Directing
Jonas Mekas
EN, PT, JA, LT cinema · 285 credits
Born
24 December 1922
Died
23 January 2019 (aged 96)
Birthplace
Semeniškiai, Lithuania
Jonas Mekas (24 December 1922 - 23 January 2019) was born 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
Filmography
The Lamb
The Lamb
as Self
Viva Jonas!
as Himself
When
When
Director
Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
as Self (archive footage)
Jonas Mekas Anthology
as Jonas Mekas
Fragments of Paradise
as Self (archive footage)
Back from New York
as Himself
The Invisible Father
as Self (archive footage)
Tapes
Actor, Director
Tiny Tim: King for a Day
as Himself
Self Discovery for Social Survival
as Narrator (voice), Writer
Requiem
Director
Beyond the Bolex
as Self
I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance
as Self, Director
From the Notebooks of a Cinema Maniac
2017
From the Notebooks of a Cinema Maniac
Director
On the Holy Spirit
Actor, Director
I Had Nowhere to Go
as Himself
EXPRMNTL
as himself
Últimas correspondencias
as Self, Director
Memories of Jerome Hiler
Actor, Director
All About Bolex
Actor, Camera Operator, Director
A Report from Venice
Actor, Director
Filmstudio, mon amour
as Sé stesso
Reconnecting with an Old Friend
Actor, Director
My Bolexes
Cinematography, Director
My Birthday
Actor, Director
River of Fundament
as Wake Guest
Have A Good Day!
as Self, Director
Halloween 1990
Director
My Conversations on Film
as Himself
What Is Cinema?
as Self
Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man
as Jonas Mekas, Director
Reminiscences from Germany
as Self, Director
20 Little Films
Director
Guest
as Self
My Mars Bar Movie
as himself, Director
Re: Maciunas and Fluxus
Actor, Director
Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
as Himself, Director
3.11 A Sense of Home Films
as Himself (voice) (segment "Mt. Ventoux"), Director
My Paris Movie
Actor, Director
Mont Ventoux
Director
Keep Singing
Director
Lavender
as Self, Director, Director of Photography
Visionaries
as Himself
WTC Haikus
Director, Producer, Director of Photography, Editor
42 One Dream Rush
Director
It Came from Kuchar
as Self (archive footage)
Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR
2009
Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR
Director
Doc
as Himself
Notes on an American Film Director at Work
as Self, Director, Director of Photography
Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007
as Self, Director
365 Day Project
as Self, Director
Sunday December 30, 2007
as Self, Director
Thursday Jan. 4, 2007: Pedro (São Paulo) or The Right Way To Make Capirinha
Director
Saturday Jan. 6
2007
Saturday Jan. 6
Cinematography, Director
Anger Me
as Himself
Salvador Dalí at Work
as Self, Director, Writer, Cinematography
The Song of Central Park
as Himself (voice), Director
Jonas' Independence Speech at the Anniversary of the Filmmaker's Cooperative
Actor, Director
Graffiti Museum Bronx, NYC
Actor, Director
End of the Millennium Espresso
Actor, Director
Imperfect Film
2006
Imperfect Film
Actor, Director
Taping for As I was Moving Ahead…
Actor, Director
Kreutzer Sonata
Actor, Director
Bibi Hansen
Director
Carl Dreyer
Director
Andy at Work
Director
Brakhage Crosses Central Park
Editor, Writer, Cinematography, Director
Elia Kazan
Director
Notes on Utopia
as Self, Director
Scenes from the Life of Hermann Nitsch
2005
Scenes from the Life of Hermann Nitsch
Director, Editor
A Letter from Greenpoint
2004
A Letter from Greenpoint
as Mekas, Director, Writer, Creator
Jonas Keeps Shooting Around
as Himself
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
as Himself
Three Friends
Director
A Letter to Penny Arcade
Actor, Director
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
as Narrator (voice), Director, Writer, Cinematography, Editor
Requiem for a Manual Typewriter
as Himself, Director
Silence, Please
Director, Cinematography
Mozart & Elvis
Director
Laboratorium Anthology
1999
Laboratorium Anthology
as Himself, Director, Camera Operator
Letter to John from Jonas
Actor, Director
This Side of Paradise: Fragments of An Unfinished Biography
as Self, Director, Editor, Producer, Writer
Song of Avignon
as Self, Director, Writer, Director of Photography, Editor
Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit
as Self, Director, Editor, Cinematography
Birth of a Nation
as Self, Director, Cinematography, Editor, Writer
Letters from Nowhere
Writer, Editor, Director
Michael Snow Up Close
as Himself
Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old
as Himself, Director
Nico Icon
as Self
On My Way to Fujiyama I met..
Director of Photography, Director
Award
as Himself
Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas
1991
Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas
as Himself
Quartet Number One
Actor, Director
Step Across the Border
as Butterfly Wing
Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships and Intersections
as Self, Director, Editor, Director of Photography
A Walk
Director, Camera Operator
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
as Self (archive footage), Director, Writer, Cinematography, Editor
Invocation: Maya Deren
as Himself
Travel Songs
as Self (uncredited), Director
J. Mekas
as Self
Self-Portrait
as Himself, Director
ORG
as Self (archive footage)
Paradise Not Yet Lost
1979
Paradise Not Yet Lost
as Himself, Director
Notes for Jerome
as Self, Director, Cinematography, Writer
Cinématon
as N°1590
In Between
Director
Lost, Lost, Lost
as Self, Director, Writer, Editor, Cinematography
Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”
Actor
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
as Self, Director, Cinematography, Writer, Editor
Going Home
as Himself
Imagine
as Self
Journey to Lithuania
as Himself
Up Your Legs Forever
as Self - Legs
The Song of Moscow
Director
Filmmakers
as Himself
Time & Fortune Vietnam Newsreel
Director, Cinematography
Jonas
1968
Jonas
as Himself
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
as Self, as self, Director, Cinematography, Writer, Editor
The Song of Avila
as Narrator, Director
Notes on the Circus
Director, Editor, Director of Photography
Hare Krishna
Director
The Song of Assisi
Director
The Song of Italy
Director
Galaxie
as Self
The Love Merchant
as Lounge Patron
![Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas poster](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w342/5yEUYxLQWc71aL7OGrhSnpslsQO.jpg)
Cassis
Editor, Director of Photography, Director
European Diaries
Sound Designer
Jonas in the Brig
as Himself
Empire
as Self (uncredited), Cinematography
Film Magazine of the Arts
Director, Editor, Cinematography
Award Presentation to Andy Warhol
1964
Award Presentation to Andy Warhol
as Self, Director, Director of Photography, Editor
The Brig
Director, Cinematography, Director of Photography
Hallelujah the Hills
Assistant Director
Senseless
Writer
Guns of the Trees
Writer, Director, Cinematography, Editor