Ken Jacobs
A pioneer of the American film avant-garde of the 1960s and '70s, Ken Jacobs is a central figure in post-war experimental cinema. From his first films of the late 1950s to his recent experiments with digital video, his investigations and innovations have influenced countless artists. A New Yorker by birth, Jacobs graduated from City University to find himself in the midst of the downtown art scene of the 1960s, which included artists Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol, beat writers Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac; and the experimental theater troupes of Trisha Brown and Yvonne Rainer. Although Jacobs had studied painting with Hans Hoffman, he quickly gravitated to film, finding kindred spirits in radical filmmakers such as Jonas Mekas and Hollis Frampton. An early friendship with Jack Smith yielded several collaborations, including the seminal underground films Blonde Cobra (which Jonas Mekas dubbed "the masterpiece of Baudelairean cinema") and Little Stabs at Happiness, as well as a Provincetown beach-based live show, The Human Wreckage Review.
As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
as SelfA compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American...
Movie pageDiaries, Notes, and Sketches
as SelfAn epic portrait of the New York avant-garde art scene of the 60s.
Movie pageWhat Is Cinema?
as SelfUsing the words and ideas of great filmmakers, from archival interviews with Alfred Hitchcock...
Movie pageLost, Lost, Lost
as SelfJonas Mekas adjusts to a life in exile in New York in his autobiographical film, shot between...
Movie pageBlonde Cobra
as uncreditedA man fondles objects, looks at himself in the mirror, poses in different clothes, smiles and...
Movie pageFragments of Paradise
as SelfFor over 70 years, Jonas Mekas, internationally known as the "godfather" of avant-garde cinema,...
Movie pageJonas in the Desert
as SelfNot a documentary in the strictest sense of the word. Rather, it is a journey through the world...
Movie pageBirth of a Nation
as SelfFilmmaker Jonas Mekas films 160 underground film people over four decades.
Movie pageStar Spangled to Death
as Oscar Friendly / Ringmaster / JanitorAn examination of the history of the U.S. through archival footage and contrasting views of...
Movie pageHe Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
as Self (archive footage)A film collage tracing the story of the lives, loves, and deaths within the artistic community...
Movie page365 Day Project
as uncreditedThis exhibition focuses on Jonas Mekas’ 365 Day Project, a succession of films and videos in...
Movie pageFree Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
as HimselfExperimental filmmaker Pip Chodorov traces the course of experimental film in America, taking...
Movie pageMomma's Man
as DadAn adult decides to escape the pressures of life and return to his old bedroom at his parents'...
Movie pageScotch Tape
as uncreditedShot in 1959, Scotch Tape is Jack Smith's first film -- a joyous, three-minute romp, in color,...
Movie pageJack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
as SelfIn this entrancing documentary on performance artist, photographer and underground filmmaker...
Movie pageCinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
as HimselfA series of video letters between José Luis Guerín and Jonas Mekas.
Movie pageHuge Pupils
as HimselfIn 1968, Noren finished Huge Pupils, a gorgeous, sensuous, sexually outrageous visual study of...
Movie pageSleepless Nights Stories
as SelfDirector Jonas Mekas travels through New York nights, through apartments, studios, backstage...
Movie pageHome Movies 1971-81
as uncreditedHome movies shot on Super 8mm by W+B Hein over 10 years.
Movie pageSantos Dumont: Pré-Cineasta?
as HimselfThe documentary’s starting point is the discovery and restoration of a rare and unknown...
Movie pageReminiscences of Jonas Mekas
as uncreditedA “Cinéma, de notre temps” series episode directed by french filmmaker Jackie Raynal, originally...
Movie pageLavender
as SelfA wholesome moment: Jonas Mekas, MM Serra, Ken Jacobs, and Flo Jacobs take lavender from a...
Movie pageEmma's Dilemma
as HimselfHenry Hills’s Emma’s Dilemma reinvents the portrait for the age of digital reproduction. In a...
Movie pageBill's Hat
as uncredited"The whole film are non-art portraits of people in which they do what they want with this hat –...
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