Jonas Mekas

Personal Info

Known For

Directing

Known Credits

154

Gender

Male

Birthday

1922-12-24

Day of death

2019-01-23 (96 years old)

Place of Birth

Semeniškiai, Lithuania

Jonas Mekas

Biography

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

  • Kulturplatz

    Kulturplatz

  • My Conversations on Film

    My Conversations on Film

  • Paradise Not Yet Lost

    Paradise Not Yet Lost

  • Notes on an American Film Director at Work

    Notes on an American Film Director at Work

  • Meet The Kuchar Brothers

    Meet The Kuchar Brothers

  • River of Fundament

    River of Fundament

  • Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas

    Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas

  • Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis

    Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis

  • Film: The Living Record of Our Memory

    Film: The Living Record of Our Memory

  • Notes for Jerome

    Notes for Jerome

  • Fire in the East: A Portrait of Robert Frank

    Fire in the East: A Portrait of Robert Frank

  • Cinema and Sanctuary

    Cinema and Sanctuary

  • A Day in the Life of Andy Warhol

    A Day in the Life of Andy Warhol

  • Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol

    Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol

  • The Love Merchant

    The Love Merchant

  • Diaries, Notes, and Sketches

    Diaries, Notes, and Sketches

  • Diaries, Notes, and Sketches

    Diaries, Notes, and Sketches

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

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

  • Strong Medicine

    Strong Medicine

  • 365 Day Project

    365 Day Project

  • Invocation: Maya Deren

    Invocation: Maya Deren

  • Lavender

    Lavender

  • Poem Posters

    Poem Posters

  • Fragments of Paradise

    Fragments of Paradise

  • Galaxie

    Galaxie

  • Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania

    Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania

  • Jonas in the Desert

    Jonas in the Desert

  • The Velvet Underground

    The Velvet Underground

  • Award Presentation to Andy Warhol

    Award Presentation to Andy Warhol

  • Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days

    Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days

  • Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin

    Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin

  • Quartet Number One

    Quartet Number One

  • Lost, Lost, Lost

    Lost, Lost, Lost

  • Andy Warhol Screen Tests

    Andy Warhol Screen Tests

  • On the Holy Spirit

    On the Holy Spirit

  • 3.11 A Sense of Home Films

    3.11 A Sense of Home Films

  • Beyond the Bolex

    Beyond the Bolex

  • Award

    Award

  • Dirt

    Dirt

  • In the Mirror of Maya Deren

    In the Mirror of Maya Deren

  • Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV

    Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV

  • Ricky Leacock Visit, April 15, 1971

    Ricky Leacock Visit, April 15, 1971

  • Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film

    Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film

  • Step Across the Border

    Step Across the Border

  • Imagine

    Imagine

  • Behind the Artist: Andy Warhol, an American Prophet

    Behind the Artist: Andy Warhol, an American Prophet

  • The Invisible Father

    The Invisible Father

  • Occhio privato sul nuovo mondo

    Occhio privato sul nuovo mondo

  • What Is Cinema?

    What Is Cinema?

  • New York Conversations

    New York Conversations

  • Cinématon

    Cinématon

  • Nico Icon

    Nico Icon

  • Warhol's Cinema 1963-1968: Mirror for the Sixties

    Warhol's Cinema 1963-1968: Mirror for the Sixties

  • Tiny Tim: King for a Day

    Tiny Tim: King for a Day

  • Who Gets to Call It Art?

    Who Gets to Call It Art?

  • No. 18: Mahagonny

    No. 18: Mahagonny

  • Doc

    Doc

  • Belladonna

    Belladonna

  • Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party

    Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party

  • ‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen

    ‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen

  • The Perfect Team: The Making of 'On the Bowery'

    The Perfect Team: The Making of 'On the Bowery'

  • It Came from Kuchar

    It Came from Kuchar

  • EXPRMNTL

    EXPRMNTL

  • ORG

    ORG

  • Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film

    Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film

  • Filmmakers

    Filmmakers

  • Vies et morts d'Andy Warhol

    Vies et morts d'Andy Warhol

  • Anger Me

    Anger Me

  • Tapes

    Tapes

  • Andy Warhol's Factory People... Inside the Sixties Silver Factory

    Andy Warhol's Factory People... Inside the Sixties Silver Factory

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

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

  • Guest

    Guest

  • Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit

    Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit

  • Underground New York

    Underground New York

  • Excavating Taylor Mead

    Excavating Taylor Mead

  • Michael Snow Up Close

    Michael Snow Up Close

  • The Misfits - 30 Years of Fluxus

    The Misfits - 30 Years of Fluxus

  • Just Visiting This Planet

    Just Visiting This Planet

  • The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man

    The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man

  • Empire

    Empire

  • He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life

    He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life

  • The Sin of Jesus

    The Sin of Jesus

  • Diane the Zebra Woman

    Diane the Zebra Woman

  • A Poet from the Lower East Side

    A Poet from the Lower East Side

  • Notes in Lifestyle Margins

    Notes in Lifestyle Margins

  • 3 Friends Singing (...in the Desert)

    3 Friends Singing (...in the Desert)

  • I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance

    I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance

  • Sean

    Sean

  • Elegy for J.M.

