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.
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0577263
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q699702
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Filmography (Movies)
A Mixtape for Stom
Character:
Release Date:20/09/2025
Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:24/03/2023
Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages
Character:
Release Date:21/09/2022
Jonas Mekas Anthology
Character:Jonas Mekas
Release Date:03/09/2022
Fragments of Paradise
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:31/08/2022
Film: The Living Record of Our Memory
Character:Self
Release Date:12/08/2022
Vertigo
Character:
Release Date:13/07/2022
Notes for a Déjà vu
Character:
Release Date:21/02/2022
Back from New York
Character:Himself
Release Date:25/10/2021
The Velvet Underground
Character:Self
Release Date:15/10/2021
The Invisible Father
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:19/03/2021
Tapes
Character:
Release Date:14/09/2020
Tiny Tim: King for a Day
Character:Himself
Release Date:20/08/2020
Elegy for J.M.
Character:
Release Date:16/12/2019
Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party
Character:
Release Date:03/11/2019
Cinema and Sanctuary
Character:Self
Release Date:20/06/2019
Self Discovery for Social Survival
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:15/06/2019
Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film
Character:Self
Release Date:05/06/2019
Makeshift (for Mekas)
Character:
Release Date:25/05/2019
Last Interview Film of Jonas Mekas/version 1
Character:Self
Release Date:08/04/2019
Keep singing: a tribute to Jonas Mekas
Character:
Release Date:31/01/2019
Jonas Towards Broadway
Character:
Release Date:01/01/2019
3 Friends Singing (...in the Desert)
Character:
Release Date:01/01/2019
Beyond the Bolex
Character:Self
Release Date:08/11/2018
Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground
Character:
Release Date:02/05/2018
George: The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus
Character:Self
Release Date:21/02/2018
Nitsch
Character:
Release Date:29/01/2018
I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance
Character:Self
Release Date:01/09/2017
On the Holy Spirit
Character:
Release Date:22/10/2016
EXPRMNTL
Character:himself
Release Date:08/10/2016
I Had Nowhere to Go
Character:Himself
Release Date:04/08/2016
Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas
Character:Self
Release Date:29/05/2016
Filmstudio, mon amour
Character:Sé stesso
Release Date:21/10/2015
A Day in the Life of Andy Warhol
Character:Self
Release Date:25/08/2015
Behind the Artist: Andy Warhol, an American Prophet
Character:
Release Date:19/06/2015
A Report from Venice
Character:
Release Date:01/06/2015
All About Bolex
Character:
Release Date:01/01/2015
My Birthday
Character:
Release Date:23/12/2014
River of Fundament
Character:Wake Guest
Release Date:12/02/2014
My Conversations on Film
Character:Himself
Release Date:13/10/2013
What Is Cinema?
Character:Self
Release Date:06/09/2013
Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man
Character:Jonas Mekas
Release Date:01/12/2012
Maya Deren, Take Zero
Character:Himself
Release Date:30/01/2012
Reminiscences from Germany
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/2012
My Mars Bar Movie
Character:himself
Release Date:06/10/2011
3.11 A Sense of Home Films
Character:Himself (voice) (segment "Mt. Ventoux")
Release Date:11/09/2011
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
Character:Himself
Release Date:24/07/2011
Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
Character:Himself
Release Date:09/04/2011
Guest
Character:Self
Release Date:25/03/2011
Re: Maciunas and Fluxus
Character:
Release Date:01/01/2011
Portrait Serie - Jonas Mekas
Character:himself
Release Date:14/10/2010
New York Conversations
Character:
Release Date:21/09/2010
Lavender
Character:Self
Release Date:01/06/2010
Visionaries
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/2010
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days
Character:Himself
Release Date:31/12/2009
It Came from Kuchar
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:22/09/2009
The Signing
Character:
Release Date:01/01/2009
The Perfect Team: The Making of 'On the Bowery'
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/2009
Doc
Character:Himself
Release Date:09/12/2008
Question a Day
Character:
Release Date:01/01/2008
Andy Warhol's Factory People... Inside the Sixties Silver Factory
Character:
Release Date:01/01/2008
Notes on an American Film Director at Work
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/2008
365 Day Project
Character:Self
Release Date:31/12/2007
Sunday December 30, 2007
Character:Self
Release Date:30/12/2007
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
Character:Self
Release Date:11/04/2007
Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007
Character:Self
Release Date:09/01/2007
Salvador Dalí at Work
Character:Self
Release Date:11/11/2006
The Song of Central Park
Character:Himself (voice)
Release Date:11/11/2006
Anger Me
Character:Himself
Release Date:23/10/2006
Notes on Marie Menken
Character:Self
Release Date:20/04/2006
Who Gets to Call It Art?
