Mekas goes online: “Ha! It’s me, Jonas”

Jonas Mekas has made it onto the Internet! Mekas, born in 1922, is now presenting himself and his work on his own Internet platform. In addition to personal information and news about his activities, the website also offers a forum and of course plenty of films ... and a shopping cart!

In the section "Collection of 40", Mekas offers a selection of his diary films, especially those featuring encounters with his artist friends – like George Maciunas of course, but also celebrities like John Lennon and Andy Warhol. The forty films, small excerpts of which can be viewed online, offer a good introduction to the filmmaker’s colourful artistic career.

Under "Classics" Mekas intends to publish a series of classic short films that are difficult to obtain. At the moment he is featuring "Puce Moment" by Kenneth Anger (1949) and "Rhythmus 21" by Hans Richter. Additional films by Anger, Richter and also Marie Menken are coming soon.

Similar to a videoblog, Mekas also shows films by guests and friends on his site. Represented here are directors including Jim Jarmusch, Virginie Marchand and Ken Jacobs. As in the other sections, film clips can be watched as preview or the complete film downloaded for a fee.

In the "Upload" section there is a simple form users can fill out if they want to send Jonas Mekas their own films. What will then happen to them is not explained.

Still in the project phase is a section called "Out-takes". According to Mekas, it has always been a dream of his to motivate other filmmakers to show out-takes from their films to the public. The first step has been taken with two out-takes from "The Sacrifice" by Andrei Tarkovsky.

Mekas offers his own films for sale on a limited edition of hand-signed DVDs, or even in a ready-loaded iPod – but the prices are steep (see also DVD_spotting in the Faits Divers section)! For smaller wallets, individual QuickTime films are available on the website starting at $1.99 for low-resolution download. Films in higher resolution - in DVD quality – are promised soon for $6.99.

The main attraction on the website is doubtless the section "365 Films", with which Mekas shows he is in step with the times by responding to the latest Internet release options. In a calendar grid, a Mekas diary film appears every day, starting with 1 January 2007. The highlight here is that each film can be downloaded for free on the day of its release.

Operator of the website is the Maya Stendhal Gallery, which devoted a solo exhibition to the "recent work" of Jonas Mekas from November 2006 to January 2007. But the nearly 90-year-old sceptic evidently doesn’t quite know what to think of this new Internet thing. In his QuickTime intro, he addresses the following words to website visitors: »Ha! It’s me, Jonas. Do I really know what I am doing in this adventure? I am not so sure. I am not so sure. I have no idea where this will end up - this adventure!«

Reinhard W. Wolf