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Directing

Jonas Mekas

Born
Dec 24, 1922 · Aged 96
Died
Jan 23, 2019
Place of birth
Semeniškiai, Lithuania
Gender
Male
Movie credits
179
TV credits
1
Directing credits
161

Biography

Jonas Mekas (24 December 1922 - 23 January 2019) was born in the farming village of Semeniškiai, Lithuania. In 1944, he and his brother Adolfas were taken by the Nazis to a forced labor camp in Elmshorn, Germany. After the War he studied philosophy at the University of Mainz. At the end of 1949 the UN Refugee Organization brought both brothers to New York City, where they settled down in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Two months after his arrival in New York he borrowed money to buy his first Bolex camera and began to record brief moments of his life. He soon got deeply involved in the American…