    Elegy for J.M.

  • Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man

    Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man

  • Home Movies 1971-81

    Home Movies 1971-81

  • Vertigo

    Vertigo

  • Letter to John from Jonas

    Letter to John from Jonas

  • Self Discovery for Social Survival

    Self Discovery for Social Survival

  • Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground

    Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground

  • Going Home

    Going Home

  • Jonas Towards Broadway

    Jonas Towards Broadway

  • TO NEW YORK WITH LOVE - A Letter to Penny Arcade June 25, 2001

    TO NEW YORK WITH LOVE - A Letter to Penny Arcade June 25, 2001

  • George: The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus

    George: The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus

  • Jonas in the Brig

    Jonas in the Brig

  • A Letter from Greenpoint

    A Letter from Greenpoint

  • Salvador Dalí at Work

    Salvador Dalí at Work

  • Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas

    Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas

  • Nam June Paik: Lessons from the Video Master

    Nam June Paik: Lessons from the Video Master

  • Re: Maciunas and Fluxus

    Re: Maciunas and Fluxus

  • Journey to Lithuania

    Journey to Lithuania

  • Song of Avignon

    Song of Avignon

  • Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas

    Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas

  • J. Mekas

    J. Mekas

  • Persistence of Vision

    Persistence of Vision

  • My Mars Bar Movie

    My Mars Bar Movie

  • Last Interview Film of Jonas Mekas/version 1

    Last Interview Film of Jonas Mekas/version 1

  • My Birthday

    My Birthday

  • A Report from Venice

    A Report from Venice

  • Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus)

    Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus)

  • Requiem for a Manual Typewriter

    Requiem for a Manual Typewriter

  • Back from New York

    Back from New York

  • Notes for a Déjà vu

    Notes for a Déjà vu

  • Viva Jonas!

    Viva Jonas!

  • My Country is Cinema

    My Country is Cinema

  • Portrait Serie - Jonas Mekas

    Portrait Serie - Jonas Mekas

  • The Lamb

    The Lamb

  • RAHHH

    RAHHH

  • Notes on Marie Menken

    Notes on Marie Menken

  • Visionaries

    Visionaries

  • Nitsch

    Nitsch

  • Jonas Mekas Anthology

    Jonas Mekas Anthology

  • Jonas Keeps Shooting Around

    Jonas Keeps Shooting Around

  • All About Bolex

    All About Bolex

  • Postcard from America

    Postcard from America

  • I Had Nowhere to Go

    I Had Nowhere to Go

  • Maya Deren, Take Zero

    Maya Deren, Take Zero

  • Axiom of Choice

    Axiom of Choice

  • Jonas

    Jonas

  • Jonas Mekas in Budapest

    Jonas Mekas in Budapest

  • A Matter of Baobab

    A Matter of Baobab

  • The Song of Avila

    The Song of Avila

  • Makeshift (for Mekas)

    Makeshift (for Mekas)

  • Four Shadows

    Four Shadows

  • Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old

    Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old

  • Cinématon n°1590 : Jonas Mekas

    Cinématon n°1590 : Jonas Mekas

  • Question a Day

    Question a Day

  • Self-Portrait

    Self-Portrait

  • The Signing

    The Signing

  • Jonas Mekas, Friday 13th October

    Jonas Mekas, Friday 13th October

  • The Definition of Insanity

    The Definition of Insanity

  • Keep singing: a tribute to Jonas Mekas

    Keep singing: a tribute to Jonas Mekas

  • Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007

    Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007

  • Reminiscences from Germany

    Reminiscences from Germany

  • Sunday December 30, 2007

    Sunday December 30, 2007

  • Not in Our Name

    Not in Our Name

  • The Song of Central Park

    The Song of Central Park

  • Laboratorium Anthology

    Laboratorium Anthology

  • Jonas Mekas in Paris 10/97

    Jonas Mekas in Paris 10/97