Ruth Franklin

Shot in Rome and Salzburg’s natural theatre, the film uses cutting and sewing as metaphors for love, separation, and the craft of montage. Cloth being trimmed, hands clapping, and tools striking accompany images of tailoring, architectural restoration, and Beavers himself in a new suit, linking gesture and sound to the editing process.

Common farm animals in the stable of Christ's birth begin to talk and communicate for the first time upon Mary and Joseph's arrival. They realize a miracle is about to take place, but lose their ability to speak following the birth of Christ as they rush to tell all about the Savior's birth.

"Ballad of Smokey the Bear" tells the story of how Smokey got his name. Smokey and his forest friends encounter a creature they've never seen before that is starting fires. Smokey finds his calling in dealing with this strange new animal.

My Hand Outstretched to the Winged Distance and Sightless Measure is a film cycle by American avant-garde filmmaker Robert Beavers. It consists of eighteen films in three parts. The films were made from the late 1960s through the early 2000s in different European countries, particularly Greece, Switzerland, and Italy. Most of the works in the cycle are radically re-edited, condensed versions of the original films. The cycle premiered in its entirety in 2005.