Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas (12-24-1922 - 1-23-2019) 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.
148 directing credits · 159 acting credits
Directing · 148
Notes on an American Film Director at Work
2008
42 One Dream Rush
2010
3.11 A Sense of Home Films
2011
As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
2000
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
1968
Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships & Intersections
1990
365 Day Project
2007
Lost, Lost, Lost
1976
Birth of a Nation
1997
The Brig
1964
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
1986
To John With Love
2006
Sleepless Nights Stories
2011
20 Little Films
2012
Happy Birthday to John
1997
This Side of Paradise: Fragments of An Unfinished Biography
1999
Warhol and Maciunas
2006
For Life, Against the War
1967
I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance
2017
Elvis Live at Madison Square Garden
1972
Carl Dreyer
2006
Carl G. Jung by Jerome Hill or Lapis Philosophorum
1991
Tapes
2020
Notes for Jerome
1978
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
1972
Yoko Ono Lennon's Courage Awards 2016: Laurie Anderson, Mohammad el Gharani, Eileen Boxer, RoseLee Goldberg, LoftOpera
2016
Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit
1997
The Song of Moscow
1971
Award Presentation to Andy Warhol
1964
Celebrate Cinema 101
1996
Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man
2012
Poets at the Living Theater
2006
Guns of the Trees
1961
Velvet Underground's First Public Appearance
2006
Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten
2001
A Visit to Stan Brakhage
2006
Moires with Prof. Oster and Salvador Dalí
2006
To Barbara Rubin with Love
2006
A Letter from Greenpoint
2004
Paradise Not Yet Lost
1979
Salvador Dalí at Work
1964
Mozart & Elvis
2000
Andy at Work
2006
John & Yoko Bed-In
2006
Robert Frank Films
2006
Cassis
1966
Imperfect Three-Image Films
1995
Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR
2009
Travel Songs
1981
Street Songs
1983
A Visit To Hans Richter
2003
Patti Smith at Anthology Film Archives Febr. 19, 1998
1998
On the Holy Spirit
2016
A Report from Venice
2015
Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus)
1992
The Song of Avila
1967
Bed-In: John Lennon & Yoko Ono
—
Scenes from the Life of Hermann Nitsch
2005
Peter Kubelka at the Library of Congress
1993
First Class Flight
2011
Film Magazine of the Arts
1965
Letters from Nowhere
1997
Hare Krishna
1967
Time & Fortune Vietnam Newsreel
1969
A Visit to Timothy Leary
2006
All About Bolex
2015
Re: Maciunas and Fluxus
2011
Song of Avignon
1998
Scenes from the Life of Raimund Abraham
2015
Orchard Street
2010
Thursday Jan. 4, 2007: Pedro (São Paulo) or The Right Way To Make Capirinha
2007
Requiem for a Manual Typewriter
2000
Quartet Number One
1991
Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007
2007
The Monks of Cinema
—
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
2003
Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old
1996
The Song of Italy
1967
Destruction of the Berlin Wall
2014
Report from Millbrook
1966
Robert Haller's Wedding
1980
Monday April 16, 2007
2007
Brakhage Crosses Central Park
2006
Requiem
2019
Self-Portrait
1980
Friday May 4, 2007: John Zorn – Cobra Part Two
2007
My Paris Movie
2011
Nam June Paik's Piano Piece
1997
Últimas correspondencias
2016
Lavender
2010
Silence, Please
2000
Halloween 1990
2014
Keep Singing
2011
The Italian Notebook
1967
Three Friends
2002
John & Yoko Bed-In
2006
Cinémathèque Française
2006
Happy Easter Ride
2012
Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
2011
Erick Hawkins: Excerpts from "Here and Now with Watchers"
1983
Marcel Hanoun wedding
—
My Mars Bar Movie
2011
WTC Haikus
2010
Reminiscences from Germany
2012
Notes on Utopia
2005
From the diaries of a cinema maniac
2017
Cup/Saucer/Two Dancers/Radio
1983
When
—
From the Notebooks of a Cinema Maniac
2017
Friday March 16, 2007
2007
A Few Notes on Andy's Factory
1999
Notes on the Circus
1967
Monks of Cinema
2006
Letter to John from Jonas
1999
In Between
1978
Mt. Ventoux
2011
The Sixties Quartet
2013
A Visit to Stan Brakhage
2006
Dedication to Matsuo Basho
2006
Bibi Hansen
2006
A Walk
1990
The Song of Stockholm
1981
On My Way to Fujiyama I met..
1995
Sunday December 30, 2007
2007
A Visit to Timothy Leary
—
Song of The Salamander
1996
Laboratorium Anthology
1999
My Bolexes
2015
Mob of Angels: Baptism
1990
The Song of Assisi
1967
Diary Entry: Father and Daughter
2001
Autobiography of a Man Who Carried his Memory in his Eyes
2000
The Education of Sebastian or Egypt Regained
1992
I Am Searching for Nothing
—
My Birthday
2014
Monday Jan. 1, 2007
2007
I Leave Chelsea Hotel
2013
The Destruction Quartet
2006
A Letter to Penny Arcade
2001
Memories of Frankenstein
1995
Mysteries
2002
The Song of Central Park
2006
Fluxus on the Hudson
—
Elia Kazan
—
Flowers
2014
Saturday Jan. 6
2007
A Cardinal
2014
Crickets
2017
Acting · 159
Kulturplatz
2004
Notes on an American Film Director at Work
2008
3.11 A Sense of Home Films
2011
ORG
1979
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol
1990
Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
2023
As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
2000
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
1968
Last Interview Film of Jonas Mekas/version 1
2019
9/11: Life Under Attack
2021
The Velvet Underground
2021
365 Day Project
2007
Cinématon
1978
Film: The Living Record of Our Memory
2022
What Is Cinema?
