Masterclass: Ute Aurand and Robert Beavers

In this masterclass, experimental filmmakers Ute Aurand and Robert Beavers present a masterclass exploring their philosophy and artistic practice. Students will have the opportunity to engage in discussions with the filmmakers about their approaches, influences, sources, and methods of creation. Aurand and Beavers will demonstrate their use of the Bolex camera and offer insights on its unique qualities and how these inform their work. Students will then have the opportunity to create and discuss their own short works under Aurand’s and Beavers’ guidance.

Robert Beavers is an American filmmaker who has been working between Europe and America since the 1960s. Growing up in Massachusetts, he made his first film at the age of 16 in New York, where he met the filmmaker Gregory J Markopoulos. Beavers and Markopoulos relocated to Europe together in 1967 and eventually founded the Temenos Archive, now based in Ulster, Switzerland. Beavers lives with the filmmaker Ute Aurand between Berlin and Massachusetts, USA.

Ute Aurand is a German filmmaker who has been a central presence in Berlin's experimental film scene since the 1980s. She studied filmmaking at the Deutsche Film und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb) and has been making her own 16mm films since 1985. She founded "Ute Aurand Filmproduktion" in 1987, teaches analog film practice, and has regularly programmed women's artist films. She lives with the filmmaker Robert Beavers between Berlin and Massachusetts, USA.

Co-presented by the Power Institute and Film Studies at the University of Sydney. This event has been made possible by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, German Films and the Goethe-Institut Australia.