Biography
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.
Directed 131
2020s
- 2020
Tapes
Director
2010s
- 2019
Requiem
Director
- 2017
I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance
Director
From the diaries of a cinema maniac
Director
- 2016
On the Holy Spirit
Director
Memories of Jerome Hiler
Director
Hollywood Party
Director
Yoko Ono Lennon's Courage Awards 2016: Laurie Anderson, Mohammad el Gharani, Eileen Boxer, RoseLee Goldberg, LoftOpera
Director
Últimas correspondencias
Director
- 2015
Reconnecting with an Old Friend
Director
A Report from Venice
Director
Scenes from the Life of Raimund Abraham
Director
My Bolexes
Director
All About Bolex
Director
New Seasons Movement IV
Director
- 2014
My Birthday
Director
Have A Good Day!
Director
Halloween 1990
Director
- 2013
I Leave Chelsea Hotel
Director
The Sixties Quartet
Director
- 2012
Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man
Director
Happy Easter Ride
Director
20 Little Films
Director
Reminiscences from Germany
Director
- 2011
Mont Ventoux
Director
My Paris Movie
Director
Sleepless Nights Stories
Director
My Mars Bar Movie
Director
3.11 A Sense of Home Films
Director
Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
Director
Keep Singing
Director
Re: Maciunas and Fluxus
Director
- 2010
42 One Dream Rush
Director
Lavender
Director
WTC Haikus
Director
2000s
- 2008
Notes on an American Film Director at Work
Director
- 2007
365 Day Project
Director
Sunday December 30, 2007
Director
Friday May 4, 2007: John Zorn – Cobra Part Two
Director
Monday April 16, 2007
Director
Friday March 16, 2007
Director
Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007
Director
Thursday Jan. 4, 2007: Pedro (São Paulo) or The Right Way To Make Capirinha
Director
Monday Jan. 1, 2007
Director
- 2006
Nam June Paik's Piano Piece
Director
Patti Smith at Anthology Film Archives Febr. 19, 1998
Director
Moires with Prof. Oster and Salvador Dalí
Director
The Song of Central Park
Director
A Visit to Stan Brakhage
Director
Velvet Underground's First Public Appearance
Director
To Barbara Rubin with Love
Director
Bibi Hansen
Director
Carl Dreyer
Director
Poets at the Living Theater
Director
Andy at Work
Director
Warhol and Maciunas
Director
Robert Frank Films
Director
Salvador Dalí at Work
Director
Cinémathèque Française
Director
Brakhage Crosses Central Park
Director
Monks of Cinema
Director
To John With Love
Director
John & Yoko Bed-In
Director
The Monks of Cinema
Director
A Visit to Timothy Leary
Director
I Am Searching for Nothing
Director
Fluxus on the Hudson
Director
Elia Kazan
Director
Jonas' Independence Speech at the Anniversary of the Filmmaker's Cooperative
Director
Phil Glass Plays for Ralph Steiner's Mechanical Principles
Director
Graffiti Museum Bronx, NYC
Director
End of the Millennium Espresso
Director
Taping for As I was Moving Ahead…
Director
Allen Ginsberg Sings Blues
Director
Kreutzer Sonata
Director
Jackie & Lee Fragments of an Unfinished Biography
Director
The Destruction Quartet
Director
Destruction of the Berlin Wall
Director
- 2005
Notes on Utopia
Director
- 2003
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Director
- 2002
Three Friends
Director
- 2001
Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten
Director
A Letter to Penny Arcade
Director
- 2000
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
Director
Requiem for a Manual Typewriter
Director
Silence, Please
Director
Autobiography of a Man Who Carried his Memory in his Eyes
Director
Mozart & Elvis
Director
1990s
- 1999
A Few Notes on Andy's Factory
Director
This Side of Paradise: Fragments of An Unfinished Biography
Director
Letter to John from Jonas
Director
- 1998
Song of Avignon
Director
- 1997
Letters from Nowhere
Director
Happy Birthday to John
Director
Birth of a Nation
Director
Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit
Director
- 1996
Celebrate Cinema 101
Director
Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old
Director
- 1995
On My Way to Fujiyama I met..
Director
Imperfect Three-Image Films
Director
Memories of Frankenstein
Director
- 1992
Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus)
Director
The Education of Sebastian or Egypt Regained
Director
- 1991
Carl G. Jung by Jerome Hill or Lapis Philosophorum
Director
Quartet Number One
Director
- 1990
A Walk
Director
Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships and Intersections
Director
1980s
- 1986
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
Director
- 1981
Travel Songs
Director
The Song of Stockholm
Director
- 1980
Self-Portrait
Director
Robert Haller's Wedding
Director
1970s
- 1978
Notes for Jerome
Director
In Between
Director
- 1976
Lost, Lost, Lost
Director
- 1972
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
Director
- 1971
The Song of Moscow
Director
1960s
- 1969
Time & Fortune Vietnam Newsreel
Director
- 1968
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
Director
- 1967
The Song of Avila
Director
The Song of Italy
Director
The Song of Assisi
Director
Notes on the Circus
Director
Hare Krishna
Director
For Life, Against the War
Director
- 1966
Report from Millbrook
Director
Cassis
Director
- 1965
Film Magazine of the Arts
Director
- 1964
The Brig
Director
- 1963
Hallelujah the Hills
Assistant Director
- 1961
Acted in 58
2020s
- 2025
A Mixtape for Stom
Movie
- 2022
Jonas Mekas Anthology
Jonas Mekas
Vertigo
Movie
Notes for a Déjà vu
Movie
- 2020
Tapes
Movie
2010s
- 2019
Elegy for J.M.
