Jonas Mekas Biography

Film theoretician, avant-garde filmmaker, and staunch supporter of alternative cinema, Jonas Mekas' best-known film remains The Brig (1964). Mekas was born in Semeniskiai, Lithuania. He spent time in a concentration camp during WWII. After the war, he wandered about Europe until 1950, when he moved to the U.S. In addition to making his own films, Mekas has worked as a film critic for The Village Voice, been an editor of Film Culture, and organized the Film Makers Cooperative. His brother, Adolfas, is also an avant-garde filmmaker. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi