Jonas Mekas was born on 24 December 1922 in a village in Lithuania and passed away at his home in New York on 23 January 2019 at the age of 96. This year and next year, events, exhibitions and screenings of Mekas’ work will take place around the world to commemorate the centenary of his birth.
On 24 December, Mekas’s birthday, Tokyo Gallery “Toki-no-Wasuremono” will hold a one-day screening of Mekas’s films, which have rarely been shown to the public.
For program, please check here.
Online streaming of the film “J. Mekas” (1980) by Roberta’s Verba. In 1977, accompanied by his wife and daughter, Jonas Mekas returned to Lithuania for the second time since his departure for exile in 1944. Documentary filmmaker Robertas Verba recorded the images of the return to his native country, the memory of which irrigates Mekas’ cinema.
Film numérisé à partir d’une copie 35 mm par le Lithuanian Central State Archives en 2022 pour le Lithuanian Film Centre. Remerciements au Lithuanian Film Centre (Austė Jucytė) et à Austė Zdančiūtė (ambassade de Lituanie en France).
The film link is here.
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania chronicles the return journey to Jonas Mekas homeland with his brother Adolfas, after several decades in the United States. Reuniting with siblings, neighbours and their mother, the film pulls the viewer through village life in rural Soviet Lithuania, bookended by scenes from New York in the 1950s and a stop in Vienna on their return journey to the US. Combining music, poetry and reflections, with short fragmentary bursts of filming, Mekas’ films are alive with memory.
More information on this event available here.
“Vertigo” (2022) follows Gozo Yoshimasu (b. 1939), a pioneer of modern Japanese poetry, as he seeks memories of his friend Jonas Mekas (1922-2019) through Manhattan and Brooklyn one year after Mekas’ passing. The film depicts Gozo’s process as he works on a poetic requiem for his friend during his stay in America. Talks between Gozo Yoshimatsu and film director Haruo Inoue will follow screenings from 18:00 December 20-25, 2022. Film director – Haruo Inoue.
This film depicts the dramatic birth of a poem that could be called a requiem on the first anniversary of the death of Mekas, who was considered a giant of experimental cinema. “Why are your poems and films so shaky?” Someone asked this question to Jonas Mekas, the poet deemed the godfather of American avant-garde cinema. Mekas replied “My life is shaky.”
More information available here.
Coinciding with the centenary of the birth of Jonas Mekas (Lithuania, 24-12-1922 – United States, 23-01-2019), the Filmoteca de Galicia programmes a series of sessions on the work of this filmmaker, critic, poet and cultural activist, an essential figure in the development of the New York cultural scene and, specifically, of independent and experimental American cinema.
Screenings
16 December – 19:30: screening of “Lost Lost Lost” (1976)
23 December: screenings of “Notes on the Circus” (1966) and Notes for Jerome (1978)
More information available here.
Joining a global celebration to mark the late avant-garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas’ 100th birthday, A4 is screening his ‘Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas’ in our Library. This, in parallel to the opening of The Future Is Behind Us – an exhibition in our Gallery.
More information on events can be found here.
We celebrate the centenary of our beloved Jonas Mekas on Tuesday 20 December with an exclusive screening of three of his short films, after their screening at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival.
On this occasion we will screen “Award Presentation to Andy Warhol”, “Happy Birthday to John” and “Notes for Jerome”, as part of Fernando Martín Peña’s cycle, Peña sin cadenas. On that day, we will also be celebrating the presentation of the book “Destellos de belleza”, published this year by Caja Negra Editora, with a collective reading. It will be a good occasion to meet around the Mekasian spirit of friendship, to toast, to say goodbye to the year that is leaving and to augur a great beginning of 2023.
See full program here.
To celebrate the centenary of our dear Jonas, and within the frame of 37° Mar del Plata Film Festival, we present the book Destellos de belleza, which compiles anecdotes and scenes from his life marked by his emotional bonds and his curious archival desire. With Malena Rey (Caja Negra Editora) and Lucas Granero (La vida útil Magazine), we will also read various fragments in the voice of different guest artists. During the Festival, we are delighted to count with the screening of: Award Presentation to Andy Warhol, Happy Birthday to John and Notes for Jerome.
More information available here.
Jonas Mekas centennial in Tenerife will be celebrated with a series of events. On 17 December the film To Talk to the Very Heart will be screened at the Lithuanian diaspora in Tenerife meeting. An opening of Hollis Melton’s photography exhibition’s La luz de Jonas Mekas and screening of the film As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty will be held at the Encuentro Multicultural “Tenerife Migrante” on 18 December.
More information on events can be found here.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Lithuania-born, naturalised American filmmaker, poet and artist Jonas Mekas, Cineteca Milano, in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Italy and Lithuanian Film Culture, presents a masterclass dedicated to Mekas and the screening of the film “As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty” at Cinema Arlecchino.
Jonas Mekas is among the most important figures of the landscape of American independent and experimental cinema. “As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty” is the highest and most complete expression of his artistic and cinematographic thought. Putting together apparently trivial fragments of everyday life, Mekas composes a cine-diary that miraculously transforms itself into a hymn to the complexity, beauty and poetry of life: a unique and unforgettable cinematic experience that reminds us that paradise is here and now.
More information available here.
