Three programs that will consist of one of Jonas Mekas’ feature films that speaks to his mission of personal cinema. He believed that everyone could and should create a film. Each title will be paired with a different filmmaker whose radical or visionary work Jonas invited into the FMC collection in order to ensure the visibility that he believed these masterpieces of cinema deserve. Curated by MM Serra, filmmaker, Executive director of Film-Makers.
Films to be screened:
“Tales of Visions of Community with MM Serra: To Jonas, with Love” (2021), 9 min.
“Outtakes from the Life of a Happy Man” (2012), 68 min. (Jonas Mekas)
“Remembrance: A Portrait Study” (1967), 6 min. (Edward Owens)
“Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts” (1968–70), 6 min. (Edward Owens)
Barbican presents a landmark work “Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania” (1972; 16mm) from the filmmaking pioneer Jonas Mekas with an introduction by curator Herb Shellenberger and poetry reading by Paulina Pukytė.
As a part of the retrospective “Stories of Cinema (III)”, film historian and curator of the retrospective Santos Zunzunegui will give an hour talk before the screening of film “Lost, Lost, Lost” (1976) in which he will go in depth about the figure of Jonas Mekas and his work.
Anne König, editor and publisher of Spector Books, in conversation with Inka Schube, curator at Sprengel Museum Hannover, on the recently published second volume of Jonas Mekas’ autobiography Jonas Mekas: I Seem to Live. The New York Diaries, 1950-2011.
More information on this event will be available here.
In conjunction with the exhibition “Jonas Mekas and the New York Avant-Garde” (up through February 20) at the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius, Lithuania, the museum will host a one-day online symposium on Saturday, 12 February 2022, 5 pm (EET) / 10 am (EST)
With presentations by Johanna Gosse, Chrissie Iles, Ara Osterweil, and Jonathan Walley.
The symposium is dedicated to the multifaceted activities of the Lithuanian emigré filmmaker, poet, critic, and institution builder Jonas Mekas. Taking Mekas’ work and life as a starting point, the speakers will interrogate his role in the history of art and avant-garde film as well as the relevance of his legacy for contemporary times.
Exhibition and symposium curated by Inesa Brašiškė and Lukas Brasiskis.
For more information on speakers, schedule and a webstream link please visit here.
Jonas Mekas always celebrated the poetry of film. Marie Menken was his favorite film poet. In this screening we will present the select films of Menken and Mekas and have the discussion about Menken’s influence on Mekas’ film style and their continuous friendship. The belief that filmmaking is just another way of taking notes shared by both artists will be a premise for the discussion. Marie Menken’s Glimpses of the Garden (1957), Notebook (1962) and Lights (1966) alongside Mekas’ Notes on the Circus (1966) and Cassis (1966) will be screened.
The post-screening discussion will follow. Select Mekas’ texts on Marie Menken will be exposed and some of his poems will be read.
A true supporter of freedom of artistic expression, in the early sixties Jonas Mekas fiercely fought some important battles against film censorship. He was the one who first wrote about Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures and organized its theatrical premiere. Championed by Mekas, the film caused the backlash from NY film censors, licensers and some theater owners. In December 1963, Flaming Creatures was selected to be screened at the The Third International Film Exposition in Knokke-le-Zoute, Belgium, but fearing obscenity complaints the selection jury decided not to show it. Outraged by the decision, Mekas resigned from the position of the festival’s jury and organized special screenings of Flaming Creatures in his hotel room attended by known European filmmakers, including Jean-Luc Godard, Agnes Varda, Roman Polanski and others, all subject to arrest by the local police. In 1964, Mekas kept showing Flaming Creatures across screening spaces in New York, often as part of the so-called “infamous surprise program” that also included films by Andy Warhol, Kenneth Anger, Ron Rice and others.
Celebrating Mekas’ dedication to the advocacy of the artistic freedom in this screening we will show several films that will be announced in early February. The post-screening discussion will follow. Some important documents on Mekas fights against censorship will be exhibited and presented by Sebastian Mekas.
The Cinémathèque Française in Paris will mark a celebration of Jonas Mekas’ Centennial with a comprehensive film retrospective. The programme, prepared in collaboration with Pip Chodorov, consisting of 17 films and 15 short films by Jonas Mekas and followed by the roundtables and discussions will give an opportunity for the cinema-going public to go deep into the works of one of the greatest literary and visual poets in the contemporary film history.
The complete list of films and events of this programme is available here.
Jonas Mekas has always been known as a filmmaker making sketches, notes and portraits. In the 2000s, he started to exhibit photographic blowups of frames from his 16mm films presenting portraits of his friends cinematically imprinted in his life. Pretty rarely, however, one can see narrative and non-narrative film portraits of Jonas Mekas made by other filmmakers throughout the 20th century. In this first screening a few famous portraits of Mekas done by his friends will be presented.
After the first screening, the discussion on the films and the importance of portrait for the American Avant-Garde cinema will follow. Some portraits Mekas made of his friends will be exhibited at the Mekas’ Studio and presented by Sebastian Mekas.
Noting the centennial of Lithuanian poet and filmmaker Jonas Mekas, Index will be hosting a three part screening series showing Mekas’ experimental diary film Walden from 1968. Using Walden as a point of departure, the series will feature panel discussions with guests whose practices reflect Mekas’ important role as enabler, organizer, connector of people, and devout advocate for art.
This first session is inspired by Mekas’ role in creating Anthology Film Archive and his legacy of fighting censorship and championing the work of queer filmmakers. It will focus on building archives for material which has been misrepresented or excluded in traditional writings of history, and methods for promoting and disseminating queer art.
Isabella Tjäder, Curator of Learning at Index, will moderate a discussion between Anna Linder, SAQMI – The Swedish Archive for Queer Moving Images; Augustas Čičelis, išgirsti, Lithuanian Queer Archive, Vilnius Queer Festival Kreivės; Johan Sundell, Arkivet för Rosa Brus; and Laima Kreivytė, curator, writer and founding member of the queer feminist artists’ collective Cooltūristės.
Diaries, Notes and Sketches pt 2: Critique, contemplation and editorial outlooks is scheduled for 20 January 2023.
Diaries, Notes and Sketches pt 3: Poetic cinema and polyphonic practices is scheduled for 28 January 2023.
For more information on the sessions please visit link here.
