Ben Rivers

Rivers studied fine art at Falmouth University.{{Cite web |url=http://www.lux.org.uk/collection/artists/ben-rivers |title=Lux. Ben Rivers |access-date=9 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927100049/http://www.lux.org.uk/collection/artists/ben-rivers |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }} 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.[http://www.lux.org.uk/collection/artists/ben-rivers-0] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100407064508/http://www.lux.org.uk/collection/artists/ben-rivers-0|date=7 April 2010}}

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,{{cite web |url=http://www.aspelltowardoffthedarkness.com/ |title=A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness |publisher=A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness |date=13 September 2013 |accessdate=3 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20141008212411/http://www.aspelltowardoffthedarkness.com/ |archivedate=8 October 2014 |df=dmy-all }} 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,{{cite web|url=http://www.sodapictures.com/ |title=Soda Pictures |publisher=Soda Pictures |accessdate=3 March 2015}} Cinema Guild{{cite web |url=http://cinemaguild.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=HE&Product_Code=5182 |title=TWO YEARS AT SEA - Cinema Guild Home Video |accessdate=2014-10-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013101531/http://cinemaguild.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=HE&Product_Code=5182 |archivedate=13 October 2014 |df=dmy-all }} and KimStim{{cite web |url=http://www.kimstim.com/spell-theatrical.html |title=spell-theatrical |publisher=Kimstim.com |accessdate=3 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150410053244/http://www.kimstim.com/spell-theatrical.html |archivedate=10 April 2015 }} in North America.

Rivers is represented by Kate MacGarry Gallery, London. His most recent feature directed in collaboration with Thai filmmaker Anocha Suwichakornpong [https://mubi.com/films/krabi-2562 Krabi, 2562] (2019) premiered at Locarno Film Festival. Rivers is a [https://mediacityfilmfestival.com/chrysalis-fellowship/ Media City Film Festival Chrysalis Fellowship]{{Cite web|title=Media City Film Festival|url=https://mediacityfilmfestival.com/|access-date=2021-03-08|website=Media City Film Festival|language=en-US}} recipient (2020), after screening his work at the festival since the early aughts.

• "Nought to Sixty" ICA, London, 2008.[http://www.ica.org.uk/17753.twl] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125174417/http://www.ica.org.uk/17753.twl|date=25 November 2010}}
• "Wild Shapes" – group show, Cell Project Space, London, 2008.{{Cite web|url=http://cellprojects.org/exhibitions/wild-shapes|title=Wild Shapes {{!}} Cell Project Space|website=cellprojects.org|language=en|access-date=2018-05-01}}
• "A World Rattled of Habit" – solo show, A Foundation, Liverpool, 2009.{{cite web|url=http://afoundations.blogspot.com/2009/09/ben-rivers-world-rattled-of-habit.html |title=A Foundation: Ben Rivers – A World Rattled of Habit |publisher=Afoundations.blogspot.com |date=8 September 2009 |accessdate=3 March 2015}}
• "Slow Action" – solo show, Gallery TPW, Toronto 2011{{cite web|url=http://gallerytpw.ca/exhibitions/brivers/ |title=Ben Rivers | Gallery TPW |publisher=Gallerytpw.ca |date=1 October 2011 |accessdate=3 March 2015}} and Matt's Gallery, London 2011.{{cite web|url=http://www.mattsgallery.org/artists/rivers/exhibition-1.php |title=Matt's Gallery – Ben Rivers: Slow Action |publisher=Mattsgallery.org |accessdate=3 March 2015}}
• "Heather and Ivan Morison, Ben Rivers and David Thorpe" – Hepworth Wakefield 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.hepworthwakefield.org/morison-rivers-thorpe/ |title=Heather & Ivan Morison, Ben Rivers, David Thorpe | What'S On |publisher=Hepworth Wakefield |date=10 June 2012 |accessdate=3 March 2015}}
• "Ah, Liberty!" – solo show, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin 2013.[http://www.douglashydegallery.com/exhibition.php?intProjectID=175] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015032641/http://www.douglashydegallery.com/exhibition.php?intProjectID=175|date=15 October 2014}}
• "Fable" – solo show, Temporary Gallery, Cologne 2014.{{cite web|url=http://www.temporarygallery.org/ |title=Temporary Gallery |publisher=Temporary Gallery |accessdate=3 March 2015}}
• "Things" – solo show, Kate MacGarry Gallery, London 2014.{{cite web|url=http://www.katemacgarry.com/exhibitions/ben-rivers-things |title=Exhibitions |publisher=Kate MacGarry |accessdate=3 March 2015}}

