A pioneer of the American film avant-garde of the 1960s and '70s, Ken Jacobs is a central figure in post-war experimental cinema. From his first films of the late 1950s to his recent experiments with digital video, his investigations and innovations have influenced countless artists.
A New Yorker by birth, Jacobs graduated from City University to find himself in the midst of the downtown art scene of the 1960s, which included artists Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol, beat writers Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac; and the experimental theater troupes of Trisha Brown and Yvonne Rainer. Although Jacobs had studied painting with Hans Hoffman, he quickly gravitated to film, finding kindred spirits in radical filmmakers such as Jonas Mekas and Hollis Frampton. An early friendship with Jack Smith yielded several collaborations, including the seminal underground films Blonde Cobra (which Jonas Mekas dubbed "the masterpiece of Baudelairean cinema") and Little Stabs at Happiness, as well as a Provincetown beach-based live show, The Human Wreckage Review.
2023 | One Dozen Roses - Director |
2023 | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Director |
2023 | Up the Illusion - Director |
2023 | Writhing City - Director |
2023 | From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight - Director |
2023 | Other Urban Lives - Director |
2023 | Book of Eternalisms 1-6 - Director |
2023 | Spasm - Director |
2023 | Tourists of the Familiar 1 - Director |
2023 | Tourists of the Familiar 10 - Director |
2023 | Tourists of the Familiar 15 - Director |
2023 | Tourists of the Familiar 20 - Director |
2023 | Tourists of the Familiar 5 - Director |
2023 | Whims of Twenty Twenty-Three - Director |
2022 | Real Action Figures - Director |
2022 | When Timofeev Moves Everything Moves - Director |
2022 | Sergei Eisenstein Embossed - Director |
2022 | Buster Keaton Embossed - Director |
2022 | America Let's Her Hair Down 1905 - Director |
2021 | Eternal Beach - Director |
2021 | Abstract Eternalism - Director |
2021 | Double Wow - Director |
2021 | XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX - Director |
2021 | XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX - Editor |
2021 | A Small Misunderstanding - Director |
2021 | Adventures of Cookie Truck - Director |
2021 | Aspiring To Music - Director |
2021 | Cartoonish 1-10 - Director |
2021 | Hoffman Student - Director |
2020 | Movie That Invites Pausing - Director |
2020 | Spiky - Director |
2020 | Storefront - Director |
2020 | Transparent Apartments - Director |
2020 | Clouds and Trees - Director |
2020 | Municipal Building Passage - Director |
2020 | Bandit - Director |
2020 | Hubble II - Director |
2020 | Whirlpool - Director |
2020 | Halley’s Comet - Director |
2020 | Spaceworks - Director |
2020 | Water Balloon - Director |
2020 | Another Day in Days of Yore - Director |
2020 | Garage Wall - Director |
2020 | Period Piece - Director |
2020 | Street Commerce II - Director |
2020 | Resting Merchant - Director |
2020 | Street Commerce - Director |
2020 | Broadway Buildings II - Director |
2020 | Broadway Buildings III - Director |
2020 | Flowers and Bike - Director |
2020 | Neon Sign - Director |
2020 | Brick Building with Red and Green Windows - Director |
2020 | Broadway Building - Director |
2020 | Chinese New Years - Director |
2020 | Chinese New Years II - Director |
2020 | Duck - Director |
2020 | Fire Escape - Director |
2020 | Bargains - Director |
2020 | Bison - Director |
2020 | City Foliage - Director |
2020 | DeKooning Passed - Director |
2020 | Doyer Street - Director |
2020 | Friendly Building - Director |
2020 | Lazy City - Director |
2020 | Natural Collage - Director |
2020 | Reading Society - Director |
2020 | Roots of Manhattan - Director |
2020 | Sleeping American - Director |
2020 | Waiting Room Window - Director |
2020 | Working Girls (short) - Director |
2020 | Barber - Director |
2020 | Facade with Face - Director |
2020 | Foliage in Moving Car Window - Director |
2020 | RECIPROCAL - Director |
2020 | Ken and Flo - Director |
2020 | Red Green - Director |
2020 | PAINTED POSTER - Director |
2020 | Rain Clouds - Director |
2020 | DR. TOOTHY - Director |
2020 | Rubble - Director |
2019 | CRUSH - Director |
2019 | PAPPY SEES 3D, TOO - Director |
2019 | Failure - Director |
2019 | Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party - Director |
