Adolfas Mekas
The Adolfas Diaries : Book 1 September 1941-December 1946
Author(s) Adolfas Mekas
Format paperback
Year 2015
Language(s) English
Pages 138 pages
Description
The release of his first feature film, "Hallelujah The Hills," in 1963, earned him international recognition. HTH was the surprise success of that year's Cannes Film Festival, followed by the Silver Sail award at the Locarno Film Festival, an invitation to the first New York Film Festival, and a 15-week engagement at the Fifth Avenue Cinema in New York. As editor, along with his brother Jonas, of "Film Culture" magazine, he proved to be an early encourager—inspiring people to think about and appreciate films. He was also, when spending time with him day to day, a master, a twinkling-eyed magician who knew how to turn gray skies blue. He always knew how to celebrate when boredom or misery threatened. His own past gave him many opportunities to outwit misery: he spent part of his adolescence in a Nazi labor camp, then, after the war, in a succession of displaced persons camps. His diaries, now lovingly and carefully edited by his wife, singer and artistic producer Pola Chapelle, are, page after page, a testament to what is too often called the triumph of the human spirit.