Artist-in-focus screenings and retrospectives include Courtisane Festival;{{cite web|url=http://www.courtisane.be/ |title=courtisane |publisher=Courtisane.be |accessdate=3 March 2015|language=nl}} Pesaro International Film Festival; London Film Festival; Tirana Film Festival; Punto de Vista{{cite web|url=http://www.navarra.es/home_en/Temas/Turismo+ocio+y+cultura/Actividades+culturales/Espectaculos/PuntodeVista/Historico/Edicion+2009/Otras+secciones/Ciclos/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130213121442/http://www.navarra.es/home_en/Temas/Turismo+ocio+y+cultura/Actividades+culturales/Espectaculos/PuntodeVista/Historico/Edicion+2009/Otras+secciones/Ciclos/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 February 2013 |title=Punto de Vista – Festival Internacional de Cine Documental de Navarra |publisher=navarra.es |accessdate=3 March 2015 }} Pamplona; and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival{{cite web|url=http://www.kviff.com/en/films/program-sections/195-tribute-to-ben-rivers/ |title=Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | Program sections |publisher=Kviff.com |accessdate=3 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015062758/http://www.kviff.com/en/films/program-sections/195-tribute-to-ben-rivers/ |archivedate=15 October 2014 }}

{{col-list|colwidth=30em|

• 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)
• Sack Barrow (2011)
• The Creation As We Saw It (2012)
• Phantoms of a Libertine (2012)
• A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness (2013) (co-directed with Ben Russell)
• Things (2014)
• The Film That Buys the Cinema (2014)
• The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers (2015)
• What Means Something (2015)
• A Distant Episode (2016)
• There Is a Happy Land Further Awaay (2016)
• The Hunchback (2016) (co-directed with Gabriel Abrantes)
• Trees Down There (2018)
• The Rare Event (2018)
• The Ambassadors (2018) (co-directed with Anocha Suwichakornpong)
• Now, At Last! (2018)
• Krabi, 2562 (2019) (co-directed with Anocha Suwichakornpong)
• Ghost Strata (2019)
• Look Then Below (2020)
• Bogancloch (2024)

}}

• 2007: London Artists Film and Video Award.{{Citation needed|date=February 2015}}
• 2008: Tiger Award for Short Film, International Film Festival Rotterdam
• 2008: Vauxhall Collective Commission.{{Citation needed|date=February 2015}}
• 2009: Film London Artist's Moving Image Network production.{{Citation needed|date=February 2015}}
• 2010: Shortlisted for the Jarman Award.{{cite web|url=http://flamin.filmlondon.org.uk/projects/projectscurrent/jarman_award |accessdate=9 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101107015002/http://flamin.filmlondon.org.uk/projects/projectscurrent/jarman_award |archivedate=7 November 2010 |title=FLAMIN - the Jarman Award 2010 }}
• 2010: Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists.{{cite web|url=http://phf.org.uk/artists/artist.asp?id=1167 |accessdate=9 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824092605/http://phf.org.uk/artists/artist.asp?id=1167 |archivedate=24 August 2011 |title=Paul Hamlyn Foundation ~ 2010 Awards ~ Ben Rivers ~ About the artist }}
• 2011: Baloise Art Prize, Art Basel.{{cite web|url=http://www.baloise.com/en/mediarelations/mediakits/baloiseartprize2011.html |accessdate=8 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141014074545/http://www.baloise.com/en/mediarelations/mediakits/baloiseartprize2011.html |archivedate=14 October 2014 |title=Baloise Art Prize 2011 - Baloise Group }}
• 2011: FIPRESCI, International Critics Prize, 68th Venice Film Festival
• 2012: Shortlisted for the Jarman Award.
• 2012: Robert Gardner film award.{{cite web|url=http://www.studio7arts.org/posts/tag/robert-gardner-film-award/ |title=robert gardner film award Archives |publisher=Studio 7 Arts |date=1 February 2013 |accessdate=3 March 2015}}
• 2013: Artangel Open [http://www.artangel.org.uk/projects/2015/the_two_eyes_are_not_brothers ]
• 2014: Tiger Award for Short Film, International Film Festival Rotterdam
• 2020: Media City Film Festival Chrysalis Fellowship

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{official website|http://www.benrivers.com}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110319021122/http://www.katemacgarry.com/benrivers.php Kate MacGarry Gallery]
• [http://cinema-scope.com/wordpress/web-archive-2/issue-43/features-listen-to-britain-on-the-outskirts-with-ben-rivers/?preview=true/ Cinemascope interview]
• [http://bombmagazine.org/article/7322/ben-rivers/ BOMB magazine interview]
• [https://vimeo.com/user3570670/ Vimeo page]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivers, Ben}}

Category:1972 births

Category:Living people

Category:English experimental filmmakers

Category:Film people from London

Category:Bâloise Prize winners

Category:Radcliffe fellows

Category:Media Wave Award winners

Category:English contemporary artists

Category:Alumni of Falmouth University