Robert Breer

Directing

Robert Breer

Born September 30, 1926 · Detroit, Michigan, USA

Died August 11, 2011 · aged 84

Born in 1926 in Detroit, Robert Breer has spent fifty years building up a totally atypical body of work which plays with different genres and abolishes the notions of space and time. Starting off as a painter, he then deconstructed his neoplastic works and ended up with kinetic objects. He dealt next with the thresholds of awareness and perception, both as a sculptor and a film-maker. His films a…

Known For

The MovementThe Movement · 1957
The Movement
1957
Movie
Documentation of an exhibition entitled Le Mouvement held in Paris in 1955, co-curated by Breer and Pontus Hulten. Features works and appearances by Breer, Tinguely, Agam, Soto, and others. — Anthology Film Archives
A MiracleA Miracle · 1954
A Miracle
★ 4.01954
MovieAnimation
A collage film in which Pope Pious XII does a juggling act.
For Life, Against the WarFor Life, Against the War · 1967
For Life, Against the War
★ 6.01967
MovieAnimation
First shown on January 30, 1967, FOR LIFE AGAINST THE WAR was an open-call, collective statement from American independent filmmakers disparate in style and sensibility but united by their opposition to the Vietnam War. Part of the protest festival Week of the Angry Arts, the epic compilation film incorporated minute-long segments which were sent from many corners of the country, spliced together and projected. The original presentation of the works was more of an open forum with no curation or selection, and in 2000 Anthology Film Archives preserved a print featuring around 40 films from over 60 submissions.
Robert Breer At HomeRobert Breer At Home · 1992
Robert Breer At Home
1992
MovieDocumentary
Burford met Breer in February 1992 and filmed his actions. Breer manipulates some of his mutoscopes: he leafs through some cards of his film in the making, Sparkill Ave! A dome-shaped sculpture slowly moves across the space.
FASES DE LA LUNA IFASES DE LA LUNA I · 1952
FASES DE LA LUNA I
1952
MovieAnimation
Trial BalloonsTrial Balloons · 1982
Trial Balloons
★ 5.61982
MovieAnimation
An experiment in associative spontaneity.
BreathingBreathing · 1963
Breathing
★ 5.41963
MovieAnimation
Breer’s animation explores the theme and variation of the drawn line: a line in constant movement and transformation. With a very sketchy style, he demonstrates how a simple, abstract image can fill and satisfy the imagination of the film viewer. - MoMA
T.Z.T.Z. · 1979
T.Z.
★ 6.61979
MovieAnimation
An elegant home movie, its subject is Breer's apartment which faces the Tappan Zee (T.Z.) Bridge. It is permeated, as are all his films, with subtle humor, eroticism and a sense of imminent chaos and catastrophe.

Filmography

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