Jonas Mekas was born in 1922 in the farming village of Semeniškiai, Lithuania. In 1944, he and his brother Adolfas were taken by the Nazis to a forced labor camp in Elmshorn, Germany. After the War he studied philosophy at the University of Mainz. At the end of 1949 the UN Refugee Organization brought both brothers to New York City, where they settled down in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Two months after his arrival in New York he borrowed money to buy his first Bolex camera and began to record brief moments of his life. He soon got deeply involved in the American Avant-Garde film movement. In 1954, together with his brother, he started Film Culture magazine, which soon became the most important film publication in the US. In 1958 he began his legendary Movie Journal column in the Village Voice. In 1962 he founded the Film-Makers' Cooperative, and in 1964 the Film-Makers' Cinematheque, which eventually grew into Anthology Film Archives, one of the world's largest and most important repositories of avant-garde cinema, and a screening venue.
During all this time he continued writing poetry and making films. To this date he has published more than 20 books of prose and poetry, which have been translated into over a dozen languages. His Lithuanian poetry is now part of Lithuanian classic literature and his films can be found in leading museums around the world. He is largely credited for developing the diaristic forms of cinema. Mekas has also been active as an academic, teaching at the New School for Social Research, the International Center for Photography, Cooper Union, New York University, and MIT.
Mekas' film The Brig was awarded the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1963. Other films include Walden (1969), Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1972), Lost Lost Lost (1975), Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol (1990), Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (1992), As I was Moving Ahead I saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000), Letter from Greenpoint (2005), Sleepless Nights Stories (2011) and Out-takes from the Life of a Happy Man. In 2007, he completed a series of 365 short films released on the internet -- one film every day -- and since then has continued to share new work on his website.
Since 2000, Mekas has expanded his work into the area of film installations, exhibiting at the Serpentine Gallery, the Centre Pompidou, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Moderna Museet (Stockholm), PS1 Contemporary Art Center MoMA, Documenta of Kassel, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Venice Biennale.
| 2023 | Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV as Self (archive footage) |
| 2022 | Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages |
| 2022 | Jono Meko antologija as Jonas Mekas |
| 2022 | Fragments of Paradise as Self (archive footage) |
| 2022 | Film: The Living Record of Our Memory as Self |
| 2022 | 眩暈 Vertigo |
| 2022 | Notes for a Déjà vu |
| 2021 | Sugrįžę iš Niujorko as Himself |
| 2021 | The Velvet Underground as Self |
| 2021 | The Invisible Father as Self (archive footage) |
| 2020 | Tapes |
| 2020 | Tiny Tim: King for a Day as Himself |
| 2019 | Elegy for J.M. |
| 2019 | Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party |
| 2019 | Cinema and Sanctuary as Self |
| 2019 | Self Discovery for Social Survival as Narrator (voice) |
| 2019 | Gena Rowlands — Unabhängig im Kino und im Leben as Self |
| 2019 | Makeshift (for Mekas) |
| 2019 | Last Interview Film of Jonas Mekas/version 1 as Self |
| 2019 | Keep singing: a tribute to Jonas Mekas |
| 2019 | 3 Friends Singing (...in the Desert) |
| 2019 | Jonas Towards Broadway |
| 2018 | Beyond the Bolex as Self |
| 2018 | Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground |
| 2018 | George as Self |
| 2018 | Nitsch |
| 2017 | I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance as Self |
| 2016 | On the Holy Spirit |
