Biography
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
all 254
Movies 253
Director 112
self 99
Writer 2
Producer 2
TV Shows 1

Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV (2023)

Jonas Mekas Anthology (2022)

Fragments of Paradise (2022)

The Invisible Father (2021)

Tapes (2020)

Requiem (2019)

Self Discovery for Social Survival (2019)

That Summer (2017)

On the Holy Spirit (2016)

EXPRMNTL (2016)

A Report from Venice (2015)

My Bolexes (2015)

All About Bolex (2015)

My Birthday (2014)

River of Fundament (2014)

Halloween 1990 (2014)

Diaries, Notes, and Sketches (2013)

The Sixties Quartet (2013)

Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man (2012)

Happy Easter Ride (2012)

20 Little Films (2012)

Reminiscences from Germany (2012)

My Paris Movie (2011)

Mt. Ventoux (2011)

3.11 A Sense of Home (2011)

My Mars Bar Movie (2011)

Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin (2011)

First Class Flight (2011)

Keep Singing (2011)

LennoNYC (2010)

Orchard Street (2010)

42 One Dream Rush (2010)

Lavender (2010)

WTC Haikus (2010)

Visionaries (2010)

It Came from Kuchar (2009)

Doc (2008)

Notes on an American Film Director at Work (2008)

365 Day Project (2007)

Sunday December 30, 2007 (2007)

Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007 (2007)

Monday Jan. 1, 2007 (2007)

The Song of Central Park (2006)

Salvador Dalí at Work (2006)

Carl Dreyer (2006)

Bibi Hansen (2006)

Brakhage Crosses Central Park (2006)

Robert Frank Films (2006)

Andy at Work (2006)

Warhol and Maciunas (2006)

To John With Love (2006)

Carl G. Jung or Lapis Philosophorum (2006)

John & Yoko Bed-In (2006)

John & Yoko Bed-In (2006)

Monks of Cinema (2006)

Anger Me (2006)

Scenes from the Life of Hermann Nitsch (2005)

Notes on Utopia (2005)

A Letter from Greenpoint (2004)

A Visit To Hans Richter (2003)

Not in Our Name (2003)

Mysteries (2002)

Three Friends (2002)

Wien & Mozart (2001)

Elvis (2001)

As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)

Requiem for a Manual Typewriter (2000)

Notes on Jonas Mekas (2000)

Silence, Please (2000)

This Side of Paradise: Fragments of An Unfinished Biography (1999)

Laboratorium Anthology (1999)

Song of Avignon (1998)

Letters from Nowhere (1997)

Birth of a Nation (1997)

Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit (1997)

Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1996)

Celebrate Cinema 101 (1996)

Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old (1996)

On My Way to Fujiyama I met.. (1995)

Nico Icon (1995)

Award (1992)

Carl G. Jung by Jerome Hill or Lapis Philosophorum (1991)

Quartet Number One (1991)

A Walk (1990)

Step Across the Border (1990)

Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships & Intersections (1990)

He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life (1986)

Street Songs (1983)

Travel Songs (1981)

Self-Portrait (1980)

ORG (1979)

Paradise Not Yet Lost (1979)

Cinématon (1978)

Notes for Jerome (1978)

In Between (1978)

Lost, Lost, Lost (1976)

Going Home (1972)

Elvis Live at Madison Square Garden (1972)

Up Your Legs Forever (1971)

The Song of Moscow (1970)

Filmmakers (1969)

Time & Fortune Vietnam Newsreel (1969)

Jonas (1968)

The Song of Avila (1967)

The Song of Italy (1967)

The Song of Assisi (1967)

The Italian Notebook (1967)

Notes on the Circus (1967)

Hare Krishna (1967)

European Diaries (1966)

Cassis (1966)

The Love Merchant (1966)

Award Presentation to Andy Warhol (1965)

Film Magazine of the Arts (1965)

Empire (1965)

The Brig (1964)

Hallelujah the Hills (1963)

Senseless (1962)

Guns of the Trees (1961)

Marcel Hanoun wedding

When

The Lamb

Viva Jonas!
Gallery



Information
Known ForDirecting
GenderMale
Birthday1922-12-24
Deathday2019-01-23 (96 years old)
Birth PlaceBiržai, Lithuania
ChildrenOona Mekas, Sebastian Mekas
SiblingsAdolfas Mekas
CitizenshipsLithuania, United States
AwardsCommandeur des Arts et des Lettres, honorary citizen of Biržai District Municipality, Order for Merits to Lithuania, Guggenheim Fellowship, Lithuanian National Prize, Austrian Decoration for Science and Art, Doctor Honoris Causa at the Vytautas Magnus University
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