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.
Acted in
Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
2023
as Self (archive footage)
Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages
2022
Jonas Mekas Anthology
2022
as Jonas Mekas
Fragments of Paradise
2022
as Self (archive footage)
Film: The Living Record of Our Memory
2022
as Self
Vertigo
2022
Notes for a Déjà vu
2022
Back from New York
2021
as Himself
The Velvet Underground
2021
as Self
Tapes
2020
Tiny Tim: King for a Day
2020
as Himself
Elegy for J.M.
2019
Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party
2019
Cinema and Sanctuary
2019
as Self
Self Discovery for Social Survival
2019
as Narrator (voice)
Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film
2019
as Self
Makeshift (for Mekas)
2019
Last Interview Film of Jonas Mekas/version 1
2019
as Self
Keep singing: a tribute to Jonas Mekas
2019
Jonas Towards Broadway
2019
3 Friends Singing (...in the Desert)
2019
Beyond the Bolex
2018
as Self
Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground
2018
George: The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus
2018
as Self
Nitsch
2018
I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance
2017
as Self
On the Holy Spirit
2016
EXPRMNTL
2016
as himself
I Had Nowhere to Go
2016
as Himself
Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas
2016
as Self
A Day in the Life of Andy Warhol
2015
as Self
A Report from Venice
2015
All About Bolex
2015
My Birthday
2014
River of Fundament
2014
as Wake Guest
My Conversations on Film
2013
as Himself
What Is Cinema?
2013
as Self
Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man
2012
as Jonas Mekas
Maya Deren, Take Zero
2012
as Himself
Reminiscences from Germany
2012
as Himself
3.11 A Sense of Home
2011
as Himself (voice) (segment "Mt. Ventoux")
My Mars Bar Movie
2011
as himself
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
2011
as Himself
Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
2011
as Himself
Guest
2011
as Self
Re: Maciunas and Fluxus
2011
Portrait Serie - Jonas Mekas
2010
as himself
New York Conversations
2010
Lavender
2010
as Self
Visionaries
2010
as Himself
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days
2009
as Himself
It Came from Kuchar
2009
as Self (archive footage)
The Signing
2009
The Perfect Team: The Making of 'On the Bowery'
2009
as Self
Doc
2008
as Himself
Question a Day
2008
Andy Warhol's Factory People... Inside the Sixties Silver Factory
2008
Notes on an American Film Director at Work
2008
as Self
365 Day Project
2007
as Himself
Day Nine
2007
as Himself
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
2007
as Self
Salvador Dalí at Work
2006
as Self
The Song of Central Park
2006
as Himself (voice)
Salvador Dali, Happenings
2006
Anger Me
2006
as Himself
Notes on Marie Menken
2006
as Himself
Who Gets to Call It Art?
2006
as Self
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
2006
The Definition of Insanity
2005
Excavating Taylor Mead
2005
as Self
A Letter from Greenpoint
2004
as Mekas
Not in Our Name
2003
as himself
Axiom of Choice
2003
Jonas Keeps Shooting Around
2002
as Himself
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
2002
as Himself
TO NEW YORK WITH LOVE - A Letter to Penny Arcade June 25, 2001
2001
As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
2000
as Self / Narrator
Requiem for a Manual Typewriter
2000
as Himself
Letter to John from Jonas
1999
Laboratorium Anthology
1999
as Himself
Song of Avignon
1998
as Self
My Country is Cinema
1998
as Self
Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit
1997
as Himself
A Poet from the Lower East Side
1997
as Himself
Jonas Mekas, Friday 13th October
1996
as Himself
Michael Snow Up Close
1996
as Himself
Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old
1996
as Himself
Nico Icon
1995
as Himself
Jonas in the Desert
1994
as Self
Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus)
1992
Award
1992
as Himself
Just Visiting This Planet
1991
Quartet Number One
1991
Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas
1991
as Himself
Step Across the Border
1990
as Butterfly Wing
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol
1990
as Self
Belladonna
1989
Warhol's Cinema 1963-1968: Mirror for the Sixties
1989
as Self
Invocation: Maya Deren
1986
as Himself
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
1986
as Self (archive footage)
Fire in the East: A Portrait of Robert Frank
1986
as Himself
Home Movies 1971-81
1985
Persistence of Vision
1984
as Himself
Strong Medicine
1981
The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man
1981
No. 18: Mahagonny
1980
Self-Portrait
1980
as Himself
J. Mekas
1980
as Self
ORG
1979
as Self (archive footage)
Paradise Not Yet Lost
1979
as Himself
Cinématon
1978
as N°1590
Four Shadows
1978
Notes for Jerome
1978
as Self
Lost, Lost, Lost
1976
as Self
Postcard from America
1975
‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen
1974
Imagine
1972
as Self
Going Home
1972
as Himself
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
1972
as Self
Journey to Lithuania
1971
as Himself
Occhio privato sul nuovo mondo
1970
A Matter of Baobab
1970
Filmmakers
1969
as Himself
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
1968
as Self
Jonas
1968
as Himself
Underground New York
1968
as Himself
The Song of Avila
1967
as Narrator
Poem Posters
1967
as Self
Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas
1966
as himself
Galaxie
1966
as Himself
The Love Merchant
1966
as Lounge Patron
Andy Warhol Screen Tests
1965
as Self
Dirt
1965
Jonas in the Brig
1965
as Himself
Award Presentation to Andy Warhol
1965
as Himself
Empire
1965
as Self (uncredited)
Diane the Zebra Woman
1962
The Lamb
as Self
Viva Jonas!
as Himself