Ben Rivers
Ben RIVERS (1972, UK) is an artist and filmmaker. His body of work has been exhibited worldwide at numerous galleries and festivals. He was educated at the Falmouth School of Art and was co-founder and programmer of the Brighton Cinematheque (1995-2005). His first feature film, Two Years at Sea (2011), won the FIPRESCI Award in Venice. In Rotterdam, Rivers won a Tiger Award for Short Films twice: in 2008 with Ah Liberty! and in 2015 with Things. At present, he is affiliated with Harvard University, where he will be working on an ethnographic film. In 2015, Rivers’ film The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers premiered at Locarno. Krabi, 2562, co-directed with Anocha Suwichakornpong, screens at IFFR 2020.
Filmography
(selection) Old Dark House (2003, short), We the People (2004, short), The Hyrcynium Wood (2005, short), The Bomb with a Man in His Shoe (2005, short), This Is My Land (2006, short doc), Astika (2006, short), The Coming Race (2006, short), Terror! (2006, short), Greenhouse (2007, short), Dove Coup (2007, short), House (2007, short), Ah, Liberty! (2008, short), Sørdal (2008, short), Origin of the Species (2008, short doc), A World Rattled of Habit (2008, short), May Tomorrow Shine the Brightest of All Your Many Days As It Will Be Your Last (2009, short), I Know Where I’m Going (2009, short), Slow Action (2011, short), Sack Barrow (2011, short), Two Years at Sea (2011), The Creation As We Saw It (2012, short), Phantoms of a Libertine (2012, short), A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness (2013, co-dir), Let Us Persevere in What We Have Resolved Before We Forget (2013, short), Things (2014, short), The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers (2015), Krabi, 2562 (2019, co-dir), Look Then Below (2019)
Ben Rivers at IFFR
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A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness
Ben Russell, Ben Rivers | 98' | France | None
We follow a man during three seemingly separate periods in his life: as a member of a commune, isolated in the wilderness and as a… -
Let Us Persevere in What We Have Resolved Before We Forget
Ben Russell | 20' | USA | None
Playing with anthropological film conventions. Priests on a Pacific island carry out rituals based on the prophecies of messiah John Frum. -
The Coming Race
Ben Rivers | 5' | United Kingdom | World premiere
A hint of mystery covers these and hand developed shots of lines of mountain climbers on their way to… well, where are they going? -
This Is My Land
Ben Rivers | 14' | United Kingdom | International premiere
A folk film for the new millennium. A hand processed portrait of a loner in rural Scotland. -
Astika
Ben Rivers | 9' | Denmark | World premiere
Circumspect portrait of a rough loner on the Danish island who has led his farm run wild for 15 years. -
The Hyrcynium Wood
Ben Rivers | 3' | United Kingdom | None
Puzzling encounters and doublings in a deserted greenhouse complex. -
Harrachov
Joost van Veen, Matt Hulse | 10' | Netherlands | World premiere
As if attracted by a black hole, objects come to life in this combination of live action and animation. The machine can be seen in… -
Origin of the Species
Ben Rivers | 16' | United Kingdom | None
Existentialist portrait by former Tiger Short winner of a man who lives with his obsession for Darwin in self-imposed isolation. -
Sarah Ann
Pim Zwier | 10' | Netherlands | World premiere
Who is Sarah Ann and how did she become a legend? This film provides the answer. -
Ah, Liberty!
Ben Rivers | 20' | United Kingdom | World premiere
Real life, or at least, something close to it.