Jonas Mekas, Underground Filmmaker Who Cast A Long Shadow, Dies At 96
The Lithuanian-born director, poet, archivist and critic, who died Wednesday, not only made dozens of experimental films — he helped carve a place for countless other filmmakers to do the same.
by Colin Dwyer
Jan 23, 2019
3 minutes
Jonas Mekas, an underground filmmaker whose influence looms as large as the archives he helped create, died Wednesday morning at the age of 96. The Lithuanian-born director, critic, archivist and poet died "peacefully at home, with family at his side," according to the Anthology Film Archives that he co-founded.
The organization did not specify the cause of his death.
Mekas "helped to lead American cinema out of the boardrooms and back into the streets — and knew that. He , who directed dozens of movies and published more than 20 books — in addition to writing a prominent column on cinema — as "one of the crucial, and one of the best, film critics — and chroniclers."
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