Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas was born in 1922 in the farming village of Semeniškiai, Lithuania. In 1944, he and his brother Adolfas were taken by the Nazis to a forced labor camp in Elmshorn, Germany. After the War he studied philosophy at the University of Mainz. At the end of 1949 the UN Refugee Organization brought both brothers to New York City, where they settled down in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Two months after his arrival in New York he borrowed money to buy his first Bolex camera and began to record brief moments of his life. He soon got deeply involved in the American Avant-Garde film movement. In 1954, together with his brother, he started Film Culture magazine, which soon became the most important film publication in the US. In 1958 he began his legendary Movie Journal column in the Village Voice. In 1962 he founded the Film-Makers' Cooperative, and in 1964 the Film-Makers' Cinematheque, which eventually grew into Anthology Film Archives, one of the world's largest and most important repositories of avant-garde cinema, and a screening venue. During all this time he continued writing poetry and making films. To this date he has published more than 20 books of prose and poetry, which have been translated into over a dozen languages. His Lithuanian poetry is now part of Lithuanian classic literature and his films can be found in leading museums around the world. He is largely credited for developing the diaristic forms of cinema. Mekas has also been active as an academic, teaching at the New School for Social Research, the International Center for Photography, Cooper Union, New York University, and MIT. Mekas' film The Brig was awarded the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1963. Other films include Walden (1969), Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1972), Lost Lost Lost (1975), Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol (1990), Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (1992), As I was Moving Ahead I saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000), Letter from Greenpoint (2005), Sleepless Nights Stories (2011) and Out-takes from the Life of a Happy Man. In 2007, he completed a series of 365 short films released on the internet -- one film every day -- and since then has continued to share new work on his website. Since 2000, Mekas has expanded his work into the area of film installations, exhibiting at the Serpentine Gallery, the Centre Pompidou, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Moderna Museet (Stockholm), PS1 Contemporary Art Center MoMA, Documenta of Kassel, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Venice Biennale.
Known For
Credits
- 2023 · Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV as Self (archive footage)
- 2022 · Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages as
- 2022 · Jonas Mekas Anthology as Jonas Mekas
- 2022 · Fragments of Paradise as Self (archive footage)
- 2022 · Film: The Living Record of Our Memory as Self
- 2022 · Vertigo as
- 2022 · Notes for a Déjà vu as
- 2021 · Back from New York as Himself
- 2021 · The Velvet Underground as Self
- 2021 · As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty as Self / Narrator
- 2020 · Tapes as
- 2020 · Tiny Tim: King for a Day as Himself
- 2019 · Elegy for J.M. as
- 2019 · Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party as
- 2019 · Cinema and Sanctuary as Self
- 2019 · Self Discovery for Social Survival as Narrator (voice)
- 2019 · Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film as Self
- 2019 · Makeshift (for Mekas) as
- 2019 · Last Interview Film of Jonas Mekas/version 1 as Self
- 2019 · Keep singing: a tribute to Jonas Mekas as
- 2019 · Jonas Towards Broadway as
- 2019 · 3 Friends Singing (...in the Desert) as
- 2018 · Beyond the Bolex as Self
- 2018 · Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground as
- 2018 · George: The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus as Self
- 2018 · Nitsch as
- 2017 · I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance as Self
- 2016 · On the Holy Spirit as
- 2016 · EXPRMNTL as himself
- 2016 · I Had Nowhere to Go as Himself
- 2016 · Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas as Self
- 2015 · A Day in the Life of Andy Warhol as Self
- 2015 · A Report from Venice as
- 2015 · All About Bolex as
- 2014 · My Birthday as
- 2014 · River of Fundament as Wake Guest
- 2013 · Diaries, Notes, and Sketches as Self
- 2013 · My Conversations on Film as Himself