2019 | MOVING ROAD - Director |
2019 | Things to Come - Director |
2019 | Figures I - V - Director |
2019 | THE WHOLE SHEBANG - Director |
2019 | Chaos Is Order Misunderstood - Director |
2019 | Above the Rain - Director |
2019 | The Sky Socialist: The Environs - Director |
2019 | Joan Mitchell: Departures - Director |
2019 | Once Upon a Planet - Director |
2019 | Details of Pollock's White Light - Director |
2019 | Cartoon - Director |
2019 | Dimsum and Dragons - Director |
2019 | Nervous Magic Lantern: 3D for One or Two Naked Eyes - Director |
2018 | The Moments: Evening Boat Ride - Director |
2017 | Swee’pea’s Favorite Eternalisms - Director |
2017 | A Spin Through Night City - Director |
2017 | Along the Elevated - Director |
2017 | Get Up and Go - Director |
2017 | Shelley Duvall is Olive Oyl - Director |
2017 | Ulysses in the Subway - Director |
2017 | Windbreaker - Director |
2016 | Reichstag 9/11 - Director |
2016 | Mosco Street 2 - Director |
2016 | Mosco Street 3: Attack of The Perfect Camera (Fuji W3) - Director |
2016 | Lurking - Director |
2016 | Molten Landscape - Director |
2016 | Ken Jacobs / Tom Chiu of Flux Quartet @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival - Director |
2016 | Ken Jacobs / Victoria Keddie @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival - Director |
2016 | Ken Jacobs / Ghosts Of The Holy Ghost Spermic Brotherhood @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival - Director |
2016 | Ken Jacobs / Rick Reed & Tara Bhattacharya @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival - Director |
2016 | Ken Jacobs / Robert Poss @The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival - Director |
2016 | Ken Jacobs / JG Thirlwell @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival - Director |
2016 | Ken Jacobs / diNMachine @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival - Director |
2016 | Hydroelectric Dam - Director |
2016 | I'm Telling You - Director |
2015 | Empty Seats - Director |
2015 | Batchellor’s Dog and Beach - Director |
2015 | Afternoon Tide - Director |
2015 | Zazie Learns About Money - Director |
2015 | Aimless Sightseeing, Seoul - Director |
2015 | Chrysalis - Director |
2015 | Cyclops Observes the Celestial Bodies - Director |
2015 | Cyclops Observes the Celestial Bodies - Writer |
2015 | The Lackadaisical Speed of Light - Director |
2014 | Wire Fence - Director |
2014 | Canopy - Director |
2014 | Celestial Bodies - Director |
2014 | Pygmalion Cubed - Director |
2014 | The Guests - Director |
2014 | Popeye Sees 3-D - Director |
2013 | A Primer in Sky Socialism - Director |
2013 | Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #1 - Director |
2013 | Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #2 - Director |
2013 | Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #3 - Director |
2013 | Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #4 - Director |
2013 | Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #2 - Technical Supervisor |
2012 | Blankets for Indians - Director |
2012 | Street Vendor - Director |
2012 | 20 Little Films - Director |
2011 | 60 Sekundit Üksindust Aastal Null - Director |
2011 | Seeking the Monkey King - Director |
2011 | The Pushcarts Leave Eternity Street - Director |
2011 | The Pushcarts Leave Eternity Street - Writer |
2011 | America at War, The Home Front: Film Opening - Director |
2011 | Revolving Door - Director |
2011 | Turbulent Waters - Director |
2011 | The Roses - Director |
2011 | The Green Wave - Director |
2011 | Another Occupation - Director |
2011 | Another Occupation - Writer |
2011 | Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman - Director |
2011 | DAY AND NIGHT - Director |
2010 | A Loft - Director |
2010 | A Loft - Editor |
2010 | Fair And White: Parts I, II, III and Extra - Director |
2010 | Sensoriums at Sea: Dr. Toothy's New Entranceway - Director |
2010 | Sensoriums at Sea: Toothy Two - Director |
2010 | The Near-Collision - Director |
2009 | Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days - Director |
2009 | Excerpt From THE SKY SOCIALIST Stratified - Director |
2009 | Walkway - Director |
2009 | Brook - Director |
2009 | Bob Fleischner Dying - Director |
2009 | Brain Operations - Director |
2009 | Berkeley To San Francisco - Director |
2009 | What Happened on 23rd Street in 1901 - Director |
