Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1971-72) by Jonas Mekas
Thursday, June 20, 1985, 8:00 pm
Jonas Mekas’ Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
Reminiscences… (1971-72) remains one of the towering achievements of the personal ‘diaristic’ cinema. Part of Mekas’ ongoing series of films drawn from his daily life, it focuses directly on his home town in Lithuania (including portraits of his mother, brothers, memories of childhood) interspersed between sections filmed in America. Imagery ranges from footage shot with Mekas’ Bolex during the mid-1950s in Brooklyn to material recorded upon his return to Semeniskiai in 1971. The soundtrack is a pastiche including reminiscences, folk songs, piano music, madrigals, and poetry — all are combined into a unique and eloquent autobiographical statement. This will be its first public San Francisco screening since 1974