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Jonas Mekas

Jonas Mekas

Director & actor · born 24 December 1922 · Semeniškiai, Lithuania

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.

Where to start: When.

As director 161

As actor 93

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Jonas Mekas movie?

By viewer score, When at 0.0/10.

What are Jonas Mekas’s most popular movies?

The Velvet Underground, As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty, As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty.

How many movies has Jonas Mekas made?

254 films on TMDB, 161 as director, 93 as actor.

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