Jonas Mekas

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Jonas Mekas

Jonas Mekas in 1988
Birth name Jonas Mekas
Born December 23, 1922(1922-12-23)
Seminiškiai, Biržai, LT
Nationality Lithuanian
Field Cinema
Movement Avant-garde cinema

Jonas Mekas (IPA: /jonɐs mækɐs/; born December 23, 1922 in the village of Semeniškiai, near Biržai) is a Lithuanian filmmaker, writer, and curator who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema."

Contents

[edit] Biography

Prior to the Second World War, Mekas set up a theatre with his brother Adolfas Mekas. After the Second World War, he was held in displaced persons camps, in one of which he studied with a teacher of the Stanislavsky System. [1]

The brothers emigrated to the United States in 1949 and studied with Hans Richter before establishing Film Culture magazine in 1955. [2] Jonas Mekas has written film reviews for the Village Voice since 1958.

He was a founder of The Film Makers Cooperative (1962) and the Anthology Film Archives (1970). He was heavily involved with artists such as Andy Warhol, Nico, Allen Ginsberg, Yoko Ono, John Lennon, Salvador Dalí, and fellow Lithuanian George Maciunas.

Though his narrative films and documentaries are still highly regarded, he is best known for his diary films, such as Walden (1969), Lost, Lost, Lost (1975), Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1972), and Zefiro Torna (1992). In 2001, he released a five-hour long diary film entitled As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty, assembled by hand from an archive of fifty years worth of recordings of his life. Peter Sempel filmed Jonas Mekas in the film "Jonas in the Desert" (1994).

Beginning in the fall of 2006, Mekas planned to film 365 short videos for Apple Computer's Video iPod, releasing one a day on his website. [3]

Mekas is also a well-known Lithuanian language poet.

On 2007 November 10 Jonas Mekas opened Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center in Vilnius.

[edit] Filmography

  • Guns of the Trees (1962)
  • Film Magazine of the Arts (1963)
  • The Brig (1964)
  • Award Presentation to Andy Warhol (1964)
  • Report from Millbrook (1964–65)
  • Hare Krishna (1966)
  • Notes on the Circus (1966)
  • Cassis (1966)
  • The Italian Notebook (1967)
  • Time and Fortune Vietnam Newsreel (1968)
  • Walden (Diaries, Notes, and Sketches) (1969)
  • Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1971–72)
  • Lost, Lost, Lost (1976)
  • In Between: 1964–8 (1978)
  • Notes for Jerome (1978)
  • Paradise Not Yet Lost (also known as Oona's Third Year) (1979)
  • Street Songs (1966/1983)
  • Cups/Saucers/Dancers/Radio (1965/1983)
  • Erik Hawkins: Excerpts from “Here and Now with Watchers”/Lucia Dlugoszewski Performs (1983)
  • He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life (1969/1985)
  • Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol (1990)
  • Mob of Angels/The Baptism (1991)
  • Dr. Carl G. Jung or Lapis Philosophorum (1991)
  • Quartet Number One (1991)
  • Mob of Angels at St. Ann (1992)
  • Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (1992)
  • The Education of Sebastian or Egypt Regained (1992)
  • He Travels. In Search of... (1994)
  • Imperfect 3-Image Films (1995)
  • On My Way to Fujiyama I Met… (1995)
  • Happy Birthday to John (1996)
  • Memories of Frankenstein (1996)
  • Birth of a Nation (1997)
  • Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit (1997)
  • Letter from Nowhere – Laiskas is Niekur N.1 (1997)
  • Symphony of Joy (1997)
  • Song of Avignon (1998)
  • Laboratorium (1999)
  • Autobiography of a Man Who Carried his Memory in his Eyes (2000)
  • This Side of Paradise (1999)
  • Notes on Andy's Factory (1999)
  • Mysteries (1966–2001)
  • As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)
  • Remedy for Melancholy (2000)
  • Ein Maerchen (2001)
  • Williamsburg, Brooklyn (1950–2003)
  • Mozart & Wein and Elvis (2000)
  • Travel Songs (1967–1981) n
  • Dedication to Leger (2003)
  • Notes on Utopia (2003) 30 min,
  • Letter from Greenpoint (2004)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sitney, P. Adams (1979). Visionary Film. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195024869. , p345
  2. ^ Sitney, P. Adams (1979). Visionary Film. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195024869. , p341
  3. ^ Short Films Coming Soon to an iPod Near You, All Things Considered, November 5, 2006. Producer Ben Shapiro reports on a plan by filmmaker Jonas Mekas to make short films available as a podcast.

[edit] Literature

  • Hans-Jürgen Tast (Hrsg.) „As I Was Moving. Kunst und Leben“ (Schellerten/Germany 2004) (z.m.a.K.) ISBN 3-88842-026-1;

[edit] External links