Cast
Jonas Mekas
Directing
Cast
Jonas Mekas
Known for
Directing
Born
1922-12-24
From
SemeniĆĄkiai, Lithuania
Died
2019-01-23
Biography
Jonas Mekas (24-12-1922 - 23-1-2019) was born in the farming village of Semeniƥkiai, 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.
ORG
as Self (archive footage)
Cinématon
as N°1590
As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
as Narrator (voice)
Notes on an American Film Director at Work
as Self
The Velvet Underground
as Self
3.11 A Sense of Home Films
as Himself (voice) (segment "Mt. Ventoux")
Just Visiting This Planet
River of Fundament
as Wake Guest
Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
as Self (archive footage)
Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film
as Self
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol
as Self
It Came from Kuchar
as Self (archive footage)
Imagine
as Self
Film: The Living Record of Our Memory
as Self
Nico Icon
as Self
Jonas in the Desert
as Self
Andy Warhol Screen Tests
as Self
365 Day Project
as Self
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
as Self (archive footage)
Empire
as Self (uncredited)
Andy Warhol's Factory People... Inside the Sixties Silver Factory
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
as Self
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
as self
What Is Cinema?
as Self
Last Interview Film of Jonas Mekas/version 1
as Self
Self Discovery for Social Survival
as Narrator (voice)
Shooting Guns
Galaxie
as Self
9/11: Life Under Attack
as Self
Guest
as Self
Lost, Lost, Lost
as Self
Filmmakers
as Himself
The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man
Excavating Taylor Mead
as Self
Fragments of Paradise
as Self (archive footage)
Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground
Underground New York
as Self
The Invisible Father
as Self (archive footage)
New York Conversations
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
as Self
Strong Medicine
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
as Himself
The Love Merchant
as Lounge Patron
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
as Himself
Warhol's Cinema 1963-1968: Mirror for the Sixties
as Self
Notes on Marie Menken
as Self
Persistence of Vision
as Self
A Day in the Life of Andy Warhol
as Self
Who Gets to Call It Art?
as Self
Invocation: Maya Deren
as Himself
Fire in the East: A Portrait of Robert Frank
as Self
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
as Self
EXPRMNTL
as himself
My Conversations on Film
as Himself
Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit
as Self
The Sin of Jesus
Beyond the Bolex
as Self
I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance
as Self
Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages
Belladonna
âRameauâs Nephewâ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen
Award Presentation to Andy Warhol
as Self
Diane the Zebra Woman
Dirt
![Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/5yEUYxLQWc71aL7OGrhSnpslsQO.jpg)
Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas
as himself
Maya Deren, Take Zero
as Himself
Tiny Tim: King for a Day
as Himself
No. 18: Mahagonny
as Self
Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman
A Letter from Greenpoint
as Mekas
Poem Posters
as Self
Notes for Jerome
as Self
Notes in Lifestyle Margins
Filmstudio, mon amour
as SĂ© stesso
Vies et morts d'Andy Warhol
On the Holy Spirit
Re: Maciunas and Fluxus
Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas
as Himself
All About Bolex
The Definition of Insanity
Lavender
as Self
Home Movies 1971-81
Behind the Artist: Andy Warhol, an American Prophet
Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
as Himself
Makeshift (for Mekas)
The Signing
Anger Me
as Himself
Step Across the Border
as Butterfly Wing
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
A Poet from the Lower East Side
as Self
Going Home
as Himself
Doc
as Himself
Tapes
Vertigo
Journey to Lithuania
as Himself
George: The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus
as Self
Salvador DalĂ at Work
as Self
Song of Avignon
as Self
Cinema and Sanctuary
as Self
Jonas Mekas in Paris 10/97
Michael Snow Up Close
as Himself
A Report from Venice
The Misfits - 30 Years of Fluxus
as Self
I Had Nowhere to Go
as Himself
Jonas Towards Broadway
Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007
as Self
Postcard from America
Axiom of Choice
as Self
Award
as Himself
My Country is Cinema
as Self
The Song of Avila
as Narrator
Notes on the Buffalo Conference: âAutobiography in American Independent Cinemaâ
Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas
as Self
Visionaries
as Himself
Four Shadows
Keep singing: a tribute to Jonas Mekas
Jonas
as Himself
Requiem for a Manual Typewriter
as Himself
A Letter to Penny Arcade
The Lamb
as Self
Jonas in the Brig
as Himself
Jonas Mekas in Budapest
as Himself
Nitsch
The Song of Central Park
as Himself (voice)
Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man
as Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas Anthology
as Jonas Mekas
3 Friends Singing (...in the Desert)
Nam June Paik: Lessons from the Video Master
as Self
Quartet Number One
Ăltimas correspondencias
as Self
Letter to John from Jonas
Jonas Mekas, Friday 13th October
as Himself
The Perfect Team: The Making of 'On the Bowery'
as Self
Not in Our Name
as himself
Self-Portrait
as Himself
Reminiscences from Germany
as Self
Jonas Keeps Shooting Around
as Himself
Occhio privato sul nuovo mondo
Paradise Not Yet Lost
as Himself
My Birthday
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days
as Himself
A Matter of Baobab
Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus)
Notes for a DĂ©jĂ vu
Portrait Serie - Jonas Mekas
as himself
Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party
A Mixtape for Stom
Question a Day
Back from New York
as Himself
Ricky Leacock Visit, April 15, 1971
as Self
Elegy for J.M.
Viva Jonas!
as Himself
Jonas in the Jungle
as Self
My Mars Bar Movie
as himself
Laboratorium Anthology
as Himself
Cinématon n°1590 : Jonas Mekas
J. Mekas
as Self
Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old
as Himself
Sunday December 30, 2007
as Self