| 2016 | EXPRMNTL as himself |
| 2016 | I Had Nowhere to Go as Himself |
| 2016 | Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas as Self |
| 2015 | A Day in the Life of Andy Warhol as Self |
| 2015 | A Report from Venice |
| 2015 | All About Bolex |
| 2014 | My Birthday |
| 2014 | River of Fundament as Wake Guest |
| 2013 | Diaries, Notes, and Sketches as Self |
| 2013 | Diaries, Notes, and Sketches as self |
| 2013 | Mes entretiens filmés as Himself |
| 2013 | What Is Cinema? as Self |
| 2012 | Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man as Jonas Mekas |
| 2012 | Maya Deren, Take Zero as Himself |
| 2012 | Reminiszenzen aus Deutschland as Himself |
| 2011 | My Mars Bar Movie as himself |
| 2011 | 3.11 A Sense of Home as Himself (voice) (segment "Mt. Ventoux") |
| 2011 | Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film as Himself |
| 2011 | Correspondencia Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin as Himself |
| 2011 | Guest as Self |
| 2011 | Re: Maciunas and Fluxus |
| 2010 | Portrait Serie - Jonas Mekas as himself |
| 2010 | New York Conversations |
| 2010 | Lavender as Self |
| 2010 | Visionaries as Himself |
| 2009 | Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days as Himself |
| 2009 | It Came from Kuchar as Self (archive footage) |
| 2009 | The Perfect Team: The Making of 'On the Bowery' as Self |
| 2009 | The Signing |
| 2008 | Doc as Himself |
| 2008 | Andy Warhol's Factory People... Inside the Sixties Silver Factory |
| 2008 | Notes on an American Film Director at Work as Self |
| 2008 | Question a Day |
| 2007 | 365 Day Project as Self |
| 2007 | Sunday December 30, 2007 as Self |
| 2007 | Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis as Self |
| 2007 | Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007 as Self |
| 2006 | Salvador Dalí at Work as Self |
| 2006 | The Song of Central Park as Himself (voice) |
| 2006 | Anger Me as Himself |
| 2006 | Notes on Marie Menken as Self |
| 2006 | Who Gets to Call It Art? as Self |
| 2006 | Meet The Kuchar Brothers |
| 2005 | The Definition of Insanity |
| 2005 | Excavating Taylor Mead as Self |
| 2004 | A Letter from Greenpoint as Mekas |
| 2003 | Not in Our Name as himself |
| 2003 | Axiom of Choice as Self |
| 2002 | Jonas tourne toujours as Himself |
| 2002 | Im Spiegel der Maya Deren as Himself |
| 2002 | Pastabos gyvenimo būdo paraštėse |
| 2001 | TO NEW YORK WITH LOVE - A Letter to Penny Arcade June 25, 2001 |
| 2000 | As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty as Narrator (voice) |
| 2000 | Requiem for a Manual Typewriter as Himself |
| 1999 | Letter to John from Jonas |
| 1999 | Laboratorium Anthology as Himself |
| 1998 | Song of Avignon as Self |
| 1998 | My Country is Cinema as Self |
| 1997 | Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit as Self |
| 1997 | Ginsberg - egy költö a Lower East Side-ról as Self |
| 1996 | Friday The 13 Okt, Jonas Mekas as Himself |
| 1996 | Litvanya Seyahatinden Hatıralar as Self |
| 1996 | Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old as Himself |
| 1996 | Michael Snow Up Close as Himself |
| 1995 | Nico Icon as Himself |
| 1994 | Jonas in the Desert as Self |
| 1993 | Jonas Mekas in Budapest as Himself |
| 1992 | Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus) |
| 1992 | Award as Himself |
| 1991 | Just Visiting This Planet |
| 1991 | Quartet Number One |
| 1991 | Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas as Himself |
| 1990 | Step Across the Border as Butterfly Wing |
| 1990 | Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol as Self |
| 1989 | Belladonna |
| 1989 | Warhol's Cinema 1963-1968: Mirror for the Sixties as Self |
| 1986 | Invocation: Maya Deren as Himself |
| 1986 | He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life as Self (archive footage) |
| 1986 | Fire in the East: A Portrait of Robert Frank as Self |
| 1985 | Home Movies 1971-81 |
| 1984 | Persistence of Vision as Self |
| 1981 | Strong Medicine |
