Jonas Mekas, the Lithuanian-born filmmaker called the ”godfather of the American avant-garde cinema” has died aged 96. In 2010 he received the Dragon of Dragons Award at the 50th Krakow Film Festival in recognition of his contribution to the world cinema.
Jonas Mekas was one of the leading figures of Independent and Avantgarde cinema. As a filmmaker, critic, editor, distributor, archivist and poet, Mekas has contributed heavily to the creation of the modern avant-garde and independent film movements.
Mekas’ own output as a filmmaker ranges from narrative films (“Guns of the Trees”, 1961 & “The Brig”, 1963) to “diary films” including “Walden” (1969); “Lost, Lost, Lost”, (1975); “Reminiscences of a Voyage to Lithuania”, (1972); “Zefiro torna”, (1992) “Birth of a Nation” (1997) “As I was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty” (2001) and “A letter from GreenPoint” (2005) and documentary diary films including “Notes on an American Film Director: Martin Scorsese” (2008) and “Lithuania And The Collapse Of The USSR” (2009).
A short documentary about Jonas Mekas’ visit in Krakow where he delivered a mini manifesto (author of the film: Tomáš Hučko) and raised a toast to Krakow.