Photographer Viktoras Kapočius. Lithuanian Central State Archives.
Jonas Mekas
FilmmakerKnown for:
diary filmmaking; co-founder of the Film-Makers' Cooperative
Education:
University of Mainz (philosophy, 1946-1948); self-taught filmmaker
Jonas Mekas arrived in New York as a displaced person from Lithuania in 1949 and spent the following seven decades documenting his life and the lives of the people around him in a diary film practice that produced more than 300 hours of footage. He co-founded the Film-Makers' Cooperative in 1962 and Film Culture magazine, becoming the central figure of the American avant-garde film community. His Walden (1969) and Lost Lost Lost (1976) are among the most significant works of personal cinema.
Jonas Mekas's Gear List(1)
Bolex
Connection Source
WikipediaBook
Connection note
Mekas used a Bolex H16 camera throughout his diary film practice from the 1950s onward; his use of the camera is documented in his own writings, in the catalog for his MoMA retrospective, and in multiple interviews about his working method.
Product description
The Bolex H16 is a spring-wound 16mm film camera first produced in the 1930s and manufactured in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland for decades. Its mechanical simplicity, reliability, and optical quality made it the instrument of choice for avant-garde and experimental filmmakers. Jonas Mekas used one for decades of diary films; Stan Brakhage made most of his works with one.
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Last updated March 20, 2026