| 1981 | The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man |
| 1980 | No. 18: Mahagonny as Self |
| 1980 | Self-Portrait as Himself |
| 1980 | J. Mekas as Self |
| 1979 | ORG as Self (archive footage) |
| 1979 | Paradise Not Yet Lost as Himself |
| 1978 | Cinématon as N°1590 |
| 1978 | Four Shadows |
| 1978 | Notes for Jerome as Self |
| 1976 | Kayıp, Kayıp, Kayıp as Self |
| 1975 | Cartoline dall'America |
| 1974 | ‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen |
| 1972 | Imagine as Self |
| 1972 | Going Home as Himself |
| 1971 | Journey to Lithuania as Himself |
| 1970 | A Matter of Baobab |
| 1970 | Occhio privato sul nuovo mondo |
| 1969 | Filmmakers as Himself |
| 1968 | Jonas as Himself |
| 1968 | Underground New York as Self |
| 1967 | The Song of Avila as Narrator |
| 1967 | Poem Posters as Self |
| 1966 | Screen Test [ST211]: Jonas Mekas as himself |
| 1966 | Galaxie as Self |
| 1966 | The Love Merchant as Lounge Patron |
| 1965 | Andy Warhol Screen Tests as Self |
| 1965 | Dirt |
| 1965 | Jonas in the Brig as Himself |
| 1965 | Award Presentation to Andy Warhol as Self |
| 1965 | Empire as Self (uncredited) |
| 1962 | Diane the Zebra Woman |
| 1961 | The Sin of Jesus |
| Cinématon n°1590 : Jonas Mekas |
| The Lamb as Self |
| Viva Jonas! as Himself |
| 2020 | Tapes - Director |
| 2019 | Requiem - Director |
| 2019 | Self Discovery for Social Survival - Writer |
| 2017 | From the Notebooks of a Cinema Maniac - Director |
| 2017 | I Don't Know Which Tree It Comes From that Fragrance - Director |
| 2017 | From the diaries of a cinema maniac - Director |
| 2016 | On the Holy Spirit - Director |
| 2016 | Yoko Ono Lennon's Courage Awards 2016: Laurie Anderson, Mohammad el Gharani, Eileen Boxer, RoseLee Goldberg, LoftOpera - Director |
| 2015 | A Report from Venice - Director |
| 2015 | Scenes from the Life of Raimund Abraham - Director |
| 2015 | All About Bolex - Camera Operator |
| 2015 | My Bolexes - Cinematography |
| 2015 | All About Bolex - Director |
| 2015 | My Bolexes - Director |
| 2014 | My Birthday - Director |
| 2014 | Halloween 1990 - Director |
| 2013 | Diaries, Notes, and Sketches - Cinematography |
| 2013 | Diaries, Notes, and Sketches - Director |
| 2013 | Diaries, Notes, and Sketches - Editor |
| 2013 | Diaries, Notes, and Sketches - Writer |
| 2013 | The Sixties Quartet - Director |
| 2012 | Out-Takes from the Life of a Happy Man - Director |
| 2012 | Happy Easter Ride - Director |
| 2012 | 20 Little Films - Director |
| 2012 | Reminiszenzen aus Deutschland - Director |
| 2011 | Mt. Ventoux - Director |
| 2011 | My Paris Movie - Director |
| 2011 | Sleepless Nights Stories - Director |
| 2011 | My Mars Bar Movie - Director |
| 2011 | 3.11 A Sense of Home - Director |
| 2011 | Correspondencia Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin - Director |
| 2011 | First Class Flight - Director |
| 2011 | Keep Singing - Director |
| 2011 | Re: Maciunas and Fluxus - Director |
| 2010 | Orchard Street - Director |
| 2010 | 42 One Dream Rush - Director |
| 2010 | A Daydream - Director |
| 2010 | Lavender - Director |
| 2010 | Lavender - Director of Photography |
| 2010 | WTC Haikus - Director |
| 2010 | WTC Haikus - Director of Photography |
| 2010 | WTC Haikus - Editor |
| 2010 | WTC Haikus - Producer |
| 2009 | Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR - Director |
| 2009 | I Leave Chelsea Hotel - Director |
| 2008 | Notes on an American Film Director at Work - Director |
| 2008 | Notes on an American Film Director at Work - Director of Photography |
| 2007 | 365 Day Project - Director |
| 2007 | Sunday December 30, 2007 - Director |
| 2007 | Friday May 4, 2007: John Zorn – Cobra Part Two - Director |
| 2007 | Monday April 16, 2007 - Director |
| 2007 | Friday March 16, 2007 - Director |
| 2007 | Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007 - Director |
| 2007 | Thursday Jan. 4, 2007: Pedro (São Paulo) or The Right Way To Make Capirinha - Director |
| 2007 | Monday Jan. 1, 2007 - Director |
