Film Screenings / Programs / Retrospectives
THE FILMS OF ADOLFAS MEKAS
October 20 – October 27
Anthology Film Archives and the avant-garde film community at large suffered a great loss this past spring with the passing of Adolfas Mekas. A gifted filmmaker and legendary figure at Bard College, where he founded the film department and taught for more than three decades, Adolfas came to New York from Lithuania with his brother Jonas (Anthology’s co-founder and Artistic Director) in 1949. After launching Film Culture magazine together, the Mekas brothers turned to filmmaking, collaborating on GUNS OF THE TREES and THE BRIG. Adolfas would soon go on to produce a remarkable body of work of his own, with films including HALLELUJAH THE HILLS, WINDFLOWERS, and GOING HOME.
A seminal figure in the history of independent cinema, and an always warm, often hilarious presence in the lives of his many friends, family members, and students, Adolfas Mekas will be greatly missed. In tribute to his life and work, Anthology presents this comprehensive retrospective of his work.
Very special thanks to Pola Chapelle, as well as to Barbara Stone, Gabrielle Claes (Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique), and Daniel Wagner & Daniel Bish (George Eastman House).
Please note: following the retrospective of Adolfas Mekas’s work, we will be presenting a series in honor of a friend and collaborator of Adolfas’s, the producer, distributor, and filmmaker David C. Stone, who also passed away earlier this year.
