Jonas Mekas: a Lithuanian abroad

Earlier in this season, we explored the life of Emeric Pressburger, the Hungarian Jewish refugee who helped to redefine British cinema. This week, we’re taking a similar tack, with another story of emigration and influence. Jonas Mekas left his native Lithuania in 1944, and a few years later moved to New York, where he would become renowned as “the godfather of American avant-garde cinema”. He co-founded Film Culture magazine, was the first film critic for The Village Voice, and in 1970 helped establish Anthology Film Archives, to this day one of the most important homes of experimental film in the world. His friendships and collaborations with the likes of Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, and Yoko Ono helped to consolidate the downtown art scene. And his impressionistic “diary films”, compiled from footage of his life that he obsessively shot on his handheld Bolex camera, have proved hugely influential on experimental film ever since.

Mekas never lost sight of his native Lithuania, returning to themes of dislocation and home throughout his career, most notably in his 1972 film Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania. His work speaks to the cinema traditions of the Baltic region more broadly. His attachment to Lithuanian national culture also produced controversy at the end of his life when questions were raised about his work under Nazi occupation in the 1940s.

To untangle the question of Mekas, Lithuania, and the avant-garde, host Sam Goff speaks with Josh Polanski, a critic who specialises in cinema from the Baltic states. You can find Josh’s writing on Baltic film here, and explore our collection of films from the region here. And don’t miss our companion to the Baltic poetic documentary tradition on the Klassiki Journal.

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Intro music by Juliet Merchant.