Ben Rivers
Ben Rivers (born in 1972) is an artist and experimental filmmaker based in London. His work has been shown in many film festivals and galleries around the world and has won numerous awards. His work ranges from themes about exploring unknown wilderness territories to candid and intimate portrayals of real-life subjects.
Life and career
Rivers's practice as a filmmaker treads a line between documentary and fiction. Often following and filming people who have in some way separated themselves from society, the raw film footage provides Rivers with a starting point for creating oblique narratives imagining alternative existences in marginal worlds. Rivers uses near-antique cameras and hand develops the 16 mm film, which shows the evidence of the elements it has been exposed to – the materiality of this medium forming part of the narrative.[1]
Rivers's first feature-length film, Two Years at Sea, was presented in September 2011 in the Orizzonti section at the 68th Venice International Film Festival and won the FIPRESCI International Critics prize.
His second feature, A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness,[2] was made in collaboration with Ben Russell and premiered at Locarno Film Festival 2013. The feature films are distributed in UK by SODA Pictures[3] and Cinema Guild[4] and KimStim[5] in North America
Rivers is represented by Kate MacGarry Gallery, London.
Shows
- "Nought to Sixty" ICA, London, 2008.[6]
- "A World Rattled of Habit" - solo show, A Foundation, Liverpool, 2009.[7]
- "Slow Action" - solo show, Gallery TPW, Toronto 2011[8] and Matt’s Gallery, London 2011.[9]
- "Heather and Ivan Morison, Ben Rivers and David Thorpe" - Hepworth Wakefield 2012.[10]
- "Ah, Liberty!" - solo show, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin 2013.[11]
- "Fable" - solo show, Temporary Gallery, Cologne 2014.[12]
- "Things" - solo show, Kate MacGarry Gallery, London 2014.[13]
Artist-in-focus screenings and retrospectives include Courtisane Festival;[14] Pesaro International Film Festival; London Film Festival; Tirana Film Festival; Punto de Vista[15] Pamplona; and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival[16]
Awards
- 2007: London Artists Film and Video Award.
- 2008: Tiger Award for Short Film, International Film Festival Rotterdam
- 2008: Vauxhall Collective Commission.
- 2009: Film London Artist's Moving Image Network production.
- 2010: Shortlisted for the Jarman Award.[17]
- 2010: Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists.[18]
- 2011: Baloise Art Prize, Art Basel.[19]
- 2011: FIPRESCI, International Critics Prize, 68th Venice Film Festival
- 2012: Shortlisted for the Jarman Award.[17]
- 2012: Robert Gardner film award.[20]
- 2013: Artangel Open
- 2014: Tiger Award for Short Film, International Film Festival Rotterdam
Filmography
- Old Dark House (2003)
- We the People (2004)
- The Hyrcynium Wood (2005)
- The Bomb with a Man in his Shoe (2005)
- This Is My Land (2006)
- Astika (2006)
- The Coming Race (2006)
- Terror! (2006)
- Greenhouse (2007)
- Dove Coup (2007)
- House (2007)
- Ah, Liberty! (2008)
- Sørdal (2008)
- Origin of the Species (2008)
- A World Rattled of Habit (2008)
- May Tomorrow Shine The Brightest Of All Your Many Days As It Will Be Your Last (2009)
- I Know Where I'm Going (2009)
- Slow Action (2010)
- Two Years at Sea (2011)
- The Creation As We Saw It (2012)
- Phantoms of a Libertine (2012)
- A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness (2013)
- Things (2014)
- The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers (2015)
- What Means Something (2015)
References
- ↑ Archived April 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness". A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness. 2013-09-13. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
- ↑ "Soda Pictures". Soda Pictures. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
- ↑
- ↑ "spell-theatrical". Kimstim.com. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
- ↑ Archived November 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "A Foundation: Ben Rivers - A World Rattled of Habit". Afoundations.blogspot.com. 2009-09-08. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
- ↑ "Ben Rivers | Gallery TPW". Gallerytpw.ca. 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
- ↑ "Matt's Gallery - Ben Rivers: Slow Action". Mattsgallery.org. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
- ↑ "Heather & Ivan Morison, Ben Rivers, David Thorpe | What'S On". Hepworth Wakefield. 2012-06-10. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
- ↑ Archived October 15, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "Temporary Gallery". Temporary Gallery. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
- ↑ "Exhibitions". Kate MacGarry. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
- ↑ "courtisane" (in Dutch). Courtisane.be. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
- ↑ "Punto de Vista - Festival Internacional de Cine Documental de Navarra". navarra.es. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
- ↑ "Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | Program sections". Kviff.com. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
- 1 2 https://web.archive.org/20101107015002/http://flamin.filmlondon.org.uk/projects/projectscurrent/jarman_award. Archived from the original on November 7, 2010. Retrieved December 9, 2010. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ https://web.archive.org/20110824092605/http://phf.org.uk/artists/artist.asp?id=1167. Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2010. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ https://web.archive.org/20141014074545/http://www.baloise.com/en/mediarelations/mediakits/baloiseartprize2011.html. Archived from the original on October 14, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2014. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "robert gardner film award Archives". Studio 7 Arts. 2013-02-01. Retrieved 2015-03-03.