| 2006 | Salvador Dalí at Work - Cinematography |
| 2006 | Moires with Prof. Oster and Salvador Dalí - Director |
| 2006 | Salvador Dalí at Work - Director |
| 2006 | The Song of Central Park - Director |
| 2006 | Salvador Dalí at Work - Writer |
| 2006 | Brakhage Crosses Central Park - Cinematography |
| 2006 | A Visit to Stan Brakhage - Director |
| 2006 | A Visit to Stan Brakhage - Director |
| 2006 | A Visit to Timothy Leary - Director |
| 2006 | Andy at Work - Director |
| 2006 | Bibi Hansen - Director |
| 2006 | Brakhage Crosses Central Park - Director |
| 2006 | Carl Dreyer - Director |
| 2006 | Cinémathèque Française - Director |
| 2006 | Dedication to Matsuo Basho - Director |
| 2006 | John & Yoko Bed-In - Director |
| 2006 | John & Yoko Bed-In - Director |
| 2006 | Monks of Cinema - Director |
| 2006 | Poets at the Living Theater - Director |
| 2006 | Robert Frank Films - Director |
| 2006 | To Barbara Rubin with Love - Director |
| 2006 | To John With Love - Director |
| 2006 | Velvet Underground's First Public Appearance - Director |
| 2006 | Warhol and Maciunas - Director |
| 2006 | Brakhage Crosses Central Park - Editor |
| 2006 | Brakhage Crosses Central Park - Writer |
| 2006 | The Destruction Quartet - Director |
| 2005 | Scenes from the Life of Hermann Nitsch - Director |
| 2005 | Scenes from the Life of Hermann Nitsch - Editor |
| 2005 | Notes on Utopia - Director |
| 2004 | A Letter from Greenpoint - Creator |
| 2004 | A Letter from Greenpoint - Director |
| 2004 | A Letter from Greenpoint - Writer |
| 2003 | A Visit To Hans Richter - Director |
| 2003 | A Visit To Hans Richter - Editor |
| 2003 | Williamsburg, Brooklyn - Director |
| 2002 | Mysteries - Director |
| 2002 | Three Friends - Director |
| 2001 | Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten - Director |
| 2001 | TO NEW YORK WITH LOVE - A Letter to Penny Arcade June 25, 2001 - Director |
| 2001 | Elvis - Director |
| 2001 | Wien & Mozart - Director |
| 2000 | As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty - Cinematography |
| 2000 | As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty - Director |
| 2000 | As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty - Editor |
| 2000 | As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty - Writer |
| 2000 | Requiem for a Manual Typewriter - Director |
| 2000 | Silence, Please - Cinematography |
| 2000 | Autobiography of a Man Who Carried his Memory in his Eyes - Director |
| 2000 | Silence, Please - Director |
| 1999 | A Few Notes on Andy's Factory - Director |
| 1999 | This Side of Paradise: Fragments of An Unfinished Biography - Director |
| 1999 | This Side of Paradise: Fragments of An Unfinished Biography - Editor |
| 1999 | This Side of Paradise: Fragments of An Unfinished Biography - Producer |
| 1999 | This Side of Paradise: Fragments of An Unfinished Biography - Writer |
| 1999 | Letter to John from Jonas - Director |
| 1999 | Laboratorium Anthology - Director |
| 1998 | Patti Smith at Anthology Film Archives Febr. 19, 1998 - Director |
| 1998 | Song of Avignon - Director |
| 1998 | Song of Avignon - Writer |
| 1997 | Nam June Paik's Piano Piece - Director |
| 1997 | Laiškai iš niekur - Director |
| 1997 | Laiškai iš niekur - Editor |
| 1997 | Laiškai iš niekur - Writer |
| 1997 | Happy Birthday to John - Director |
| 1997 | Birth of a Nation - Cinematography |
| 1997 | Birth of a Nation - Director |
| 1997 | Birth of a Nation - Editor |
| 1997 | Birth of a Nation - Writer |
| 1997 | Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit - Cinematography |
| 1997 | Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit - Director |
| 1997 | Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit - Editor |
| 1996 | Song of The Salamander - Director |
| 1996 | Litvanya Seyahatinden Hatıralar - Cinematography |
| 1996 | Litvanya Seyahatinden Hatıralar - Director |
| 1996 | Litvanya Seyahatinden Hatıralar - Editor |
| 1996 | Litvanya Seyahatinden Hatıralar - Writer |
