History of the VW Campervan(2011)

The Woodstock Bus(en)

Woodstock-the most famous rock concert in history. At the center of it all, a psychedelic symbol-covered Volkswagen bus called Light. Join the race to solve a 50-year-old mystery, find a lost bus that became an iconic emblem of a generation, and restore it in time for a trip back to Woodstock.

Hitchhiking to the Edge of Sanity(en)

A look at the turbulent social upheaval of the early 1970s which follows an idealistic writer and his soon-to-be-married photographer friend as they set out to find their purpose via a terrifying road trip across the Sahara Desert.

Fagbug(en)

On the 11th Annual National Day of Silence, Erin Davies was victim to a hate crime in Albany, New York. Because of sporting a rainbow sticker on her VW Beetle, Erin's car was vandalized, left with the words "fag" and "u r gay" placed on the driver's side window and hood of her car. Despite initial shock and embarrassment, Erin decided to embrace what happened by leaving the graffiti on her car. She took her car, now known worldwide as the "fagbug," on a 58-day trip around the United States and Canada. Along the way, Erin discovered other, more serious hate crimes, had people attempt to remove the graffiti, and experimented with having a male drive her car. After driving the fagbug for one year, Erin decided to give her car a makeover.

Herbie Rides Again(en)

The living Volkswagen Beetle helps an old lady protect her home from a corrupt developer.

Sexbomb(en)

A low-budget film producer begins shooting his next two epics, "I Rip Your Flesh With Pliers" and "Werewolves in Heat." What he doesn't know is that his sexy young wife wants him dead, and plans to use the films as a cover to do it.

Autosong(en)

When Jill Jarnow won a blue Volkswagon in a design contest, and named the car Wart after the young king Arthur in T.H.White's The Sword and the Stone - it naturally wasn't long before the iconic vehicle turned up in a film. Autosong unfolds on an autobahn of the mind, a road between the formalism of highway driving and the looped flipbook experiments.

Kombi(pt)

Joana receives her grandfather’s ashes. At home, she finds his voyage diary that belonged to her grandfather and decides to recreate that journey. On the road, she meets Rui, who helps to find the truth about her past.

Velvet Underground's First Public Appearance(en)

Velvet Underground's first public appearance.

In Between(en)

Footage from 1964-1968 that did not find its way into the Walden reels is joined in this classic period piece. Mostly centered in New York, it also includes travel footage and appearances by David Wise, Salvador Dali, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Smith, Shirley Clarke, Jane Holzer and more. Mel Lyman plays his banjo on the roof.

Notes for Jerome(en)

During the summer of 1966 Jonas Mekas spent two months in Cassis, as a guest of Jerome Hill. Mekas visited him briefly again in 1967, with P. Adams Sitney. The footage of this film comes from those two visits. Later, after Jerome died, Mekas visited his Cassis home in 1974. Footage of that visit constitutes the epilogue of the film. Other people appear in the film, all friends of Jerome.

Paradise Not Yet Lost(en)

The film is arranged in six chronologically-ordered parts, each filmed in a different location during Oona's third year.

Off We Go!(de)

Documentary short on the Octoberfest in Munich.

Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit(en)

This is a video record of the Buddhist Wake ceremony at Allen Ginsberg's apartment. You see Allen, now asleep forever, in his bed; some of his close friends; and the wrapping up and removal of Allen's body from the apartment. You hear Jonas' description of his last conversation with Allen, three days earlier. You see the final farewell at the Buddhist temple, 118 West 22nd Street, New York City, and some of his close friends: Patti Smith, Gregory Corso, LeRoy Jones-Baraka, Hiro Yamagata, Anne Waldman, and many others.

To Barbara Rubin with Love(en)

This is a mini-portrait of one of the legendary figures of the 60s who should be credited for the discovery of the Velvet Underground, for saving Bob Dylan's mind after the motorcycle crash, for her pioneering sound/image installations, for keeping the New York Sixties' art community together, for one of the key works of erotic cinema Christmas on Earth, and etc. and etc.

Report from Millbrook(en)

Jonas Mekas documents Timothy Leary’s Millbrook estate in the wake of a police raid, juxtaposing serene images of the property with audio of officials justifying their actions. Blending diary footage with subversive reportage, the film exposes the gap between perception and authority, offering an oblique portrait of the counterculture and its suppression.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn(en)

Filmed in 1950 soon after Jonas Mekas arrived in New York, this short documents everyday life in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It was the first film he shot with his 16 mm Bolex camera, but he did not edit and present the footage until 2003, making it both his earliest and one of his final works on film.

Håndværkerskolen: Brolægger(da)

Travel Songs(en)

Compiled from two decades of travels through Europe, Jonas Mekas’s Travel Songs gathers five diaristic segments filmed in Avila, Stockholm, Moscow, and Assisi. Shot with his characteristic spontaneity and playfulness, the film turns casual sightseeing into a lyrical meditation on place, memory, and movement.

Quartet Number One(en)

Quartet Number One (1991) 8 min.