Jonas Mekas's "Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR" (2009)


This is the first time I'm writing about something I haven't seen but I am very very excited about this. I read that it will be screened in Anthology Film Archives (my favorite place to see film in the world) tonight.

In a post to Frameworks, Elle Burchill wrote that Jonas just finished a 4 hours 49 minutes long video called Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR.

Jonas Mekas describes the video as
:
"The video is made up of footage that I took with my Sony from the television newscasts during the collapse of the USSR, with the home noises in the background. It’s a capsule record of what happened and how it happened during that crucial period as recorded by the television newscasters. It can be also viewed as a classic Greek drama in which the destinies of nations are changed drastically by the unbending, bordering-on-irrational will of one small man, one small nation determined to regain its freedom, backed by Olympus in its fight against the Might & Power, against the Impossible."

The last serious video work of Jonas Mekas I saw was A Letter from Greenpoint (2005)... What beautiful light, composition! A song sung on video!

One of the greatest moving-image artist alive releasing a new serious work is an event that deserves front-page exposure in all newspapers. Ezra Pound said "Literature is news that stays news." and this is true for all great art.

I truly hope somebody who sees the work will reply to this post.

Comments

Microcinema said…
I work for Microcinema International. We curate, exhibit and distribute the moving image arts. I recently created a Facebook Film Page for "Walden-Diaries, Notes and Sketches" by Jonas Mekas. If you are fan of Jonas Mekas, you will appreciate this experimental film. I have posted video clips from the film, photos, links and events, and I would appreciate it if you help me get the page "HAPPENING!" All you have to do are 3 things.

1. visit the page link

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Walden-Diaries-Notes-and-Sketches-by-Jonas-Mekas/115280106163?ref=ts

2. become a fan

3. suggest the page to your friends

Thank you for all your help in advance.

Please check out and join Microcinema on other social networking sites:

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Microcinema said…
"Walden - Diaries, Notes and Sketches by Jonas Mekas" is EXCLUSIVELY DISTRIBUTED by Microcinema DVD. To order this DVD and/or other Microcinema titles, go to: www.microcinemadvd.com.

Synopsis: With Jonas Mekas, P. Adams Sitney, Tony Conrad, Stan Brakhage, Carl Th. Dreyer, Timothy Leary, Baba Ram Dass, Gregory Markopoulos, Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, Jerome Hill, Barbet Schroeder, Jack Smith, Edie Sedgwick, Nico, Velvet Underground,
Ken Jacobs, Hans Richter, Standish D. Lawder, Adolfas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, Jud Yalkut, Peter Kubelka, Michael Snow, Richard Foreman, John Lennon, Yoko Ono...

Please check out and join Microcinema on other social networking sites:

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/bn3gnm

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/microcinemainternational

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/microcinema

Twitter: http://twitter.com/microcinema
Yoel Meranda said…
I love "Walden - Diaries, Notes and Sketches"... It's great news it'll be available on DVD.

While hoping that people won't forget its true medium is film, and that Jonas' intricate cutting, "what happens between the frames", can only be felt on film...

Thanks for posting this, it's welcome publicity in this blog.

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