The cinema is Jonas Mekas
April 19-20 2013
International House Philadelphia
3701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA

"The real history of cinema is invisible history:  
history of friends getting together, doing the thing they love."
~ Jonas Mekas, "Anti-100 Years of Cinema"   

International House Philadelphia will conclude our yearlong retrospective The Cinema is Jonas Mekas by bringing the renowed director and his friends to the Ibrahim Theater for two days of talks, screenings, and Q&As. Such an event is particularly fitting considering the director's emphasis on documenting his life and the lives of his friends. Many of his films act as extended portraits of artists and the time from which they came, cinematic ruins that provide a stunning compendium for reflection and historical archiving.

Friday April 19 at 7pm: "Friends and Artists" screening with introduction + Q&A with Jonas Mekas
- Film Magazine of the Arts (Jonas Mekas, US, 1963, 16mm, color, 20 min.)
- Scenes of the Life of Andy Warhol (Jonas Mekas, US, 1990, 16mm, color, 36 min.)
- Street Songs (Jonas Mekas, France, 1983, 16mm, b/w, 11 min.)
- Zefiro Torna, or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Jonas Mekas, USA, 1992, 16mm, color, 35 min.)

Saturday April 20 at 2pm: Panel discussion: "My Friends! The Life and Work of Jonas Mekas" (Free admission!)
Panel discussion with Jonas Mekas, film critic Amy Taubin, French filmmaker Jackie Raynal and curator Ed Halter, moderated by curator/filmmaker Andrew Lampert.
This discussion will utilize expert panelists, each of whom has a different connection to Mekas’ life and work. They will share their perspectives on his film and video practice, the influence he has had on moving image culture and how he became the central figure in American independent film.

Saturday April 20 at 7pm: Selections from The 365 Days Project with introduction + Q&A with Jonas Mekas
(Jonas Mekas, US, 2007, digital, 137 min.)
This program features selections of the short digital films Mekas posted daily throughout 2007. Combining brand-new footage with older material unearthed and made public for the first time, The 365 Days Project was both a bold leap into the digital world for Mekas and a natural extension of the approach to cinema–small-scale, intimate, and direct–that he had been practicing in his diary films for decades.