Bliss
1967 · 6 min · ★ 8.0 · Documentary
The first film made by Markopoulos after moving to Europe, Bliss was shot over the course of two days using only available light to create a lyrical study of the interior of the Church of St. John on the island of Hydra.
Directed by Gregory J. Markopoulos
Your Rating
Make it a double feature
1h 28m togetherBoth from Gregory J. Markopoulos.
More from Gregory J. MarkopoulosSee all →
Galaxie · 1966Galaxie
★ 10.01966
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 · 1940A Christmas Carol
★ 10.01940
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 · 1968The Mysteries
★ 9.01968
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."
The Dead Ones · 1967The Dead Ones
★ 8.01967
MovieDrama
Markopoulos’ first attempt at making a 35mm feature film, clearly inspired by the cinema of Jean Cocteau, was left unfinished and the materials were lost for many years.
Gammelion · 1968Gammelion
★ 7.41968
Movie
Gammelion 1968, filmed at Il Castello Roccasinibalda in Rieti, Italy, is a major work in Markopoulos’s oeuvre, marking the transition into his late period and anticipating his epic final film, Eniaios 1947–91. Shot with only two rolls of film, the work extends seven minutes of footage to almost one hour of viewing time using hundreds of fades in and out. - Tate Modern
Dionysus · 1964Dionysus
★ 7.01964
Movie
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.
Through a Lens Brightly: Mark Turbyfill · 1967Through a Lens Brightly: Mark Turbyfill
★ 7.01967
Movie
The life of painter, dancer and poet Mark Turbyfill, seen in his 70th year, is evoked through Markopoulos’ unique form of cinematic portraiture.
The Painting · 1972The Painting
★ 7.01972
MovieDocumentary
Beavers intercuts scenes of traffic in Bern with details from the 15th-century altarpiece The Martyrdom of St. Hippolytus. In its revised form, the film gains a psychodramatic intensity, juxtaposing Markopoulos in shafts of light with a torn self-portrait and recurring shots of a shattered windowpane.
Genius · 1970Genius
★ 7.01970
Movie
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.
Serenity · 1961Serenity
★ 6.81961
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.
Swain · 1950Swain
★ 6.81950
MovieDrama
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.
Lysis · 1949Lysis
★ 6.21949
MovieDrama
Markopoulos called Lysis “a study in stream-of-consciousness poetry of a lost, wandering, homosexual soul” and felt that the film foreshadowed The Illiac Passion.
Charmides · 1949Charmides
★ 6.01949
MovieDrama
Based on Plato's dialogue Charmides.
Gilbert and George · 1975Gilbert and George
★ 6.01975
Movie
A portrait of the British artists, two living sculptures, filmed in Paris on the occasion of their exhibition at the Sonnabend Gallery.
Christmas U.S.A. · 1949Christmas U.S.A.
★ 5.91949
MovieRomance
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 · 1947Fragment of Seeking
★ 5.71947
MovieHorror
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.
More Like This
The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat · 1896The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat
★ 7.11896
MovieHistoryDocumentary
A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City · 1927Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
★ 7.51927
MovieDocumentary
A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.
