Anthology Film Archives

JONAS MEKAS TRIBUTE SCREENINGS, PART 4: ARTS & CULTURE

January 9 – March 30

On January 23, 2019, almost a month after his 96th birthday, Anthology’s founder Jonas Mekas passed away. Despite his advanced age, Jonas’s energy, joy, and perceptiveness, as well as his mischievous spirit and boundless openness to new forms of expression, were unflagging until his very final days. He remained a fixture of experimental and independent culture – in NYC and internationally – and a major driving force here at Anthology, until the end. In a very real sense, every program we present – and every film we save, preserve, and restore – has been and will continue to be a tribute to Jonas, to his tireless promotion of avant-garde film and his creation of multiple institutions and initiatives to support the infrastructure of non-commercial cinema. But in order to officially mark his passing we have been presenting screenings throughout the last year, comprising a comprehensive retrospective of his films and videos.

Jonas was, of course, not only a writer, poet, artist, and co-founder of Anthology, the Film-Makers’ Cooperative, and Film Culture Magazine, but also a filmmaker of great renown. Throughout this year we’ll be paying tribute to his oeuvre by screening a wide selection of his films and videos, both widely celebrated classics and far more obscure works.

Following chapters devoted to his diary films and his portraits of people and places, the latest installment of our screening series showcases our brand-new restoration of Jonas’s debut feature film – GUNS OF THE TREES (click here for more details) – as well as a selection of films that capture various forms of art or performance. These works constitute invaluable documentation of work by the Living Theatre, George Maciunas and other Fluxus artists, dancers and choreographers including Erick Hawkins and Kenneth King, and many others (such as Elvis Presley!).

Very special thanks to Oona & Sebastian Mekas.

All descriptions are by Jonas Mekas unless otherwise noted.

CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS NOW!

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