Jonas Mekas has died
Posted: 23 Jan 2019 21:48
A report in todays Guardian (UK)
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/j ... es-aged-96
The film-maker Jonas Mekas, widely regarded as the godfather of underground cinema, has died aged 96. Born in Lithuania, he fled the Nazis and went on to work with the cream of the New York 1960s avant garde, including Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Mekas’s death was announced on his Facebook page, which said: “Jonas passed away quietly and peacefully early this morning. He was at home with family. He will be greatly missed but his light shines on.”
The director made some 60 films, usually with an impressionistic, diaristic style in which flickering images revealed quiet, intimate moments rather than a grand narrative. He told the Observer’s Sean O’Hagan in 2012: “It is important to know that what I do is not artistic. I am just a film-maker. I live how I live and I do what I do, which is recording moments of my life as I move ahead. And I do it because I am compelled to. Necessity, not artistry, is the true line you can follow in my life and work.”
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His loft became a nexus for artistic experimentation. The Velvet Underground rehearsed there; Mekas is said to have introduced their frontman Lou Reed to Warhol, who produced their debut album. Salvador Dalí also visited the loft, curious about New York’s underground scene, which resulted in a Mekas film called Salvador Dalí at Work, which featured the artist covering the model Veruschka in shaving cream.
RIP Jonas
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/j ... es-aged-96
The film-maker Jonas Mekas, widely regarded as the godfather of underground cinema, has died aged 96. Born in Lithuania, he fled the Nazis and went on to work with the cream of the New York 1960s avant garde, including Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Mekas’s death was announced on his Facebook page, which said: “Jonas passed away quietly and peacefully early this morning. He was at home with family. He will be greatly missed but his light shines on.”
The director made some 60 films, usually with an impressionistic, diaristic style in which flickering images revealed quiet, intimate moments rather than a grand narrative. He told the Observer’s Sean O’Hagan in 2012: “It is important to know that what I do is not artistic. I am just a film-maker. I live how I live and I do what I do, which is recording moments of my life as I move ahead. And I do it because I am compelled to. Necessity, not artistry, is the true line you can follow in my life and work.”
Sign up to our Film Today email
Read more
His loft became a nexus for artistic experimentation. The Velvet Underground rehearsed there; Mekas is said to have introduced their frontman Lou Reed to Warhol, who produced their debut album. Salvador Dalí also visited the loft, curious about New York’s underground scene, which resulted in a Mekas film called Salvador Dalí at Work, which featured the artist covering the model Veruschka in shaving cream.
RIP Jonas