Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas (24 December 1922 - 23 January 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.
Photos
Movies (288)
A Mixtape for Stom
2025
Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
2023 · Self (archive footage)
Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages
2022
Jonas Mekas Anthology
2022 · Jonas Mekas
Fragments of Paradise
2022 · Self (archive footage)
Film: The Living Record of Our Memory
2022 · Self
Vertigo
2022
Notes for a Déjà vu
2022
Back from New York
2021 · Himself
The Velvet Underground
2021 · Self
9/11: Life Under Attack
2021 · Self
The Invisible Father
2021 · Self (archive footage)
Tapes
2020 · Director
Tiny Tim: King for a Day
2020 · Himself
Elegy for J.M.
2019
Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party
2019
Requiem
2019 · Director
Cinema and Sanctuary
2019 · Self
Self Discovery for Social Survival
2019 · Narrator (voice), Writer
Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film
2019 · Self
Makeshift (for Mekas)
2019
Last Interview Film of Jonas Mekas/version 1
2019 · Self
Keep singing: a tribute to Jonas Mekas
2019
Jonas Towards Broadway
2019
3 Friends Singing (...in the Desert)
2019
Beyond the Bolex
2018 · Self
Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground
2018
George: The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus
2018 · Self
From the Notebooks of a Cinema Maniac
2017 · Director
I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance
2017 · Self, Director
From the diaries of a cinema maniac
2017 · Director
Crickets
2017 · Director
On the Holy Spirit
2016 · Director
Memories of Jerome Hiler
2016 · Director
EXPRMNTL
2016 · himself
Hollywood Party
2016 · Director
I Had Nowhere to Go
2016 · Himself
Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas
2016 · Self
Yoko Ono Lennon's Courage Awards 2016: Laurie Anderson, Mohammad el Gharani, Eileen Boxer, RoseLee Goldberg, LoftOpera
2016 · Director
Últimas correspondencias
2016 · Self, Director
Filmstudio, mon amour
2015 · Sé stesso
A Day in the Life of Andy Warhol
2015 · Self
Reconnecting with an Old Friend
2015 · Director
Behind the Artist: Andy Warhol, an American Prophet
2015
A Report from Venice
2015 · Director
Scenes from the Life of Raimund Abraham
2015 · Director
All About Bolex
2015 · Director, Camera Operator
My Bolexes
2015 · Director, Cinematography
New Seasons Movement IV
2015 · Director
My Birthday
2014 · Director
River of Fundament
2014 · Wake Guest
Have A Good Day!
2014 · Self, Director
Halloween 1990
2014 · Director
A Cardinal
2014 · Director
Flowers
2014 · Director
My Conversations on Film
2013 · Himself
Jonas in the Jungle
2013 · Self
What Is Cinema?
2013 · Self
I Leave Chelsea Hotel
2013 · Director
The Sixties Quartet
2013 · Director
Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man
2012 · Jonas Mekas, Director
Jonas Mekas: I Am Not a Filmmaker
2012 · Self
Happy Easter Ride
2012 · Director
20 Little Films
2012 · Director
Maya Deren, Take Zero
2012 · Himself
Reminiscences from Germany
2012 · Self, Director
My Paris Movie
2011 · Director
Mont Ventoux
2011 · Director
Sleepless Nights Stories
2011 · Director
My Mars Bar Movie
2011 · himself, Director
3.11 A Sense of Home Films
2011 · Himself (voice) (segment "Mt. Ventoux"), Director
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
2011 · Himself
Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
2011 · Himself, Director
Guest
2011 · Self
Re: Maciunas and Fluxus
2011 · Director
Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman
2011
First Class Flight
2011 · Director
Keep Singing
2011 · Director
Portrait Serie - Jonas Mekas
2010 · himself
Orchard Street
2010 · Director
New York Conversations
2010
42 One Dream Rush
2010 · Director
Lavender
2010 · Self, Director, Director of Photography
WTC Haikus
2010 · Director, Director of Photography, Producer, Editor
Visionaries
2010 · Himself
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days
2009 · Himself
It Came from Kuchar
2009 · Self (archive footage)
Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR
2009 · Director
The Signing
2009
The Perfect Team: The Making of 'On the Bowery'
2009 · Self
Doc
2008 · Himself
Question a Day
2008
Andy Warhol's Factory People... Inside the Sixties Silver Factory
2008
Notes on an American Film Director at Work
2008 · Self, Director, Director of Photography
365 Day Project
2007 · Self, Director
Sunday December 30, 2007
2007 · Self, Director
Friday May 4, 2007: John Zorn – Cobra Part Two
2007 · Director
Monday April 16, 2007
