Ken Jacobs

Ken Jacobs

Directing
Born 1933-05-25 Died 2025-10-05 Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, USA 313 credits
Read biography
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.
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Filmography — top 60 of 313
Directing 34 credits
60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero
60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero
2011 · Director
Blonde Cobra
Blonde Cobra
1963 · Director
20 Little Films
20 Little Films
2012 · Director
Up the Illusion
Up the Illusion
2023 · Director
Flo Rounds a Corner
Flo Rounds a Corner
1999 · Director
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days
2009 · Director
Disorient Express
Disorient Express
1996 · Director
THE WHOLE SHEBANG
THE WHOLE SHEBANG
2019 · Director
For Life, Against the War
For Life, Against the War
1967 · Director
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
1969 · Director
Window
Window
1964 · Cinematography, Director
Clouds and Trees
Clouds and Trees
2020 · Director
XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX
XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX
2021 · Editor, Director
Windbreaker
Windbreaker
2017 · Director
Chinese New Years
Chinese New Years
2020 · Director
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight
2023 · Director
The Sky Socialist: The Environs
The Sky Socialist: The Environs
2019 · Director
Once Upon a Planet
Once Upon a Planet
2019 · Director
Seeking the Monkey King
Seeking the Monkey King
2011 · Director
The Doctor's Dream
The Doctor's Dream
1977 · Director
New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903
New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903
2007 · Director, Producer
Perfect Film
Perfect Film
1985 · Director
Movie That Invites Pausing
Movie That Invites Pausing
2020 · Director
Keeping an Eye on Stan
Keeping an Eye on Stan
2003 · Director
The Green Wave
The Green Wave
2011 · Director
Little Cobra Dance
Little Cobra Dance
1956 · Director
Orchard Street
Orchard Street
1955 · Director
Bob Fleischner Dying
Bob Fleischner Dying
2009 · Director
Alone at Last
Alone at Last
2008 · Director
Le Prince: Leeds Bridge 1888
Le Prince: Leeds Bridge 1888
2005 · Director
Chronometer
Chronometer
1990 · Director
Jerry Takes A Back Seat, Then Passes Out Of The Picture
Jerry Takes A Back Seat, Then Passes Out Of The Picture
1975 · Director
Return to the Scene of the Crime
Return to the Scene of the Crime
2008 · Director
Joan Mitchell: Departures
Joan Mitchell: Departures
2019 · Director
Acting 18 credits
Santos Dumont: Pré-Cineasta?
Santos Dumont: Pré-Cineasta?
2010 · Himself
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
2000 · ★ 7.7 · Self
365 Day Project
365 Day Project
2007 · Self
Art-House America: Austin Film Society
Art-House America: Austin Film Society
2023 · Self
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
1968 · Self
What Is Cinema?
What Is Cinema?
2013 · Self
Jonas in the Desert
Jonas in the Desert
1994 · Self
Birth of a Nation
Birth of a Nation
1997 · Self
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
2007 · Self
Fragments of Paradise
Fragments of Paradise
2022 · Self
Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse
Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse
2025 · Self
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
1986 · Self (archive footage)
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
2011 · Himself
Lost, Lost, Lost
Lost, Lost, Lost
1976 · Self
Momma's Man
Momma's Man
2008 · Dad
Sleepless Nights Stories
Sleepless Nights Stories
2011 · Self
Window
Window
1964 · Cinematography, Director
Monks of Cinema
Monks of Cinema
2006 · Camera Operator
Other credits 10 credits
Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas
Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas
2016
Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”
Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”
1973
Flo and Ken Jacobs
Flo and Ken Jacobs
2001
Horizons
Horizons
1973
Home Movies 1971-81
Home Movies 1971-81
1985
XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX
XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX
2021 · Editor, Director
Scotch Tape
Scotch Tape
1962
Bill's Hat
Bill's Hat
1967
Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages
Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages
2022
Quartet Number One
Quartet Number One
1991
Producing 1 credit
New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903
New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903
2007 · Director, Producer
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