American Cinema movement. He was as well a contributor to Film Culture magazine, and an instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1967, he and his partner Robert Beavers left the United States for permanent residence in Europe. Once ensconced in self-imposed exile, Markopoulos withdrew his films from circulation, refused any interviews, and insisted that a chapter about him be removed from the second edition of Visionary Film, P. Adams Sitney's seminal study of American avant-garde cinema. While he continued to make films, his work went largely unseen for almost 30 years.
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
as SelfAn epic portrait of the New York avant-garde art scene of the 60s.
Movie pageBirth of a Nation
as SelfFilmmaker Jonas Mekas films 160 underground film people over four decades.
Movie pageEarly Monthly Segments
as uncreditedEarly Monthly Segments, filmed when Beavers was 18 and 19 years old, now forms the opening to...
Movie pageFrom the Notebook of...
as Himself"From the Notebook of..." was shot in Florence and takes as its point of departure Leonardo da...
Movie pageThe Hedge Theater
as HimselfBeavers shot The Hedge Theatre in Rome in the 1980s. It is an intimate film inspired by the...
Movie pageThe Illiac Passion
as Narrator / The FilmmakerPrometheus, on an Odyssean journey, crosses the Brooklyn Bridge in search of the characters of...
Movie pageThe Dead Ones
as PaulMarkopoulos’ first attempt at making a 35mm feature film, clearly inspired by the cinema of Jean...
Movie pageOf Blood, of Pleasure and of Death
as The WandererThe trilogy 'Of Blood, of Pleasure and of Death' (1947-1948), which began with Psyche (1947),...
Movie pagePolitical Portraits
as Narrator (voice)Dedicated to Dieter Meier. voice-over by Gregory Markopoulos, reading an excerpt in English...
Movie pageDionysus
as uncreditedIn 1963 Boultenhouse wrote, produced, and directed Dionysius,which he described as a “free...
Movie pageSwain
as the protagonist, SwainSwain is inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Fanshawe, features a dreamlike narrative of a young...
Movie pageA Christmas Carol
as Ebenezer ScroogeBased on the story by Charles Dickens. Filmed in Toledo, Ohio, U.S.A. Preserved by the...
Movie pageThe Painting
as uncreditedThe Painting intercuts shots of traffic navigating the old-world remnants of downtown Bern,...
Movie pageSpiracle
as uncreditedPortrait studies of Mrs. Hodges, Gail Beavers (the filmmaker’s sister) and Gregory J. Markopoulos.
Movie pageWinged Dialogue
as uncredited"Winged Dialogue details with growing clarity the desperate beauty and sexuality of the body...
Movie page