Jonas Mekas
Directing
Jonas Mekas (24-12-1922 - 23-1-2019) 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
Directing157
movieTapes
2020
Director
movieRequiem
2019
Director
Crickets
2017
Director
movieOn the Holy Spirit
2016
Director
movieA Report from Venice
2015
Director
movieMy Bolexes
2015
Director
movieAll About Bolex
2015
Director
movieMy Birthday
2014
Director
movieHalloween 1990
2014
Director
A Cardinal
2014
Director
Flowers
2014
Director
movieI Leave Chelsea Hotel
2013
Director
movieThe Sixties Quartet
2013
Director
movie20 Little Films
2012
Director
Mt. Ventoux
2011
Director
movieMy Paris Movie
2011
Director
movieMy Mars Bar Movie
2011
Director
movieKeep Singing
2011
Director
movieRe: Maciunas and Fluxus
2011
Director
movie42 One Dream Rush
2010
Director
movieLavender
2010
Director
movieWTC Haikus
2010
Director
movie365 Day Project
2007
Director
movieMonday April 16, 2007
2007
Director
movieFriday March 16, 2007
2007
Director
movieTuesday Jan. 9, 2007
2007
Director
movieMonday Jan. 1, 2007
2007
Director
movieBibi Hansen
2006
Director
movieCarl Dreyer
2006
Director
movieWarhol and Maciunas
2006
Director
movieAndy at Work
2006
Director
movieRobert Frank Films
2006
Director
movieCinémathèque Française
2006
Director
movieMonks of Cinema
2006
Director
movieTo John With Love
2006
Director
movieJohn & Yoko Bed-In
2006
Director
Elia Kazan
2006
Director
movieThe Destruction Quartet
2006
Director
movieNotes on Utopia
2005
Director
movieWilliamsburg, Brooklyn
2003
Director
Mysteries
2002
Director
movieThree Friends
2002
Director
movieSilence, Please
2000
Director
movieMozart & Elvis
2000
Director
movieSong of Avignon
1998
Director
movieLetters from Nowhere
1997
Director
movieHappy Birthday to John
1997
Director
movieBirth of a Nation
1997
Director
movieCelebrate Cinema 101
1996
Director
movieQuartet Number One
1991
Director
movieA Walk
1990
Director
movieTravel Songs
1981
Director
movieThe Song of Stockholm
1981
Director
movieSelf-Portrait
1980
Director
movieRobert Haller's Wedding
1980
Director
movieNotes for Jerome
1978
Director
movieIn Between
1978
Director
movieLost, Lost, Lost
1976
Director
movieThe Song of Moscow
1971
Director
movieThe Song of Avila
1967
Director
movieThe Song of Assisi
1967
Director
movieThe Song of Italy
1967
Director
movieNotes on the Circus
1967
Director
movieHare Krishna
1967
Director
movieReport from Millbrook
1966
Director
movieCassis
1966
Director
movieThe Brig
1964
Director
movieSalvador Dalí at Work
1964
Director
movieHallelujah the Hills
1963
Assistant Director
movieGuns of the Trees
1961
Director
When
Director
Acting166
movieNam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
2023
Self (archive footage)
movieJonas Mekas Anthology
2022
Jonas Mekas
movieFragments of Paradise
2022
Self (archive footage)
movieBack from New York
2021
Himself
movieThe Invisible Father
2021
Self (archive footage)
movieSelf Discovery for Social Survival
2019
Narrator (voice)
Last Interview Film of Jonas Mekas/version 1
2019
Self
movieEXPRMNTL
2016
himself
movieI Had Nowhere to Go
2016
Himself
movieFilmstudio, mon amour
2015
Sé stesso
movieRiver of Fundament
2014
Wake Guest
movieMy Mars Bar Movie
2011
himself
movie3.11 A Sense of Home Films
2011
Himself (voice) (segment "Mt. Ventoux")
movieGuest
2011
Self
movieVisionaries
2010
Himself
movieIt Came from Kuchar
2009
Self (archive footage)
movieDoc
2008
Himself
movieThe Song of Central Park
2006
Himself (voice)
movieAnger Me
2006
Himself
Nam June Paik: Lessons from the Video Master
2006
Self
movieAward
1992
Himself
movieStep Across the Border
1990
Butterfly Wing
movieHe Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
1986
Self (archive footage)
movieSelf-Portrait
1980
Himself
movieORG
1979
Self (archive footage)
movieCinématon
1978
N°1590
movieImagine
1972
Self
movieGoing Home
1972
Himself
movieUp Your Legs Forever
1971
Self - Legs
movieFilmmakers
1969
Himself
movieDiaries, Notes, and Sketches
1968
Self / self
Jonas
1968
Himself
movieThe Song of Avila
1967
Narrator
![Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w342/5yEUYxLQWc71aL7OGrhSnpslsQO.jpg)
movieGalaxie
1966
Self
The Love Merchant
1966
Lounge Patron
movieJonas in the Brig
1965
Himself
movieEmpire
1965
Self (uncredited)
movieViva Jonas!
Himself
Crew21
movieMy Bolexes
2015
Cinematography
Saturday Jan. 6
2007
Cinematography
movieBrakhage Crosses Central Park
2006
Cinematography
movieSilence, Please
2000
Cinematography
movieBirth of a Nation
1997
Cinematography
movieNotes for Jerome
1978
Cinematography
movieLost, Lost, Lost
1976
Cinematography
movieReminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
1972
Cinematography
movieTime & Fortune Vietnam Newsreel
1969
Cinematography
movieDiaries, Notes, and Sketches
1968
Cinematography
movieNotes on the Circus
1967
Cinematography
movieFilm Magazine of the Arts
1965
Cinematography
movieEmpire
1965
Cinematography
movieThe Brig
1964
Cinematography
movieSalvador Dalí at Work
1964
Cinematography
movieGuns of the Trees
1961
Cinematography
Editing20
movieWTC Haikus
2010
Editor
movieCassis
1966
Editor
Writing16
movieSong of Avignon
1998
Writer
movieSenseless
1962
Writer
Camera11
movieAll About Bolex
2015
Camera Operator
movieLavender
2010
Director of Photography
movieWTC Haikus
2010
Director of Photography
movieNotes on an American Film Director at Work
2008
Director of Photography
movieOn My Way to Fujiyama I met..
1995
Director of Photography
movieA Walk
1990
Camera Operator
movieCassis
1966
Director of Photography
Award Presentation to Andy Warhol
1964
Director of Photography
movieThe Brig
1964
Director of Photography
Production2
Sound1
movieEuropean Diaries
1966
Sound Designer