JONAS MEKAS - SLEEPLESS NIGHTS STORIES

After leaving his homeland Lithuania in 1944 and living in displaced person camps, writer and curator Jonas Mekas (1922) directed his attention towards films in New York. Often referred to as the ‘Godfather of avant-garde cinema’ he developed an intrusive and fairly raw style made up of handheld camera and associative montage, with his own voice-over and inter-titles functioning as the binding elements. Functioning almost as a personal diary, Sleepless Nights stories is loosely influenced by his readings of Thousand and One Nights. Made up of some twenty five different stories based on Mekas’ real life – the protagonists includes Louise Bourgeois, Yoko Ono, Björk and Patti Smith who are good friends – often wander into somewhere else beyond everyday routines. Mekas’ micro-stories cover a wide range of emotions, geographies and personal anguishes. Beyond the anecdotic, these are true personal big stories interlaced with a playful provocation. Or as Mekas states: “The very question of what is a story, is a provocative question in itself”.

Sleepless Nights Stories - Jonas Mekas
2011, video, colour, 114’, Lithuanian and English spoken, French subtitles