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Outtakes From the Life of a Happy Man

Jonas Mekas
68' / 2012 / United States of America
English, French, Spanish, various
Spanish subtitled

Outtakes from the Life of a Happy Man is described by The New York Times as ‘an honest, direct title for a transcendently lovely and delicate work […] part time capsule, part memento mori’. It is composed from Jonas Mekas’ previously unused, unseen work from his life in the last forty years of the twentieth century; these incredibly personal scenes unfold as a sort of filmic scrapbook, in the manner of an inexplicably attractive home movie. While there is a lack of narrative in a traditional sense, and Mekas attempts to insist upon the lack of purpose in this piece, there is an impressive cohesion to Outtakes. The clear desire to remember and to share the moments seen onscreen – ‘for himself and for his friends’ – casts a layer of doubt onto an already evident self-doubt, in occasional voiceover. Infused with clips of Mekas in the present, working at his editing table, he ‘proves himself as adept an architect of reality as he is a receptacle for its bounty of sensation’ [Slant Magazine].

Main Festivals & Awards

London’s Serpentine Gallery - Premiered

Director's Biography

Born in Lithuania in 1922, and immigrating to America in 1949, Jonas Mekas is now known as the ‘godfather’ of the avant-garde. Based in New York City, he is not only an important filmmaker, but has also written about cinema for various well-known publications (including The Village Voice, in which he had his own column ‘Movie Journal’, and Film Culture, which he founded with his brother Adolfas in 1954). In 1962 (after curating showings of avant-garde films for some time), he became a co-founder of The Film Maker’s Cooperative, which went on to establish The Film Maker’s Cinematheque in 1964 – now known as Anthology Film Archives, one of the largest and most significant avant-garde archives worldwide. Constantly with a camera of sorts, it seems, he boasts an overwhelming filmography – including a piece personally requested by Jackie Kennedy (This Side of Paradise, 1999), many intimate collaborations with and records of artists such as Andy Warhol, John Lennon, Allen Ginsberg, Yoko Ono… and more recently, an impressive 365 Day Project (2011).




Se proyectará conjuntamente con:
REMINISCENCES OF A JOURNEY TO LITHUANIA Pase el 03/05 a las 19:50
Director Jonas Mekas
País / Country Estados Unidos / USA
Año de producción / Year of Production 1972
Duración / Running Time 80 min
Idioma original / Language Inglés / English


WALDEN (Diaries, Notebooks and Sketches) Pase el 04/05 a las 18:30
Director Jonas Mekas
País / Country Estados Unidos / USA
Año de producción / Year of Production 1969
Duración / Running Time 173 min

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