Movie
Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party
Movie
Makeshift (for Mekas)
Movie
Keep singing: a tribute to Jonas Mekas
Movie
- 2018
- 2016
On the Holy Spirit
Movie
Memories of Jerome Hiler
Movie
- 2015
Filmstudio, mon amour
Sé stesso
Reconnecting with an Old Friend
Movie
Behind the Artist: Andy Warhol, an American Prophet
Movie
A Report from Venice
Movie
All About Bolex
Movie
- 2014
My Birthday
Movie
River of Fundament
Wake Guest
- 2012
Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man
Jonas Mekas
- 2011
My Paris Movie
Movie
Re: Maciunas and Fluxus
Movie
Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman
Movie
- 2010
New York Conversations
Movie
2000s
- 2009
The Signing
Movie
- 2008
Question a Day
Movie
Andy Warhol's Factory People... Inside the Sixties Silver Factory
Movie
- 2006
Jonas' Independence Speech at the Anniversary of the Filmmaker's Cooperative
Movie
Graffiti Museum Bronx, NYC
Movie
End of the Millennium Espresso
Movie
Taping for As I was Moving Ahead…
Movie
Kreutzer Sonata
Movie
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
Movie
- 2005
The Definition of Insanity
Movie
Vies et morts d'Andy Warhol
Movie
- 2002
Notes in Lifestyle Margins
Movie
- 2001
A Letter to Penny Arcade
Movie
1990s
- 1999
Letter to John from Jonas
Movie
- 1998
Jonas Mekas in Paris 10/97
Movie
- 1992
Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus)
Movie
Cinématon n°1590 : Jonas Mekas
Movie
Visiting Jonas Mekas
Movie
- 1991
Quartet Number One
Movie
- 1990
Step Across the Border
Butterfly Wing
1980s
- 1989
Belladonna
Movie
- 1985
Home Movies 1971-81
Movie
- 1981
1970s
- 1978
Cinématon
N°1590
Four Shadows
Movie
- 1975
Postcard from America
Movie
- 1974
‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen
Movie
- 1973
Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”
Movie
- 1972
Nitsch
Movie
- 1970
Occhio privato sul nuovo mondo
Movie
1960s
- 1968
A Matter of Baobab
Movie
- 1966
The Love Merchant
Lounge Patron
Shooting Guns
Movie
- 1963
The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man
Movie
Edited 18
2010s
- 2010
WTC Haikus
Editor
2000s
- 2006
Brakhage Crosses Central Park
Editor
- 2000
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
Editor
1990s
- 1999
This Side of Paradise: Fragments of An Unfinished Biography
Editor
- 1998
Song of Avignon
Editor
- 1997
Letters from Nowhere
Editor
Birth of a Nation
Editor
Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit
Editor
- 1991
Carl G. Jung by Jerome Hill or Lapis Philosophorum
Editor
- 1990
Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships and Intersections
Editor
1980s
- 1986
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
Editor
1970s
- 1976
Lost, Lost, Lost
Editor
- 1972
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
Editor
1960s
- 1968
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
Editor
- 1967
Notes on the Circus
Editor
- 1966
Cassis
Editor
- 1965
Film Magazine of the Arts
Editor
- 1961
Other crew 17
2010s
- 2015
My Bolexes
Cinematography
2000s
- 2006
Brakhage Crosses Central Park
Cinematography
Salvador Dalí at Work
Cinematography
- 2000
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
Cinematography
Silence, Please
Cinematography
1990s
- 1997
Birth of a Nation
Cinematography
Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit
Cinematography
1980s
- 1986
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
Cinematography
1970s
- 1978
Notes for Jerome
Cinematography
- 1976
Lost, Lost, Lost
Cinematography
- 1972
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
Cinematography
1960s
- 1969
Time & Fortune Vietnam Newsreel
Cinematography
- 1968
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
Cinematography
- 1965
Film Magazine of the Arts
Cinematography
Empire
Cinematography
- 1964
The Brig
Cinematography
- 1961
Wrote 15
2010s
- 2019
Self Discovery for Social Survival
Writer
2000s
- 2006
Salvador Dalí at Work
Writer
Brakhage Crosses Central Park
Writer
- 2000
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
Writer
1990s
- 1999
This Side of Paradise: Fragments of An Unfinished Biography
Writer
- 1998
Song of Avignon
Writer
- 1997
Letters from Nowhere
Writer
Birth of a Nation
Writer
1980s
- 1986
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
Writer
1970s
- 1978
Notes for Jerome
Writer
- 1976
Lost, Lost, Lost
Writer
- 1972
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
Writer
1960s
- 1968
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
Writer
- 1962
Senseless
Writer
- 1961
Camera 12
2010s
- 2015
All About Bolex
Camera Operator
- 2010
Lavender
Director of Photography
WTC Haikus
Director of Photography
2000s
- 2008
Notes on an American Film Director at Work
Director of Photography
1990s
- 1998
Song of Avignon
Director of Photography
- 1995
On My Way to Fujiyama I met..