- 2013 · What Is Cinema? as Self
- 2012 · Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man as Jonas Mekas
- 2012 · Maya Deren, Take Zero as Himself
- 2012 · Reminiscences from Germany as Himself
- 2011 · 3.11 A Sense of Home as Himself (voice) (segment "Mt. Ventoux")
- 2011 · My Mars Bar Movie as himself
- 2011 · Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film as Himself
- 2011 · Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin as Himself
- 2011 · Guest as Self
- 2011 · Re: Maciunas and Fluxus as
- 2010 · Portrait Serie - Jonas Mekas as himself
- 2010 · New York Conversations as
- 2010 · Lavender as Self
- 2010 · Visionaries as Himself
- 2009 · Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days as Himself
- 2009 · It Came from Kuchar as Self (archive footage)
- 2009 · The Signing as
- 2009 · The Perfect Team: The Making of 'On the Bowery' as Self
- 2008 · Doc as Himself
- 2008 · Notes on an American Film Director at Work as Self
- 2008 · Andy Warhol's Factory People... Inside the Sixties Silver Factory as
- 2008 · Question a Day as
- 2007 · 365 Day Project as Himself
- 2007 · Day Nine as Himself
- 2007 · Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis as Self
- 2006 · Salvador Dalí at Work as Self
- 2006 · The Song of Central Park as Himself (voice)
- 2006 · Salvador Dali, Happenings as
- 2006 · Anger Me as Himself
- 2006 · Notes on Marie Menken as Himself
- 2006 · Who Gets to Call It Art? as Self
- 2006 · Meet The Kuchar Brothers as
- 2005 · The Definition of Insanity as
- 2005 · Excavating Taylor Mead as Self
- 2004 · Kulturplatz as Self
- 2004 · A Letter from Greenpoint as Mekas
- 2003 · Not in Our Name as himself
- 2003 · Axiom of Choice as
- 2002 · Jonas Keeps Shooting Around as Himself
- 2002 · In the Mirror of Maya Deren as Himself
- 2001 · TO NEW YORK WITH LOVE - A Letter to Penny Arcade June 25, 2001 as
- 2000 · Requiem for a Manual Typewriter as Himself
- 1999 · Letter to John from Jonas as
- 1999 · Laboratorium Anthology as Himself
- 1998 · Song of Avignon as Self
- 1998 · My Country is Cinema as Self
- 1997 · Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit as Himself
- 1997 · A Poet from the Lower East Side as Himself
- 1996 · Jonas Mekas, Friday 13th October as Himself
- 1996 · Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania as Self
- 1996 · Michael Snow Up Close as Himself
- 1996 · Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old as Himself
- 1995 · Nico Icon as Himself
- 1994 · Jonas in the Desert as Self
- 1992 · Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus) as
- 1992 · Award as Himself
- 1991 · Just Visiting This Planet as
- 1991 · Quartet Number One as
- 1991 · Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas as Himself
- 1990 · Step Across the Border as Butterfly Wing
- 1990 · Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol as Self
- 1989 · Belladonna as
- 1989 · Warhol's Cinema 1963-1968: Mirror for the Sixties as Self
- 1986 · Invocation: Maya Deren as Himself
- 1986 · He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life as Self (archive footage)
- 1986 · Fire in the East: A Portrait of Robert Frank as Himself
- 1985 · Home Movies 1971-81 as
- 1984 · Persistence of Vision as Himself
- 1981 · Strong Medicine as
- 1981 · The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man as
- 1980 · No. 18: Mahagonny as
- 1980 · Self-Portrait as Himself
- 1980 · J. Mekas as Self
- 1979 · ORG as Self (archive footage)
- 1979 · Paradise Not Yet Lost as Himself
- 1978 · Cinématon as N°1590
- 1978 · Four Shadows as
- 1978 · Notes for Jerome as Self
- 1976 · Lost, Lost, Lost as Self
- 1975 · Postcard from America as
- 1974 · ‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen as
- 1972 · Imagine as Self
- 1972 · Going Home as Himself
- 1971 · Journey to Lithuania as Himself
- 1970 · A Matter of Baobab as
- 1970 · Occhio privato sul nuovo mondo as
- 1969 · Filmmakers as Himself
- 1968 · Underground New York as Himself
- 1968 · Jonas as Himself
- 1967 · The Song of Avila as Narrator
- 1967 · Poem Posters as Self
- 1966 · Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas as himself
- 1966 · Galaxie as Himself
- 1966 · The Love Merchant as Lounge Patron
- 1965 · Andy Warhol Screen Tests as Self
- 1965 · Dirt as
- 1965 · Jonas in the Brig as Himself
- 1965 · Award Presentation to Andy Warhol as Himself
- 1965 · Empire as Self (uncredited)
- 1962 · Diane the Zebra Woman as
- Future · The Lamb as Self
- Future · Cinématon n°1590 : Jonas Mekas as
- Future · Viva Jonas! as Himself