Gregory J. Markopoulos

Born: 1928-03-12

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.


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Diaries, Notes, and Sketches

as Self
Released: 1968-03-01

An epic portrait of the New York avant-garde art scene of the 60s.

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The Illiac Passion

as Narrator / The Filmmaker
Released: 1967-12-30

Prometheus, on an Odyssean journey, crosses the Brooklyn Bridge in search of the characters of...

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Birth of a Nation

as Self
Released: 1997-08-06

Filmmaker Jonas Mekas films 160 underground film people over four decades.

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Dionysus

as uncredited
Released: 1964-12-21

In 1963 Boultenhouse wrote, produced, and directed Dionysius,which he described as a “free...

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From the Notebook of...

as Himself
Released: 1972-02-11

"From the Notebook of..." was shot in Florence and takes as its point of departure Leonardo da...

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Political Portraits

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1969-01-01

Dedicated to Dieter Meier. voice-over by Gregory Markopoulos, reading an excerpt in English...

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Early Monthly Segments

as uncredited
Released: 2003-09-09

Early Monthly Segments, filmed when Beavers was 18 and 19 years old, now forms the opening to...

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Of Blood, of Pleasure and of Death

as The Wanderer
Released: 1948-01-01

The trilogy 'Of Blood, of Pleasure and of Death' (1947-1948), which began with Psyche (1947),...

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The Painting

as uncredited
Released: 1972-01-01

The Painting intercuts shots of traffic navigating the old-world remnants of downtown Bern,...

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The Hedge Theater

as Himself
Released: 2002-11-17

Beavers shot The Hedge Theatre in Rome in the 1980s. It is an intimate film inspired by the...

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A Christmas Carol

as Ebenezer Scrooge
Released: 1940-01-01

Based on the story by Charles Dickens. Filmed in Toledo, Ohio, U.S.A. Preserved by the...

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Spiracle

as uncredited
Released: 1967-12-29

Portrait studies of Mrs. Hodges, Gail Beavers (the filmmaker’s sister) and Gregory J. Markopoulos.

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Swain

as the protagonist, Swain
Released: 1950-12-31

Swain is inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Fanshawe, features a dreamlike narrative of a young...

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Winged Dialogue

as uncredited
Released: 1967-12-30

"Winged Dialogue details with growing clarity the desperate beauty and sexuality of the body...

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The Dead Ones

as Paul
Released: 1967-01-17

Markopoulos’ first attempt at making a 35mm feature film, clearly inspired by the cinema of Jean...

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