Ben Rivers

Ben Rivers (born 1972) is an artist and experimental filmmaker based in London, England. His work has been screened at film festivals and galleries around the world and have won numerous awards. Rivers' work ranges in themes, including exploring unknown wilderness territories to candid and intimate portraits of real-life subjects.

Filmmaker Ben Rivers at Images Festival in 2018

Life and career

Rivers studied fine art at Falmouth University.[1] His practice as a filmmaker treads a line between documentary and fiction. Often following and filming people who have in some way separated themselves from society, the raw film footage provides Rivers with a starting point for creating oblique narratives imagining alternative existences in marginal worlds. Rivers often employs analogue media and hand develops 16mm film, which shows the evidence of the elements it has been exposed to – the materiality of this medium forming part of the narrative.[2]

Rivers's first feature-length film, Two Years at Sea, was presented in September 2011 in the Orizzonti section at the 68th Venice International Film Festival and won the FIPRESCI International Critics prize.

His second feature, A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness,[3] was made in collaboration with American filmmaker Ben Russell, a frequent collaborator, and premiered at Locarno Film Festival 2013. His feature films are distributed in the United Kingdom by SODA Pictures,[4] Cinema Guild[5] and KimStim[6] in North America.

Rivers is represented by Kate MacGarry Gallery, London. His most recent feature directed in collaboration with Thai filmmaker Anocha Suwichakornpong Krabi, 2562 (2019) premiered at Locarno Film Festival.

Shows
  • "Nought to Sixty" ICA, London, 2008.[7]
  • "Wild Shapes" - group show, Cell Project Space, London, 2008.[8]
  • "A World Rattled of Habit" – solo show, A Foundation, Liverpool, 2009.[9]
  • "Slow Action" – solo show, Gallery TPW, Toronto 2011[10] and Matt's Gallery, London 2011.[11]
  • "Heather and Ivan Morison, Ben Rivers and David Thorpe" – Hepworth Wakefield 2012.[12]
  • "Ah, Liberty!" – solo show, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin 2013.[13]
  • "Fable" – solo show, Temporary Gallery, Cologne 2014.[14]
  • "Things" – solo show, Kate MacGarry Gallery, London 2014.[15]

Artist-in-focus screenings and retrospectives include Courtisane Festival;[16] Pesaro International Film Festival; London Film Festival; Tirana Film Festival; Punto de Vista[17] Pamplona; and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival[18]

Awards
  • 2007: London Artists Film and Video Award.
  • 2008: Tiger Award for Short Film, International Film Festival Rotterdam
  • 2008: Vauxhall Collective Commission.
  • 2009: Film London Artist's Moving Image Network production.
  • 2010: Shortlisted for the Jarman Award.[19]
  • 2010: Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists.[20]
  • 2011: Baloise Art Prize, Art Basel.[21]
  • 2011: FIPRESCI, International Critics Prize, 68th Venice Film Festival
  • 2012: Shortlisted for the Jarman Award.[19]
  • 2012: Robert Gardner film award.[22]
  • 2013: Artangel Open
  • 2014: Tiger Award for Short Film, International Film Festival Rotterdam

Filmography
  • Old Dark House (2003)
  • We the People (2004)
  • The Hyrcynium Wood (2005)
  • The Bomb with a Man in his Shoe (2005)
  • This Is My Land (2006)
  • Astika (2006)
  • The Coming Race (2006)
  • Terror! (2006)
  • Greenhouse (2007)
  • Dove Coup (2007)
  • House (2007)
  • Ah, Liberty! (2008)
  • Sørdal (2008)
  • Origin of the Species (2008)
  • A World Rattled of Habit (2008)
  • May Tomorrow Shine The Brightest of All Your Many Days As It Will Be Your Last (2009)
  • I Know Where I'm Going (2009)
  • Slow Action (2010)
  • Two Years at Sea (2011)
  • The Creation As We Saw It (2012)
  • Phantoms of a Libertine (2012)
  • A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness (2013)
  • Things (2014)
  • The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers (2015)
  • What Means Something (2015)
  • Trees Down There (2018)
  • The Rare Event (2018)

References
  1. "Lux. Ben Rivers". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  2. Archived 7 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness". A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness. 13 September 2013. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  4. "Soda Pictures". Soda Pictures. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "spell-theatrical". Kimstim.com. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  7. Archived 25 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Wild Shapes | Cell Project Space". cellprojects.org. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  9. "A Foundation: Ben Rivers – A World Rattled of Habit". Afoundations.blogspot.com. 8 September 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  10. "Ben Rivers | Gallery TPW". Gallerytpw.ca. 1 October 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  11. "Matt's Gallery – Ben Rivers: Slow Action". Mattsgallery.org. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  12. "Heather & Ivan Morison, Ben Rivers, David Thorpe | What'S On". Hepworth Wakefield. 10 June 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  13. Archived 15 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  14. "Temporary Gallery". Temporary Gallery. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  15. "Exhibitions". Kate MacGarry. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  16. "courtisane" (in Dutch). Courtisane.be. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  17. "Punto de Vista – Festival Internacional de Cine Documental de Navarra". navarra.es. Archived from the original on 13 February 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  18. "Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | Program sections". Kviff.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  19. https://web.archive.org/web/20101107015002/http://flamin.filmlondon.org.uk/projects/projectscurrent/jarman_award. Archived from the original on 7 November 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  20. https://web.archive.org/web/20110824092605/http://phf.org.uk/artists/artist.asp?id=1167. Archived from the original on 24 August 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  21. https://web.archive.org/web/20141014074545/http://www.baloise.com/en/mediarelations/mediakits/baloiseartprize2011.html. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  22. "robert gardner film award Archives". Studio 7 Arts. 1 February 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
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