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Film Screening

Jonas Mekas: The Film-Makers’ Cinematheque Revisited

Film

Tuesday, May 10, 2022
7:30 – 9 pm EDT

Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue at 2nd St, NYC

In conjunction with Jonas Mekas: The Camera Was Always Running, Anthology Film Archives will present a series of screenings throughout May 2022 that recreate a selection of the Cinematheque programs that took place at the Jewish Museum from 1968 - 1970. The Cinematheque programming organized over the course of those years by Jonas Mekas is, from today’s perspective, an intriguing mixture of filmmakers and films that would soon be effectively canonized as part of the nascent Anthology Film Archives’ “Essential Cinema” collection, as well as numerous other filmmakers who are little-known and rarely screened today.

From 1963 - 1970, Mekas and his collaborators organized dozens and dozens of experimental film programs, under the auspices of an organization that was known briefly as the Film-Maker’s Showcase before adopting its permanent name, the Film-Makers’ Cinematheque. A roving screening series, which was in some ways a kind of precursor to Anthology, the Film-Makers’ Cinematheque hopped from venue to venue frequently during the course of its existence, with residencies at the New Yorker Theater, the Astor Place Playhouse, 125 West 41st Street, and 80 Wooster Street, to name only a few. In its very last phase, leading up to (and in fact briefly overlapping with) the creation of Anthology, the Film-Makers’ Cinematheque held weekly (Tuesday) screenings at the Jewish Museum, from November 1968 to December 1970.

Upcoming Screenings

To purchase tickets for film screenings, click the individual links below.

FILM-MAKERS' CINEMATHEQUE: DAVID WISE + STORM DE HIRSCH May 3 at 7:30 pm
FILM-MAKERS' CINEMATHEQUE: NATHANIEL DORSKY + MICHAEL MIDEKE May 10 at 7:30 pm
FILM-MAKERS' CINEMATHEQUE: JOHN SCHOFILL + ROBERT POLIDORI May 17 at 7:30 pm
FILM-MAKERS' CINEMATHEQUE: JOYCE WIELAND, PROGRAM 2 May 24 at 7:30 pm
FILM-MAKERS' CINEMATHEQUE: SELECTED BY MICHAEL SNOW May 31 at 7:30 pm

$12 General; $9 Students and Seniors; $7 Jewish Museum and AFA members

Masks must be worn at all times in the lobbies, theaters, and bathrooms. In accordance with CDC recommendations, this includes those who have received the COVID-19 vaccination. To review Anthology Film Archives’ COVID protocols please click here.

Jonas Mekas photographed by Antanas Sutkus in Semeniškiai, Lithuania, 1971. © Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York / LATGA-A, Vilnius