2009 | “Slow is Beauty”—Rodin - Director |
2009 | Hot Dogs At The Met - Director |
2009 | Gravity Is Tops - Director |
2009 | Ronald Gonzales, Sculptor - Director |
2009 | The Day Was a Scorcher - Director |
2009 | The Signing - Director |
2009 | The Day Was a Scorcher - Writer |
2008 | Return to the Scene of the Crime - Director |
2008 | Alone at Last - Director |
2008 | Amorous Interludes: His Favorite Wife Improved (or The Virtue Of Bad Reception) - Director |
2008 | Elbow Dance - Director |
2008 | The Discovery - Director |
2008 | The Scenic Route - Director |
2008 | Love Story - Director |
2008 | Anaglyph Tom (Tom with Puffy Cheeks) - Director |
2007 | Gift of Fire: Nineteen (Obscure) Frames That Changed The World - Director |
2007 | Hanky Panky January 1902 - Director |
2007 | Nymph - Director |
2007 | We Are Charming - Director |
2007 | Mosco Street Rapture - Director |
2007 | Popeye Sees 3-D, TOO - Director |
2007 | Titles - Director |
2007 | The Whirled - Director |
2007 | Capitalism: Slavery - Director |
2007 | Razzle Dazzle: The Lost World - Director |
2007 | Nervous Lantern at Kill Your Timid Notion Festival - Director |
2007 | New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903 - Director |
2007 | New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903 - Producer |
2007 | Capitalism: Child Labor - Director |
2006 | Monks of Cinema - Camera Operator |
2006 | Pushcarts of Eternity Street - Director |
2006 | The Surging Sea of Humanity - Director |
2006 | Two Wrenching Departures - Director |
2005 | Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise - Director |
2005 | Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise - Editor |
2005 | Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise - Producer |
2005 | Incendiary Cinema - Director |
2005 | Insistent Clamor - Director |
2005 | Le Prince: Leeds Bridge 1888 - Director |
2005 | Ontic Antics Starring Laurel and Hardy: Bye Molly - Director |
2005 | Krypton Is Doomed - Director |
2005 | Let There Be Whistle Blowers - Director |
2005 | Spiral Nebula - Director |
2005 | Spiral Nebula - Writer |
2004 | Mountaineer Spinning - Director |
2004 | Star Spangled to Death - Cinematography |
2004 | Star Spangled to Death - Director |
2004 | Star Spangled to Death - Editor |
2004 | Star Spangled to Death - Writer |
2003 | Keeping an Eye on Stan - Director |
2002 | Circling Zero: Part One, We See Absence - Director |
2002 | A Tom Tom Chaser - Director |
2002 | The Sky Socialist: Flight - Director |
1999 | New York Street-Trollys 1900 - Director |
1999 | Flo Rounds a Corner - Director |
1996 | Disorient Express - Director |
1996 | The Georgetown Loop - Director |
1995 | Looting For Rodney - Director |
1995 | Make Light On Film - Director |
1994 | Bitemporal Vision: The Sea - Director |
1991 | Keaton's Cops - Director |
1991 | Opening the Nineteenth Century: 1896 - Director |
1991 | Keaton's Cops - Writer |
1991 | Opening the Nineteenth Century: 1896 - Writer |
1990 | Chronometer - Director |
1986 | The Alps and The Jews - Director |
1985 | Perfect Film - Director |
1977 | The Doctor's Dream - Director |
1976 | Spaghetti Aza - Director |
1975 | Jerry Takes A Back Seat, Then Passes Out Of The Picture - Director |
1975 | Urban Peasants - Director |
1973 | Changing Azazel - Director |
1970 | Binghamton, My India - Director |
1969 | Nissan Ariana Window - Director |
1969 | Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son - Director |
1969 | Globe - Director |
1968 | The Sky Socialist - Director |
1968 | Soft Rain - Director |
1967 | For Life, Against the War - Director |
1967 | Airshaft - Director |
1965 | Lisa and Joey in Connecticut - Director |
1965 | Naomi Is A Dream of Loveliness - Director |
1964 | 1st Window - Director |
1964 | Window - Cinematography |
1964 | Window - Director |
1964 | Window - Editor |
1964 | Window - Producer |
1964 | We Stole Away - Director |
1964 | The Winter Footage - Director |
1964 | Winter Sky - Director |
1964 | Artie and Marty Rosenblatt’s Baby Pictures - Director |
1963 | Little Stabs at Happiness - Director |
1963 | TV Plug - Director |
1963 | Blonde Cobra - Director |
1963 | The Death of P'town - Director |
1962 | Baud'larian Capers - Director |
1956 | Little Cobra Dance - Director |
1956 | Saturday Afternoon Blood Sacrifice - Director |
1955 | Orchard Street - Director |
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