This year, Ecofilms, paid tribute to filmmaker Jonas Mekas, as the International Films & Visual Arts Festival in Rhodes presented two of his major diary films: Diary, Notes and Sketches or Walden (1969, 180’) and Reminiscences of a journey to Lithuania (1972, 82’).

The Lithuanian-born poet, film critic and director became the cornerstone of the American avant-garde after he left the German and Soviet occupation to settle for New York City in the 1950s. In 1958, he began there the influential “Movie Journal” column of The Village Voice and in 1959 he founded the New American Cinema Group to distribute independent films. He went on with the Film-makers Cooperative in 1962 and created the Anthology Film Archives in 1963 to screen independent underground movies.

In Walden, Mekas assembled scenes shot with his Bolex between 1964 and 1968 when he filmed his family, his friends (Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, John Lennon, Yoko Ono to name a few) and their outings, following approximately the seasons of the year. The experimental film features the non-narrative personal style of Jonas Mekas. Scenes last from a few seconds to a few minutes, are of varying exposure and interspersed with printed intertitles. This style gives the viewer the feeling Mekas is sharing his life with him.

For Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania, the director returned to his native country after 20 years of exile in America. He starts the film in the early 1950s with images of the Lithuanian immigrant life of New York, then shows the life in the village where he was born. He ends with the German camp where he was detained, and a visit in Vienna.

Olivier Delesse



Full coverage of Ecofilms 2006 on filmfestivals.com :

Ecofilms kicks off in Rhodes, Greece
Ecofilms features this year some shorts with outstanding aesthetic qualities
Ecofilms opens with Echoes of War
Ecofilms rewards the short film Eco Dharma
Ecofilms pays a tribute to Jonas Mekas
Ecofilms awards its Golden Deers