Ken Jacobs

Cast

Ken Jacobs

Directing

Known for

Directing

Born

1933-05-25

From

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Died

2025-10-05

Also known as 쌄 제읎위슀

Biography

A pioneer of the American film avant-garde of the 1960s and '70s, Ken Jacobs is a central figure in post-war experimental cinema. From his first films of the late 1950s to his recent experiments with digital video, his investigations and innovations have influenced countless artists. A New Yorker by birth, Jacobs graduated from City University to find himself in the midst of the downtown art scene of the 1960s, which included artists Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol, beat writers Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac; and the experimental theater troupes of Trisha Brown and Yvonne Rainer. Although Jacobs had studied painting with Hans Hoffman, he quickly gravitated to film, finding kindred spirits in radical filmmakers such as Jonas Mekas and Hollis Frampton. An early friendship with Jack Smith yielded several collaborations, including the seminal underground films Blonde Cobra (which Jonas Mekas dubbed "the masterpiece of Baudelairean cinema") and Little Stabs at Happiness, as well as a Provincetown beach-based live show, The Human Wreckage Review.

As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
★7.7
MOVIE2000

As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty

as Self

Jonas in the Desert
★6.4
MOVIE1994

Jonas in the Desert

as Self

Momma's Man
★6.2
MOVIE2008

Momma's Man

as Dad

365 Day Project
★10.0
MOVIE2007

365 Day Project

as Self

He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
★8.4
MOVIE1986

He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life

as Self (archive footage)

Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
★7.2
MOVIE1968

Diaries, Notes, and Sketches

as Self

What Is Cinema?
★6.5
MOVIE2013

What Is Cinema?

as Self

Lost, Lost, Lost
★7.1
MOVIE1976

Lost, Lost, Lost

as Self

Nervous Ken
MOVIE2003

Nervous Ken

Fragments of Paradise
★6.5
MOVIE2022

Fragments of Paradise

as Self

Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
★6.6
MOVIE2007

Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis

as Self

Birth of a Nation
★7.0
MOVIE1997

Birth of a Nation

as Self

Sleepless Nights Stories
★5.3
MOVIE2011

Sleepless Nights Stories

as Self

Bill's Hat
MOVIE1967

Bill's Hat

Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
★6.8
MOVIE2011

Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film

as Himself

Santos Dumont: Pré-Cineasta?
★5.0
MOVIE2010

Santos Dumont: Pré-Cineasta?

as Himself

Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages
MOVIE2022

Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages

Art-House America: Austin Film Society
MOVIE2023

Art-House America: Austin Film Society

as Self

Emma's Dilemma
★1.0
MOVIE2012

Emma's Dilemma

as Himself

Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse
★9.0
MOVIE2025

Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse

as Self

Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman
MOVIE2011

Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman

Blonde Cobra
★3.0
MOVIE1963

Blonde Cobra

Lavender
MOVIE2010

Lavender

as Self

Home Movies 1971-81
MOVIE1985

Home Movies 1971-81

Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
★7.0
MOVIE2011

Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin

as Himself

Star Spangled to Death
★7.7
MOVIE2004

Star Spangled to Death

as Oscar Friendly / Ringmaster / Janitor

Scotch Tape
★4.4
MOVIE1962

Scotch Tape

Horizons
★8.5
MOVIE1973

Horizons

Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”
MOVIE1973

Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”

Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas
MOVIE2016

Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas

Huge Pupils
MOVIE1968

Huge Pupils

as Himself

Up the Illusion
MOVIE2023

Up the Illusion

Quartet Number One
★7.5
MOVIE1991

Quartet Number One

Ken Jacobs - from Orchard Street to the Museum of Modern Art
MOVIE2023

Ken Jacobs - from Orchard Street to the Museum of Modern Art

as Self

Shorts From the Underground
MOVIE2002

Shorts From the Underground

as Self

The Eternal Courtship
MOVIE2013

The Eternal Courtship

Ken Jacobs - Biography, Movies & TV Shows | streamboxd