Director of Photography
- 1990
A Walk
Camera Operator
Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships and Intersections
Director of Photography
1960s
- 1967
Notes on the Circus
Director of Photography
- 1966
Cassis
Director of Photography
- 1964
The Brig
Director of Photography
Produced 2
2010s
- 2010
WTC Haikus
Producer
1990s
- 1999
This Side of Paradise: Fragments of An Unfinished Biography
Producer
Sound 1
1960s
- 1966
European Diaries
Sound Designer
Appearances95
2020s
- 2023
- 2022
Fragments of Paradise
Self (archive footage)
- 2021
Back from New York
Himself
9/11: Life Under Attack
Self
The Invisible Father
Self (archive footage)
- 2020
2010s
- 2019
Cinema and Sanctuary
Self
Self Discovery for Social Survival
Narrator (voice)
Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film
Self
- 2018
Beyond the Bolex
Self
George: The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus
Self
- 2017
I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance
Self
- 2016
EXPRMNTL
himself
I Had Nowhere to Go
Himself
Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas
Self
Últimas correspondencias
Self
- 2015
A Day in the Life of Andy Warhol
Self
- 2014
Have A Good Day!
Self
- 2013
My Conversations on Film
Himself
What Is Cinema?
Self
- 2012
Jonas Mekas: I Am Not a Filmmaker
Self
Reminiscences from Germany
Self
- 2011
My Mars Bar Movie
himself
3.11 A Sense of Home Films
Himself (voice) (segment "Mt. Ventoux")
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
Himself
Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
Himself
- 2010
Lavender
Self
Visionaries
Himself
2000s
- 2009
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days
Himself
It Came from Kuchar
Self (archive footage)
- 2008
Doc
Himself
Notes on an American Film Director at Work
Self
- 2007
365 Day Project
Self
Sunday December 30, 2007
Self
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
Self
Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007
Self
- 2006
The Song of Central Park
Himself (voice)
Salvador Dalí at Work
Self
Anger Me
Himself
Who Gets to Call It Art?
Self
- 2005
Excavating Taylor Mead
Self
Notes on Utopia
Self
- 2004
- 2003
Axiom of Choice
Self
- 2002
Jonas Keeps Shooting Around
Himself
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
Himself
- 2000
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
Narrator (voice)
Requiem for a Manual Typewriter
Himself
1990s
- 1999
This Side of Paradise: Fragments of An Unfinished Biography
Self
- 1998
Song of Avignon
Self
My Country is Cinema, Scenes from the Life of Jonas Mekas
Self
- 1997
Birth of a Nation
Self
Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit
Self
A Poet from the Lower East Side
Self
- 1996
Jonas Mekas, Friday 13th October
Himself
Michael Snow Up Close
Himself
Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old
Himself
- 1995
Nico Icon
Self
- 1994
Jonas in the Desert
Self
- 1993
Jonas Mekas in Budapest
Himself
- 1992
Award
Himself
- 1991
Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas
Himself
- 1990
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol
Self
Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships and Intersections
Self
1980s
- 1989
Warhol's Cinema 1963-1968: Mirror for the Sixties
Self
- 1986
Invocation: Maya Deren
Himself
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
Self (archive footage)
Fire in the East: A Portrait of Robert Frank
Self
- 1984
Persistence of Vision
Self
- 1981
Travel Songs
Self (uncredited)
- 1980
Self-Portrait
Himself
J. Mekas
Self
1970s
- 1979
ORG
Self (archive footage)
- 1978
Notes for Jerome
Self
- 1976
Lost, Lost, Lost
Self
- 1972
Imagine
Self
Going Home
Himself
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
Self
- 1971
Up Your Legs Forever
Self - Legs
Journey to Lithuania
Himself
1960s
- 1969
Filmmakers
Himself
- 1968
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
Self, self
Underground New York
Self
- 1967
The Song of Avila
Narrator
Poem Posters
Self
- 1966
Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas
himself
Galaxie
Self
- 1965
Andy Warhol Screen Tests
Self
Jonas in the Brig
Himself
The Making of an Underground Film
Self
Empire
Self (uncredited)
No release date
Viva Jonas!
Himself