image of Jonas Mekas
Birthday: Dec 24, 1922
Place of Birth: Semeniškiai, Lithuania

Jonas Mekas

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.

Filmography
Movie Cast Year
My Country is Cinema Self 1998
Last Interview Film of Jonas Mekas/version 1 Self 2019
The Velvet Underground Self 2021
Film: The Living Record of Our Memory Self 2022
Notes for a Déjà vu 2022
Cinema and Sanctuary Self 2019
Strong Medicine 1981
Persistence of Vision Himself 1984
All About Bolex 2015
A Report from Venice 2015
Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV Self (archive footage) 2023
Back from New York Himself 2021
Michael Snow Up Close Himself 1996
The Signing 2009
Anger Me Himself 2006
Lavender Self 2010
My Birthday 2014
Home Movies 1971-81 1985
Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus) 1992
As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty Self / Narrator 2021
Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man Jonas Mekas 2012
A Poet from the Lower East Side Himself 1997
Belladonna 1989
Jonas Keeps Shooting Around Himself 2002
River of Fundament Wake Guest 2014
Vertigo 2022
Galaxie Himself 1966
Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas Himself 1991
Jonas Mekas Anthology Jonas Mekas 2022
Fragments of Paradise Self (archive footage) 2022
Notes for Jerome Self 1978
Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages 2022
The Lamb Self 1970
J. Mekas Self 1980
Occhio privato sul nuovo mondo 1970
Guest Self 2011
Viva Jonas! Himself 1970
Doc Himself 2008
Just Visiting This Planet 1991
Jonas Himself 1968
Maya Deren, Take Zero Himself 2012
The Perfect Team: The Making of 'On the Bowery' Self 2009
Four Shadows 1978
Diane the Zebra Woman 1962
On the Holy Spirit 2016
I Had Nowhere to Go Himself 2016
In the Mirror of Maya Deren Himself 2002
Reminiscences from Germany Himself 2012
The Song of Avila Narrator 1967
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life Self (archive footage) 1986
Step Across the Border Butterfly Wing 1990
Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit Himself 1997
The Definition of Insanity 2005
I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance Self 2017
The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man 1981
The Love Merchant Lounge Patron 1966
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania Self 1996
Notes on Marie Menken Himself 2006
Going Home Himself 1972
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis Self 2007
Salvador Dalí at Work Self 2006
No. 18: Mahagonny 1980
Jonas in the Brig Himself 1965
Underground New York Himself 1968
ORG Self (archive footage) 1979
Self-Portrait Himself 1980
Day Nine Himself 2007
My Conversations on Film Himself 2013
Meet The Kuchar Brothers 2006
Jonas in the Desert Self 1994
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film Himself 2011
‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen 1974
Filmmakers Himself 1969
Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old Himself 1996
Journey to Lithuania Himself 1971
Laboratorium Anthology Himself 1999
Invocation: Maya Deren Himself 1986
It Came from Kuchar Self (archive footage) 2009
Visionaries Himself 2010
Award Presentation to Andy Warhol Himself 1965
New York Conversations 2010
George: The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus Self 2018
Warhol's Cinema 1963-1968: Mirror for the Sixties Self 1989
What Is Cinema? Self 2013
Question a Day 2008
Letter to John from Jonas 1999
Requiem for a Manual Typewriter Himself 2000
Portrait Serie - Jonas Mekas himself 2010
Keep singing: a tribute to Jonas Mekas 2019
Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground 2018
Poem Posters Self 1967
Excavating Taylor Mead Self 2005
A Letter from Greenpoint Mekas 2004
A Matter of Baobab 1970
Makeshift (for Mekas) 2019
TO NEW YORK WITH LOVE - A Letter to Penny Arcade June 25, 2001 2001
Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film Self 2019
Self Discovery for Social Survival Narrator (voice) 2019
Nitsch 2018
Dirt 1965
A Day in the Life of Andy Warhol Self 2015
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days Himself 2009
Award Himself 1992
Andy Warhol Screen Tests Self 1965
Nico Icon Himself 1995
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol Self 1990
Who Gets to Call It Art? Self 2006
Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party 2019
My Mars Bar Movie himself 2011
Imagine Self 1972
Cinématon N°1590 1978
Andy Warhol's Factory People... Inside the Sixties Silver Factory 2008
Paradise Not Yet Lost Himself 1979
Beyond the Bolex Self 2018
365 Day Project Himself 2007
Empire Self (uncredited) 1965
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches Self 2013
Lost, Lost, Lost Self 1976
Re: Maciunas and Fluxus 2011
Song of Avignon Self 1998
Quartet Number One 1991
Jonas Mekas, Friday 13th October Himself 1996
Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas himself 1966
Not in Our Name himself 2003
Notes on an American Film Director at Work Self 2008
The Song of Central Park Himself (voice) 2006
Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin Himself 2011
Tapes 2020
Postcard from America 1975
3.11 A Sense of Home Himself (voice) (segment "Mt. Ventoux") 2011
Elegy for J.M. 2019
Jonas Towards Broadway 2019
3 Friends Singing (...in the Desert) 2019
Axiom of Choice 2003
Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas Self 2016
Tiny Tim: King for a Day Himself 2020
Cinématon n°1590 : Jonas Mekas 1970
Fire in the East: A Portrait of Robert Frank Himself 1986
Salvador Dali, Happenings 2006
EXPRMNTL himself 2016
The Sin of Jesus 1961
The Invisible Father Self (archive footage) 2021
Series Cast Year
Kulturplatz Self 2004
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