Cécile Tourneur, Daniel Deshays
Écouter Jonas Mekas : Diaries
Author(s) Cécile Tourneur, Daniel Deshays
Format paperback book
Year 2025
Language(s) French
Pages 120 pages
Description
Jonas Mekas exerted a tremendous influence on the history of cinema in the second half of the twentieth century through his activities as a critic, advocate for the New American Cinema, and filmmaker.
Diaries, Notes and Sketches (Also Known as Walden), his first "diary film" completed in 1969, initiates an autobiographical practice that continues until the end of his life. For half a century, Jonas Mekas assembles his filmed and sonic notes. In the editing room, he records his voice and addresses the viewer: he shares his thoughts, quotes from his written diary, and develops narratives freely inspired by mythology. Oral improvisation, reading, and singing are enriched by a reflection on the essence of this cinema that follows the fluctuations of his existence. His accent is that of a man "who never wanted to leave his home" and carries the sounds of rural Lithuania mingled with those of New York, his adopted city.
Ecouter Jonas Mekas immerses us both in the history shared by so many Europeans exiled after World War II and in the liberating history of underground cinema.