Jonas in the Desert (1994)

• 67%
• 1994
• Documentary
• Peter Sempel
• Diahnne Abbott
• Kenneth Anger
• Stan Brakhage

Not a documentary in the strictest sense of the word. Rather, it is a journey through the world of the artist Jonas Mekas - one of the exponents of independent U.S. movies; founder and director of the New York Anthology Film Archive - and captures his ideas, his creativity, and art. In this way, he shows much of Mekas' personality and of his creative universe. Sempel brings together image and music, phrases and conversation, statements by many of the cultural icons such as Andy Warhol, Nam June Paik, Kenneth Anger, Allen Ginsberg, Yoko Ono, Al Pacino, Martin Scorcese, among others, and passages from Mekas' films. Sempel's style echoes throughout the work of the artist itself; nevertheless, it acts more as a complement than a mere tribute. The result is a precise expression of the essence of Jonas Mekas. In 1993, the 17th Mostra de Cinema held a Mekas in retrospect on film with ten of his films.