To Free the Cinema: Jonas Mekas and the New York Underground

Published by Princeton University Press 1992

To Free the Cinema

Jonas Mekas and the New York Underground

Edited by: David E. James

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691219554

Overview
Contents

About this book

Jonas Mekas, one of the driving forces behind New York's alternative film culture from the 1950s through the 1980s, made for an unlikely counterculture hero: a Lithuanian emigr and fervent nationalist from an agrarian family, he had not grown up with either capitalist commercialism or the postwar rebellion against it. By focusing on his sensitivity to political struggle, however, leading film commentators here offer fascinating insights into Mekas's career as a writer, filmdistributor, and film-maker, while exploring the history of independent cinema in New York since World War II. This collection of essays, interviews, and photographs addresses such topics as Mekas's column in the Village Voice, his foundation and editorship of Film Culture, his role in the establishment of Anthology Film Archives and The Film-Makers Co-op (the major distribution center for independent film), his interaction with other artists, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and finally the critical assessment of his own films, from Guns of the Trees and The Brig in the sixties to the diary films that followed Walden. The contributors to this volume are Paul Arthur, Vyt Bakaitis, Stan Brakhage, Robert Breer, Rudy Burckhardt, David Curtis, Richard Foreman, Tom Gunning, Bob Harris, J. Hoberman, David E. James, Marjorie Keller, Peter Kubelka, George Kuchar, Richard Leacock, Barbara Moore, Peter Moore, Scott Nygren, John Pruitt, Lauren Rabinovitz, Michael Renov, Jeffrey K. Ruoff, and Maureen Turim.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction David E. James Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Routines of Emancipation: Alternative Cinema in the Ideology and Politics of the Sixties Paul Arthur Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
The Old Days George Kuchar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
"Loved Him, Hated It": An Interview with Andrew Sarris Tom Gunning Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	62
The Apron Strings of mm Jonas Mekas Marjorie Keller Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
How I Think I Made Some of My Films Rudy Burckhardt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
The Forest and The Trees J. Hoberman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
Notes on Displacement: The Poems and Diary Films of Jonas Mekas Vyt Bakaifis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
During the Second Half of the Sixties Richard Foreman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
Film Diary/Diary Film: Practice and Product in Walden David E. James Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
A Portfolio of Photographs Peter Moore Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
Reminiscences, Subjectivities, and Truths Maureen Turim Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
My Contacts with Jonas Mekas Robert Breer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
Lost, Lost, Lost: Mekas as Essayist Michael Renov Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Dear Friends Peter Kubelka Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	240
Film Writing and the Figure of Death: He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life Scott Nygren Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
A Tale of Two Co-ops David Curtis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
Jonas Mekas Stan Brakhage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	266
Wearing the Critic's Hat: History, Critical Discourses, and the American Avant-Garde Cinema Lauren Rabinovitz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	268
Who Is Afraid of Jonas Mekas? Nam June Paik Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	284
Video at Anthology Bob Harris Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	286
I Feel Passionate about the Film Journals of Jonas Mekas Richard Leacock Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
Home Movies of the Avant-Garde: Jonas Mekas and the New York Art World Jeffrey K. Ruoff Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	294
Appendixes Jonas Mekas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	313
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	327