2007 · Director
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
2007 · Self
Friday Feb. 23, 2007
2007 · Director
Friday March 16, 2007
2007 · Director
Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007
2007 · Self, Director
Saturday Jan. 6
2007 · Cinematography, Director
Thursday Jan. 4, 2007: Pedro (São Paulo) or The Right Way To Make Capirinha
2007 · Director
Monday Jan. 1, 2007
2007 · Director
Nam June Paik's Piano Piece
2006 · Director
Patti Smith at Anthology Film Archives Febr. 19, 1998
2006 · Director
The Song of Central Park
2006 · Himself (voice), Director
Moires with Prof. Oster and Salvador Dalí
2006 · Director
Salvador Dalí at Work
2006 · Self, Director, Writer, Cinematography
Jonas' Independence Speech at the Anniversary of the Filmmaker's Cooperative
2006 · Director
Graffiti Museum Bronx, NYC
2006 · Director
End of the Millennium Espresso
2006 · Director
Imperfect Film
2006 · Director
Taping for As I was Moving Ahead…
2006 · Director
Kreutzer Sonata
2006 · Director
A Visit to Stan Brakhage
2006 · Director
Velvet Underground's First Public Appearance
2006 · Director
John & Yoko Bed-In
2006 · Director
To Barbara Rubin with Love
2006 · Director
A Visit to Stan Brakhage
2006 · Director
Dedication to Matsuo Basho
2006 · Director
A Visit to Timothy Leary
2006 · Director
Bibi Hansen
2006 · Director
Carl Dreyer
2006 · Director
Warhol and Maciunas
2006 · Director
Poets at the Living Theater
2006 · Director
Andy at Work
2006 · Director
Robert Frank Films
2006 · Director
Cinémathèque Française
2006 · Director
Brakhage Crosses Central Park
2006 · Director, Editor, Cinematography, Writer
Monks of Cinema
2006 · Director
To John With Love
2006 · Director
John & Yoko Bed-In
2006 · Director
The Monks of Cinema
2006 · Director
A Visit to Timothy Leary
2006 · Director
I Am Searching for Nothing
2006 · Director
Fluxus on the Hudson
2006 · Director
Elia Kazan
2006 · Director
Phil Glass Plays for Ralph Steiner's Mechanical Principles
2006 · Director
Allen Ginsberg Sings Blues
2006 · Director
Jackie & Lee Fragments of an Unfinished Biography
2006 · Director
Anger Me
2006 · Himself
The Destruction Quartet
2006 · Director
Destruction of the Berlin Wall
2006 · Director
Notes on Marie Menken
2006 · Self
Who Gets to Call It Art?
2006 · Self
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
2006
Nam June Paik: Lessons from the Video Master
2006 · Self
Scenes from the Life of Hermann Nitsch
2005 · Director, Editor
The Definition of Insanity
2005
Vies et morts d'Andy Warhol
2005
Excavating Taylor Mead
2005 · Self
Notes on Utopia
2005 · Self, Director
A Letter from Greenpoint
2004 · Mekas, Director, Writer, Creator
Not in Our Name
2003 · himself
A Visit To Hans Richter
2003 · Director, Editor
Axiom of Choice
2003 · Self
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
2003 · Director
Mysteries
2002 · Director
Jonas Keeps Shooting Around
2002 · Himself
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
2002 · Himself
Notes in Lifestyle Margins
2002
Three Friends
2002 · Director
Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten
2001 · Director
A Letter to Penny Arcade
2001 · Director
Diary Entry: Father and Daughter
2001 · Director
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
2000 · Narrator (voice), Director, Writer, Cinematography, Editor
Requiem for a Manual Typewriter
2000 · Himself, Director
Silence, Please
2000 · Director, Cinematography
Autobiography of a Man Who Carried his Memory in his Eyes
2000 · Director
Mozart & Elvis
2000 · Director
A Few Notes on Andy's Factory
1999 · Director
This Side of Paradise: Fragments of An Unfinished Biography
1999 · Self, Director, Editor, Producer, Writer
Letter to John from Jonas
1999 · Director
Laboratorium Anthology
1999 · Himself, Director, Camera Operator
Jonas Mekas in Paris 10/97
1998
Song of Avignon
1998 · Self, Director, Writer, Director of Photography, Editor
My Country is Cinema, Scenes from the Life of Jonas Mekas
1998 · Self
Letters from Nowhere
1997 · Director, Writer, Editor
Happy Birthday to John
1997 · Director
Birth of a Nation
1997 · Self, Director, Editor, Cinematography, Writer
Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit
1997 · Self, Director, Cinematography, Editor
A Poet from the Lower East Side
1997 · Self
Jonas Mekas, Friday 13th October
1996 · Himself
Song of The Salamander
1996 · Director
Michael Snow Up Close
1996 · Himself
Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old
1996 · Himself, Director
Celebrate Cinema 101
1996 · Director
On My Way to Fujiyama I met..
1995 · Director of Photography, Director
Nico Icon
1995 · Self
Imperfect Three-Image Films
1995 · Director
Memories of Frankenstein
1995 · Director
Jonas in the Desert
1994 · Self
Jonas Mekas in Budapest
1993 · Himself
The Misfits - 30 Years of Fluxus
1993 · Self
Peter Kubelka at the Library of Congress
1993 · Director
Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus)
1992 · Director
Cinématon n°1590 : Jonas Mekas
1992
The Education of Sebastian or Egypt Regained
1992 · Director
Award
1992 · Himself
Visiting Jonas Mekas
1992
Just Visiting This Planet
1991
Carl G. Jung by Jerome Hill or Lapis Philosophorum
1991 · Director, Editor
Quartet Number One
1991 · Director
Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas
1991 · Himself
A Walk
1990 · Director, Camera Operator
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol
1990 · Self
Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships and Intersections
1990 · Self, Director, Editor, Director of Photography
Step Across the Border
1990 · Butterfly Wing
Mob of Angels: Baptism
1990 · Director
Belladonna
1989
Warhol's Cinema 1963-1968: Mirror for the Sixties
1989 · Self
Invocation: Maya Deren
1986 · Himself
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
1986 · Self (archive footage), Director, Cinematography, Editor, Writer
Fire in the East: A Portrait of Robert Frank
1986 · Self
Home Movies 1971-81
1985
Persistence of Vision
1984 · Self
Cup/Saucer/Two Dancers/Radio
1983 · Director
Street Songs
1983 · Director
Erick Hawkins: Excerpts from "Here and Now with Watchers"
1983 · Director
Strong Medicine
1981
Travel Songs
1981 · Self (uncredited), Director
The Song of Stockholm
1981 · Director
No. 18: Mahagonny
1980 · Self
Self-Portrait
1980 · Himself, Director
J. Mekas
1980 · Self
Robert Haller's Wedding
1980 · Director
ORG
1979 · Self (archive footage)
Paradise Not Yet Lost
1979 · Himself, Director
Cinématon
1978 · N°1590
Four Shadows
1978
Notes for Jerome
1978 · Self, Director, Cinematography, Writer
In Between
1978 · Director
Lost, Lost, Lost
1976 · Self, Director, Writer, Cinematography, Editor
Postcard from America
1975
‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen
1974
Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”
1973
Imagine
1972 · Self
Going Home
1972 · Himself
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
1972 · Self, Director, Cinematography, Writer, Editor
Nitsch
1972
Marcel Hanoun wedding
1971 · Director
Up Your Legs Forever
1971 · Self - Legs
The Song of Moscow
1971 · Director
Ricky Leacock Visit, April 15, 1971
1971 · Self
Journey to Lithuania
1971 · Himself
Occhio privato sul nuovo mondo
1970
Filmmakers
1969 · Himself
Time & Fortune Vietnam Newsreel
1969 · Director, Cinematography
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
1968 · Self, self, Director, Writer, Editor, Cinematography
A Matter of Baobab
1968
Jonas
1968 · Himself
Underground New York
1968 · Self
The Song of Avila
1967 · Narrator, Director
The Italian Notebook
1967 · Director
The Song of Italy
1967 · Director
The Song of Assisi
1967 · Director
Notes on the Circus
1967 · Director, Editor, Director of Photography
Poem Posters
1967 · Self
Hare Krishna
1967 · Director
For Life, Against the War
1967 · Director
![Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w342/5yEUYxLQWc71aL7OGrhSnpslsQO.jpg)
Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas
1966 · himself
Report from Millbrook
1966 · Director
European Diaries
1966 · Sound Designer
Galaxie
1966 · Self
The Velvet Underground: Psychiatrist's Convention, NYC, 1966
1966 · Camera Operator
The Love Merchant
1966 · Lounge Patron
Shooting Guns
1966
Cassis
1966 · Director of Photography, Editor, Director
Andy Warhol Screen Tests
1965 · Self
Dirt
1965
Jonas in the Brig
1965 · Himself
The Making of an Underground Film
1965 · Self
Film Magazine of the Arts
1965 · Director, Editor, Cinematography
Empire
1965 · Self (uncredited), Cinematography
Award Presentation to Andy Warhol
1964 · Self, Director, Director of Photography, Editor
The Brig
1964 · Director, Cinematography, Director of Photography
Hallelujah the Hills
1963 · Assistant Director
The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man
1963
Senseless
1962 · Writer
Diane the Zebra Woman
1962
The Sin of Jesus
1961
Guns of the Trees
1961 · Director, Writer, Cinematography, Editor
The Lamb
· Self
Viva Jonas!
· Himself
Fragments of an Unfinished Biography of Jackie & Lee
When
· Director