| 1996 | Celebrate Cinema 101 - Director |
| 1996 | Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old - Director |
| 1995 | On My Way to Fujiyama I met.. - Director |
| 1995 | On My Way to Fujiyama I met.. - Director of Photography |
| 1995 | Imperfect Three-Image Films - Director |
| 1995 | Memories of Frankenstein - Director |
| 1993 | Peter Kubelka at the Library of Congress - Director |
| 1992 | Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus) - Director |
| 1992 | The Education of Sebastian or Egypt Regained - Director |
| 1991 | Carl G. Jung by Jerome Hill or Lapis Philosophorum - Director |
| 1991 | Carl G. Jung by Jerome Hill or Lapis Philosophorum - Editor |
| 1991 | Quartet Number One - Director |
| 1990 | A Walk - Camera Operator |
| 1990 | A Walk - Director |
| 1990 | Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships & Intersections - Cinematography |
| 1990 | Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships & Intersections - Director |
| 1990 | Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships & Intersections - Editor |
| 1990 | Mob of Angels: Baptism - Director |
| 1986 | He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life - Cinematography |
| 1986 | He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life - Director |
| 1986 | He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life - Editor |
| 1986 | He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life - Writer |
| 1983 | Cup/Saucer/Two Dancers/Radio - Director |
| 1983 | Street Songs - Director |
| 1983 | Erick Hawkins: Excerpts from "Here and Now with Watchers" - Director |
| 1981 | Travel Songs - Director |
| 1981 | The Song of Stockholm - Director |
| 1980 | Self-Portrait - Director |
| 1980 | Robert Haller's Wedding - Director |
| 1979 | Paradise Not Yet Lost - Director |
| 1978 | Notes for Jerome - Cinematography |
| 1978 | Notes for Jerome - Director |
| 1978 | In Between - Director |
| 1976 | Kayıp, Kayıp, Kayıp - Cinematography |
| 1976 | Kayıp, Kayıp, Kayıp - Director |
| 1976 | Kayıp, Kayıp, Kayıp - Editor |
| 1976 | Kayıp, Kayıp, Kayıp - Writer |
| 1972 | Elvis Live at Madison Square Garden - Camera Operator |
| 1972 | Elvis Live at Madison Square Garden - Director |
| 1972 | Elvis Live at Madison Square Garden - Writer |
| 1970 | The Song of Moscow - Director |
| 1969 | Time & Fortune Vietnam Newsreel - Cinematography |
| 1969 | Time & Fortune Vietnam Newsreel - Director |
| 1967 | The Italian Notebook - Director |
| 1967 | The Song of Assisi - Director |
| 1967 | The Song of Avila - Director |
| 1967 | The Song of Italy - Director |
| 1967 | Notes on the Circus - Cinematography |
| 1967 | Notes on the Circus - Director |
| 1967 | Notes on the Circus - Editor |
| 1967 | Hare Krishna - Director |
| 1967 | For Life, Against the War - Director |
| 1966 | Report from Millbrook - Director |
| 1966 | European Diaries - Sound Designer |
| 1966 | The Velvet Underground: Psychiatrist's Convention, NYC, 1966 - Camera Operator |
| 1966 | Cassis - Director |
| 1966 | Cassis - Director of Photography |
| 1966 | Cassis - Editor |
| 1965 | Award Presentation to Andy Warhol - Director |
| 1965 | Award Presentation to Andy Warhol - Director of Photography |
| 1965 | Award Presentation to Andy Warhol - Editor |
| 1965 | Film Magazine of the Arts - Cinematography |
| 1965 | Film Magazine of the Arts - Director |
| 1965 | Film Magazine of the Arts - Editor |
| 1965 | Empire - Cinematography |
| 1964 | The Brig - Cinematography |
| 1964 | The Brig - Director |
| 1964 | The Brig - Director of Photography |
| 1963 | Hallelujah the Hills - Assistant Director |
| 1962 | Senseless - Writer |
| 1961 | Guns of the Trees - Cinematography |
| 1961 | Guns of the Trees - Director |
| 1961 | Guns of the Trees - Editor |
| 1961 | Guns of the Trees - Writer |
| Bed-In: John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Director |
| Destruction of the Berlin Wall - Director |
| Marcel Hanoun wedding - Director |
| When - Director |
Duvar