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Jonas Mekas Biography

Jonas Mekas (Lithuanian: [ˈjonɐs ˈmækɐs]; born December 24, 1922) is a Lithuanian American filmmaker, poet and artist who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema". His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals worldwide.

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Jonas Mekas Quotes

For an artist, to be normal is a disaster

Artist, Disaster, Normal

I had the fortune to spend some time, mostly during the summers, with Jackie Kennedy's and her sister Lee Radziwill's families and children. Cinema was an integral, inseparable, as a matter of fact, a key part of our friendship.

Children, Families, Inseparable, Keys, Lee, Summer

We need less perfect but more free films.

Film, Films, Free, Needs, Perfect

Since 1950 I have been keeping a film diary. I have been walking around with my Bolex and reacting to the immediate reality: situations, friends, New York, seasons of the year. On some days I shoot ten frames, on others ten seconds, still on others ten minutes. Or I shoot nothing. Walden contains material from the years 1964-1968 strung together in chronological order.

Contains, New York, Order, Reality, Ten, York

I always work only with friends, but it must be about them and myself. Because I film only very personal moments, nothing preplanned, staged or written, it has to be real and spontaneous. Some of them have become famous, some are not yet famous, some will never be famous. But they are all my friends.

Film, Friends, Moments, Real, Written

We are the measure of all things. And the beauty of our creation, of our art is proportional to the beauty of ourselves of our souls.

Art, Creation, Measure, Proportional, Soul, Souls

My life is essentially not so unique. On some deeper levels we feel the same, we know the same things. Therefore if I show my life 365 days, moments from those days, it will reflect and it will have connection with lives of all of us.

Connections, Essentially, Levels, Lives, Reflect, Unique

I'm a filmmaker, but my working procedures are different. All my basic structuring is done during the filming. You know, how long I keep the shot, the exposure or the speed - slower or faster, etc. That's structuring. And then there is a second stage of structuring that comes later when I begin to put those pieces together.

Done, Etc, Know, Long, Shot, Together

I missed my teenage years. I was never a teenager.

Missed, Teenage, Teenager, Years

My films are the celebration of reality, of life, of my friends, of actual daily life that passes and is gone tomorrow. We don't pay attention to it when it happens.

Attention, Gone, Life, Reality

Suddenly the intermedia shows are all over town. . Theirs remains the most dramatic expression of the contemporary generation. The place where its needs and desperations are most dramatically split open. At the Plastic Inevitable it is All Here and Now and the Future.

Desperations, Dramatic, Expression, Generations, Needs, Plastic

Most of my videos consist of fragments, one or two minutes long. They are haikus or sketches. I have thousands.

Fragments, Long, Sketches, Two, Video, Videos

The nature of the video camera really makes you focus on the present. Since I have always been a diarist filmmaker, not one who stages scenes with actors, it has always been about the present moment.

Cameras, Diarist, Focus, Scenes, Video

The deeper I went into culture, the more confused I got. So I needed something more real. I said, "Okay, from now on, my country will be cinema. "

Cinema, Confused, Country, Culture, Real

I'm not an abstract artist; I leave that to others. To me, abstract art ended with Kazimir Malevich's 'Black Square. ' To continue it is senseless.

Art, Artist, Black, Senseless, Squares

I make home movies-therefore I live. I live - therefore I make home movies.

Home, Live, Make, Movies

I am very active on the Internet. In 2007, I made one film every day and posted it on my website. That was a 365-day project, really exhausting, but I still put a lot of stuff on - from life, friends, my own life.

2007, Exhausting, Film, Internet, Stuff, Website

Seek the insignificant small but essential qualities, essential to life

Essential, Essentials, Insignificant, Life, Quality

I'm not so much in the future as always in the present. The future always takes care of itself. What I do now with my video camera, it can only record what is happening now. I am celebrating reality and the essence of the moment. And that's the greatest challenge that I have.

Camera, Challenges, Essence, Reality, Record, Takes

In 1962, we created the Filmmakers' Co-Op because nobody wanted to distribute our films. If we had the Internet in those days, we wouldn't have needed the Co-Op.

Created, Distribute, Film, Films, Internet, Needed

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