2013
River of Fundament
2014
Imagine
1972
Notes in Lifestyle Margins
2002
Andy Warhol's Factory People... Inside the Sixties Silver Factory
2008
Maya Deren, Take Zero
2012
Strong Medicine
1981
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
2007
Andy Warhol Screen Tests
1965
Lost, Lost, Lost
1976
‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen
1974
Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film
2019
Just Visiting This Planet
1991
Empire
1965
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
1986
Guest
2011
It Came from Kuchar
2009
Excavating Taylor Mead
2005
Jonas in the Desert
1994
Fragments of Paradise
2022
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
2011
EXPRMNTL
2016
Invocation: Maya Deren
1986
Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground
2018
The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man
1981
Underground New York
1968
Warhol's Cinema 1963-1968: Mirror for the Sixties
1989
Tiny Tim: King for a Day
2020
I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance
2017
Persistence of Vision
1984
George: The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus
2018
Beyond the Bolex
2018
Tapes
2020
Notes for Jerome
1978
Four Shadows
1978
The Definition of Insanity
2005
Vertigo
2022
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
1972
My Conversations on Film
2013
Filmmakers
1969
Nico Icon
1995
Galaxie
1966
Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit
1997
Step Across the Border
1990
I Had Nowhere to Go
2016
Fire in the East: A Portrait of Robert Frank
1986
Vies et morts d'Andy Warhol
2005
Award Presentation to Andy Warhol
1964
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
2002
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
2006
Notes on Marie Menken
2006
The Sin of Jesus
1961
Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man
2012
Diane the Zebra Woman
1962
The Love Merchant
1966
Who Gets to Call It Art?
2006
Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages
2022
Dirt
1965
New York Conversations
2010
A Letter from Greenpoint
2004
Paradise Not Yet Lost
1979
Salvador Dalí at Work
1964
A Day in the Life of Andy Warhol
2015
The Signing
2009
Elegy for J.M.
2019
Journey to Lithuania
1971
Filmstudio, mon amour
2015
Postcard from America
1975
Anger Me
2006
On the Holy Spirit
2016
A Report from Venice
2015
Going Home
1972
Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus)
1992
Doc
2008
Home Movies 1971-81
1985
No. 18: Mahagonny
1980
Belladonna
1989
A Matter of Baobab
1968
The Song of Avila
1967
Jonas in the Brig
1965
Michael Snow Up Close
1996
Jonas Keeps Shooting Around
2002
Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman
2011
Cinema and Sanctuary
2019
Makeshift (for Mekas)
2019
Poem Posters
1967
My Country is Cinema
1998
Award
1992
Self Discovery for Social Survival
2019
All About Bolex
2015
Jonas
1968
Re: Maciunas and Fluxus
2011
Question a Day
2008
The Invisible Father
2021
Song of Avignon
1998
The Misfits - 30 Years of Fluxus
—
Requiem for a Manual Typewriter
2000
Quartet Number One
1991
Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007
2007
Occhio privato sul nuovo mondo
1970
Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old
1996
Jonas Mekas in Paris 10/97
1998
Visionaries
2010
3 Friends Singing (...in the Desert)
2019
The Perfect Team: The Making of 'On the Bowery'
2009
Self-Portrait
1980
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days
2009
Behind the Artist: Andy Warhol, an American Prophet
2015
Últimas correspondencias
2016
Lavender
2010
Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas
2016
Not in Our Name
2003
Jonas Towards Broadway
2019
Axiom of Choice
2003
Keep singing: a tribute to Jonas Mekas
2019
Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
2011
Jonas Mekas, Friday 13th October
1996
Jonas Mekas in Budapest
1993
A Poet from the Lower East Side
1997
Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”
1973
My Mars Bar Movie
2011
Reminiscences from Germany
2012
Viva Jonas!
—
Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party
2019
J. Mekas
1980
Ricky Leacock Visit, April 15, 1971
1971
Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas
1991
Nitsch
2018
Portrait Serie - Jonas Mekas
2010
Letter to John from Jonas
1999
A Mixtape for Stom
2025
Sunday December 30, 2007
2007
Jonas Mekas Anthology
2022
Back from New York
2021
Laboratorium Anthology
1999
Notes for a Déjà vu
2022
![Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Fw500%2F5yEUYxLQWc71aL7OGrhSnpslsQO.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas
1966
Shooting Guns
1966
My Birthday
2014
The Lamb
—
A Letter to Penny Arcade
2001
The Song of Central Park
2006
Cinématon n°1590 : Jonas Mekas
—
Nam June Paik: Lessons from the Video Master
2006
Jonas in the Jungle
2013