Jonas Mekas

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Scharphedin2
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 7:37 am
Location: Denmark/Sweden

#1 Post by Scharphedin2 » Sun Jun 25, 2006 3:31 pm

Sitting in my parents' garden reading a book some little time ago, my eyes wandered to their little Yorkshire Terrier. He too was out and about on this fine summer's day. I watched as he carefully sniffed my mother's various potted plants at the edge of the terrace, and then moved out into the wider and wilder world of the garden proper. He paused momentarily to chew on a few blades of grass. Then spent some time watching a butterfly, before giving chase, and letting out a series of ferocious yelps. The butterfly soon disappeared over the hedge to the next garden, and the little Yorkie strolled off to look at the flowerbeds, carefully scrutinizing the colorful flowers, before looking to each side of himself, and relieving himself into the midst of it all... For some reason, as I was watching all this, my mind drifted from the book I was reading to an article I read several years ago about a director by the name of Jonas Mekas and his film AS I WAS MOVING AHEAD OCCASSIONALLY I SAW BRIEF GLIMPSES OF BEAUTY... At the time, they were going to screen this 5 hour+ home movie at the Danish Film Institute, but, as usual I was unable to attend the screening, and I forgot about it, that is until the other day...

I know that Mekas made many other films than this epic personal film, however, I have heard and read very little about him, and I do not think I have come across any of his work on DVD. Would anyone care to talk a little about this elusive filmmaker? (Personal anecdotes about dogs or anything else are permitted -- unless the moderators disagree, that is -- since it appears oddly appropriate in this particular thread, and I am sure that Mekas would approve :) )

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Lino
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
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#2 Post by Lino » Sun Jun 25, 2006 3:48 pm

So, watching your dog pee reminded you of Jonas Mekas' work, is that it? :wink:

Seriously now, you can find this film of his here

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084638/

as a bonus on this lovely set over here

http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B ... 27-7384226

and if you go over to this London Gallery down here

http://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/events/mead

you'll be able to see a retrospective of his work. There!

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Scharphedin2
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 7:37 am
Location: Denmark/Sweden

#3 Post by Scharphedin2 » Sun Jun 25, 2006 4:04 pm

[quote="Myra Breckinridge"]So, watching your dog pee reminded you of Jonas Mekas' work, is that it? :wink:

:lol: Nahh... it was more the "brief glimpses of beauty" connection. I love "my" dog, and he has provided a lot of beautiful moments over the years (including or excluding the peeing).

I will definitely be in London on a couple of occasions in the fourth quarter... I will keep an eye on the link for a program of film screenings.

As I move ahead through these many threads, I am continually amazed at how you find and keep track of all these links... you must be the equivalent on the internet of one of those surfers from THE BILLABONG ODYSSEY, surfing 100 foot waves that they can only catch by being dragged behind a water scooter to the crest of the waves...

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Lino
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#4 Post by Lino » Sun Jun 25, 2006 4:07 pm

Nothing of the sort. Let's just say imdb.com and its message boards are a great help and in this particular case, I own the french Morrissey set, so I should know, right?

Besides, nothing that a little googling won't solve... :wink:

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Scharphedin2
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#5 Post by Scharphedin2 » Sun Jun 25, 2006 4:13 pm

I looked at the Morrissey set... and not being a strong hand at French, does it include much Mekas material, or, is it more in the line of a few excerpts of interviews relating to the Warhol scene?

In fact, trying the googling pulled up a pretty lengthy piece on Mekas at Senses of Cinema.

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Lino
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#6 Post by Lino » Sun Jun 25, 2006 4:18 pm

It includes this as bonus:
Bonus :
• Les Documentaires inédits
• Paul Morrissey : Les années Warhol. Comment un jeune passionné de cinéma devient un cinéaste majeur du mouvement underground
• Avant, Pendant, Après : Toutes les coulisses d'une Trilogie
• Music Factory : Le Velvet Underground par Paul Morrissey
• Fashion Factory : Comment la Factory inventa le look arty... Avec Anna Sui, Marc Jacobs (Louis Vuitton), Jean Touitou (APC), Olivier Saillard (musée de la mode et du textile)
• Le pape du cinéma underground : Rencontre avec Jonas Mekas, chef de file du cinéma underground
• One Minute Tour : Une visite guidée de la Cinémathèque Underground - l'Anthology Film Archives. Par Jonas Mekas, Guest-Star : Paul Morrissey
• Les films inédits
• About Face : Un des premiers court-métrage de Paul Morrissey (circa 1960)
• Scenes From The Life Of Andy Warhol : Le journal intime filmé de Jonas Mekas sur la Factory et autres figures incontournables
• Exploding Plastic Inevitable : Une demi-heure de trip scénique : le concert légendaire du Velvet Underground, filmé par Ronald Nameth, avec la danse du fouet de Gérard Malanga, les déhanchements de Ingrid Superstar et Edie Sedgwick. Version intégrale, avec commentaires audio du réalisateur
• 1 bonus caché
I bolded the things you might be interested in. Quite rare stuff in here. And the Scenes from the life of Andy Warhol is presented in its entire length.

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Scharphedin2
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#7 Post by Scharphedin2 » Sun Jun 25, 2006 4:23 pm

Wow, this does look very cool... Thanks for helping me out!

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Lino
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#8 Post by Lino » Sun Jun 25, 2006 4:27 pm


mikebowes
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2004 5:19 pm
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#9 Post by mikebowes » Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:14 pm

Mr. Mekas has taken a step beyond DVD

Many of his films are available to purchase as downloads - some with high res options with DVD burning in mind.

He also has an interesting project under the 365 Films tab which has a free new movie each day.

Navigating around you can also find films from other filmmaker available to purchase for download - Jarmusch and Anger to name a couple, as well as out takes from Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice!

Holy smokes!

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yoloswegmaster
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:57 pm

Re: Jonas Mekas

#10 Post by yoloswegmaster » Mon May 29, 2023 12:46 pm

A documentary about Mekas titled Fragments of Paradise is available to stream only for today.

The password is
SpoilerShow
FriendsofMekas

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