The Illiac Passion

The Illiac Passion

Metamorphosis of the filmmaker. Passions of the filmmaker. Out of his breast the free flowing blood of the creation of a motion picture which depicts the passions of mankind and of everyman in general.

1967 · 90 min · ★ 4.3 · Drama, Fantasy

Prometheus, on an Odyssean journey, crosses the Brooklyn Bridge in search of the characters of his imagination. After meeting the Muse, he proceeds to the "forest." There, under an apple tree, he communes with his selves, represented by celebrated personages from the New York "underground scene" who appear as modern correlatives to the figures of Greek mythology. The filmmaker, who narrates the situations with a translation of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, finds the personalities of his characters to have a timeless universality.

Directed by Gregory J. Markopoulos · Written by Gregory J. Markopoulos

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Cast

Richard Beauvais Prometheus
David Beauvais Prometheus' Conscience
Robert Alvarez Narcissus
Taylor Mead The Demon or Sprite
Sheila Gary Echo
Peggy Murray The Muse
Tom Venturi Hyacinthus
Tally Brown Venus
Kenneth King Adonis
Gerard Malanga Ganymede
Jan Chippman Eurydice
Andy Warhol Poseidon

Make it a double feature

2h 52m together

The Illiac Passion

Galaxie

Both from Gregory J. Markopoulos.

More from Gregory J. MarkopoulosSee all →

Galaxie

Galaxie · 1966

MovieDocumentary

In March and April of 1966, Markopoulos created this filmic portrait of writers and artists from his New York circle, including Parker Tyler, W. H. Auden, Jasper Johns, Susan Sontag, Storm De Hirsch, Jonas Mekas, Allen Ginsberg, and George and Mike Kuchar, most observed in their homes or studios. Filmed in vibrant color, Galaxie pulses with life. It is a masterpiece of in-camera composition and editing, and stands as a vibrant response to Andy Warhol's contemporary Screen Tests. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2001.

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol · 1940

A Christmas Carol

MovieDramaFantasy

Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.

The Mysteries

The Mysteries · 1968

MovieMysteryDrama

"In my film I suggest that there is no greater mystery than that of the protagonists. War and Love are simply equated for what they are; the aftermath is inevitable, and a normal human condition, for which like the ancients one can only have pity and understanding. In this lies the mystery. All else is irrelevant. That there are other sub-currents of equal power in The Mysteries goes without saying; and, those who are capable of the numerous visual visitations and annunciations which the film offers them will realize what is the Ultimate Mystery of my work."

Early Monthly Segments

Early Monthly Segments · 2003

Early Monthly Segments

MovieDocumentary

Early Monthly Segments, filmed when Beavers was 18 and 19 years old, now forms the opening to his film cycle, “My Hand Outstretched to the Winged Distance and Sightless Measure.” It is a highly stylized work of self-portraiture, depicting filmmaker and companion Gregory J. Markopoulos in their Swiss apartment. The film functions as a diary, capturing aspects of home life with precise attention to detail, documenting the familiar with great love and transforming objects and ordinary personal effects into a highly charged work of homoeroticism.

Sorrows

Sorrows · 1969

Set to music by Beethoven, this lyrical portrait moves from a chilled and misty exterior to the crystalline interior of the Swiss chateau that King Ludwig II built for Wagner.

Psyche

MovieDramaRomance

Psyche 1947, made while a student at USC, shows Markopoulos’ developing style and his sensuous use of colour and composition. Shot in the Hollywood hills, the film was inspired by an unfinished novella by Pierre Louÿs. - Tate Modern

Through a Lens Brightly: Mark Turbyfill

Through a Lens Brightly: Mark Turbyfill · 1967

Through a Lens Brightly: Mark Turbyfill

The life of painter, dancer and poet Mark Turbyfill, seen in his 70th year, is evoked through Markopoulos’ unique form of cinematic portraiture.

Dionysus

Dionysus · 1964

In 1963 Boultenhouse wrote, produced, and directed Dionysius,which he described as a “free treatment of Euripides' The Bacchae.”It starred the dancers Louis Falco, Anna Duncan, and Nicolas Magallanes as Dionysius, Agave, and Pentheus respectively, and the experimental filmmakers Charles Levine, Willard Maas, Gregory Markopoulos, Marie Menken, Lloyd Williams and William Wood as the Chorus of Cameras. The film's score was by Teiji Ito.

The Painting

The Painting · 1972

MovieDocumentary

The Painting intercuts shots of traffic navigating the old-world remnants of downtown Bern, Switzerland, with details from a 15th-century altarpiece, “The Martyrdom of St. Hippolytus”. The painting shows the calm, near-naked saint in a peaceful landscape, a frozen moment before four horses tear his body to pieces while an audience of soigné nobles look on; in the movie’s revised version, Beavers gives it a comparably rarefied psychodramatic jolt, juxtaposing shots of Gregory Markopoulos, bisected by shafts of light, with a torn photo of himself and the recurring image of a shattered windowpane.

Genius

Based upon the theme of Faust, with the characters portrayed serving as representatives of the crises of their time. A triple portrait of three important figures in the art world: British artist David Hockney, Argentine surrealist painter Leonor Fini, and German-French art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler.

Sotiros

Sotiros · 2000

MovieDocumentary

In Sotiros, there is an unspoken dialogue and a seen dialogue, The latter is held between the intertitles and the images; the former is moved by the tripod and by the emotions of the filmmaker. Both dialogues are interwoven with the sunlight’s movement as it circles the room, touching each wall and corner, detached and intimate.

Swain

Swain is inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Fanshawe, features a dreamlike narrative of a young man’s ritualized rejection of heterosexuality, as a mysterious woman in white gossamer pursues him through a ruined landscape.

Serenity

Serenity · 1961

MovieHistoryDrama

Originally edited in two versions. Version I, 70 minutes; version II, 90 minutes. (The only known existing version is not Markopoulos’s edit and contains additional titles, music and voice-over added later than 1961. 65 minutes.) Filmed in Mytilene and Annavysos, Greece, 1958. Existing copy on video, J. and M. Paris Films, Athens.

Charmides

Charmides · 1949

Based on Plato's dialogue Charmides.

Christmas U.S.A.

Christmas U.S.A. · 1949

Christmas U.S.A.

Things spin: amusement park rides, a phonograph record. A man wakes, shaves, and takes a phone call. Another man, in a kimono, walks in the woods, stops, and opens a small decorative box on the forest floor. People at an amusement park called Little Harlem enjoy themselves. A man walks through another amusement park, called Cavalcade Worlds, as midway rides spin. At a house, an older woman cleans; a pre-teen girl sets the table; a teenaged boy showers. After he dresses, he holds a candle high above his head and walks swiftly toward a young man standing bare-chested, his arms extended. A man arrives home where the girl has set the table. The youth sleeps. Christmas?

Fragment of Seeking

Fragment of Seeking · 1947

Fragment of Seeking

A young man desperately seeks the fleeting image of a female companion, and though he never quite catches her, he discovers far more through surreal explorations of his own sexuality.

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