Joans Mekas has died. He lived a long time - 96 years - and made a lot of movies (he once said that he shot video on a daily basis) - and championed underground and avant-garde cinema, and inspired several generations of filmmakers and other artists. Among other achievements he was one of the founders of Anthology Film Archives.
Mekas is a great source of inspiration for indie filmmakers. He was often a one person crew, shooting video in available light, using things and people around him as his subjects - and he delivered moving, poetic movies.
Here is an example of Mekas's work:
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One about World Trade Center:
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And another one - a long walk in NYC:
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Here is a Q & A session with Mekas:
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From the New York Times:
"A Lithuanian immigrant who, with a younger brother, Adolfas, arrived in New York City in 1949 speaking little English, he became within a handful of years an effective spokesman for avant-garde film. (Adolfas, who died in 2011, became an influential filmmaker, writer and educator in his own right.)
In addition to making his own movies and writing prolifically about the movies of others, Mr. Mekas was the founder or a co-founder of institutions that support and promote independent filmmakers, including, in New York, the influential journal Film Culture, published quarterly from 1955 to 1996; Film-Makers Cooperative, a distribution network; and Anthology Film Archives, the leading library and museum for experimental film. (The critic Andrew Sarris published his influential essay on the auteur theory in Film Culture.)"
Read the rest of the article here.
Mekas is a great source of inspiration for indie filmmakers. He was often a one person crew, shooting video in available light, using things and people around him as his subjects - and he delivered moving, poetic movies.
Here is an example of Mekas's work:
*
One about World Trade Center:
*
And another one - a long walk in NYC:
*
Here is a Q & A session with Mekas:
*
From the New York Times:
"A Lithuanian immigrant who, with a younger brother, Adolfas, arrived in New York City in 1949 speaking little English, he became within a handful of years an effective spokesman for avant-garde film. (Adolfas, who died in 2011, became an influential filmmaker, writer and educator in his own right.)
In addition to making his own movies and writing prolifically about the movies of others, Mr. Mekas was the founder or a co-founder of institutions that support and promote independent filmmakers, including, in New York, the influential journal Film Culture, published quarterly from 1955 to 1996; Film-Makers Cooperative, a distribution network; and Anthology Film Archives, the leading library and museum for experimental film. (The critic Andrew Sarris published his influential essay on the auteur theory in Film Culture.)"
Read the rest of the article here.