Character:Self
Release Date:01/02/2006
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
Character:
Release Date:01/01/2006
Nam June Paik: Lessons from the Video Master
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/2006
The Definition of Insanity
Character:
Release Date:10/12/2005
Vies et morts d'Andy Warhol
Character:
Release Date:25/11/2005
Excavating Taylor Mead
Character:Self
Release Date:08/10/2005
A Letter from Greenpoint
Character:Mekas
Release Date:22/04/2004
Not in Our Name
Character:himself
Release Date:31/12/2003
Axiom of Choice
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/2003
Jonas Keeps Shooting Around
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/08/2002
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
Character:Himself
Release Date:15/03/2002
Notes in Lifestyle Margins
Character:
Release Date:11/03/2002
TO NEW YORK WITH LOVE - A Letter to Penny Arcade June 25, 2001
Character:
Release Date:23/06/2001
As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:05/11/2000
Requiem for a Manual Typewriter
Character:Himself
Release Date:09/02/2000
Letter to John from Jonas
Character:
Release Date:06/03/1999
Laboratorium Anthology
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/1999
Jonas Mekas in Paris 10/97
Character:
Release Date:08/10/1998
Song of Avignon
Character:Self
Release Date:03/07/1998
My Country is Cinema
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1998
Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit
Character:Self
Release Date:03/07/1997
A Poet from the Lower East Side
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1997
Jonas Mekas, Friday 13th October
Character:Himself
Release Date:31/12/1996
Michael Snow Up Close
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/1996
Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/1996
Nico Icon
Character:Self
Release Date:08/09/1995
Jonas in the Desert
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1994
Jonas Mekas in Budapest
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/11/1993
Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus)
Character:
Release Date:31/12/1992
Award
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/1992
Just Visiting This Planet
Character:
Release Date:05/09/1991
Quartet Number One
Character:
Release Date:03/07/1991
Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/1991
Step Across the Border
Character:Butterfly Wing
Release Date:08/09/1990
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol
Character:Self
Release Date:18/07/1990
Belladonna
Character:
Release Date:22/05/1989
Warhol's Cinema 1963-1968: Mirror for the Sixties
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1989
Invocation: Maya Deren
Character:Himself
Release Date:24/04/1986
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:22/02/1986
Fire in the East: A Portrait of Robert Frank
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1986
Home Movies 1971-81
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1985
Persistence of Vision
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1984
Strong Medicine
Character:
Release Date:25/11/1981
The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man
Character:
Release Date:01/08/1981
No. 18: Mahagonny
Character:Self
Release Date:13/09/1980
Self-Portrait
Character:Himself
Release Date:07/06/1980
J. Mekas
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1980
ORG
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:31/08/1979
Paradise Not Yet Lost
Character:Himself
Release Date:03/07/1979
Cinématon
Character:N°1590
Release Date:20/12/1978
Four Shadows
Character:
Release Date:03/10/1978
Notes for Jerome
Character:Self
Release Date:03/07/1978
Lost, Lost, Lost
Character:Self
Release Date:14/09/1976
Postcard from America
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1975
‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen
Character:
Release Date:05/11/1974
Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”
Character:
Release Date:26/03/1973
Imagine
Character:Self
Release Date:23/12/1972
Going Home
Character:Himself
Release Date:04/10/1972
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
Character:Self
Release Date:02/08/1972
Ricky Leacock Visit, April 15, 1971
Character:Self
Release Date:15/04/1971
Journey to Lithuania
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/1971
Occhio privato sul nuovo mondo
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1970
Filmmakers
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/1969
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
Character:Self
Release Date:01/03/1968
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
Character:self
Release Date:01/03/1968
A Matter of Baobab
Character:
Release Date:12/01/1968
Jonas
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/1968
Underground New York
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1968
The Song of Avila
Character:Narrator
Release Date:31/12/1967
Poem Posters
Character:Self
Release Date:19/05/1967
![Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w185/5yEUYxLQWc71aL7OGrhSnpslsQO.jpg)
Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas
Character:himself
Release Date:31/12/1966
Galaxie
Character:Self
Release Date:03/09/1966
The Love Merchant
Character:Lounge Patron
Release Date:01/01/1966
Shooting Guns
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1966
Andy Warhol Screen Tests
Character:Self
Release Date:28/11/1965
Dirt
Character:
Release Date:25/09/1965
Jonas in the Brig
Character:Himself
Release Date:10/09/1965
Empire
Character:Self (uncredited)
Release Date:06/03/1965
Award Presentation to Andy Warhol
Character:Self
Release Date:07/12/1964
Diane the Zebra Woman
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1962
The Sin of Jesus
Character:
Release Date:10/12/1961
Television Appearances
Images
