Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse
2025 · Movie
as Self
Ken Jacobs
1933-05-25
•
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, USA
A pioneer of the American film avant-garde of the 1960s and '70s, Ken Jacobs is a central figure in post-war experimental cinema. From his first films of the late 1950s to his recent experiments with digital video, his investigations and innovations have influenced countless artists. A New Yorker by birth, Jacobs graduated from City University to find himself in the midst of the downtown art scene of the 1960s, which included artists Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol, beat writers Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac; and the experimental theater troupes of Trisha Brown and Yvonne Rainer. Although Jacobs had studied painting with Hans Hoffman, he quickly gravitated to film, finding kindred spirits in radical filmmakers such as Jonas Mekas and Hollis Frampton. An early friendship with Jack Smith yielded several collaborations, including the seminal underground films Blonde Cobra (which Jonas Mekas dubbed "the masterpiece of Baudelairean cinema") and Little Stabs at Happiness, as well as a Provincetown beach-based live show, The Human Wreckage Review.
Filmography
Art-House America: Austin Film Society
2023 · Movie
as Self
Ken Jacobs - from Orchard Street to the Museum of Modern Art
2023 · Movie
as Self
Up the Illusion
2023 · Movie
Fragments of Paradise
2022 · Movie
as Self
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Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages
2022 · Movie
Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas
2016 · Movie
What Is Cinema?
2013 · Movie
as Self
The Eternal Courtship
2013 · Movie
Emma's Dilemma
2012 · Movie
as Himself
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
2011 · Movie
as Himself
Sleepless Nights Stories
2011 · Movie
as Self
Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
2011 · Movie
as Himself
Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman
2011 · Movie
Lavender
2010 · Movie
as Self
Santos Dumont: Pré-Cineasta?
2010 · Movie
as Himself
Momma's Man
2008 · Movie
as Dad
365 Day Project
2007 · Movie
as Self
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
2007 · Movie
as Self
Star Spangled to Death
2004 · Movie
as Oscar Friendly / Ringmaster / Janitor
Nervous Ken
2003 · Movie
No image
Shorts From the Underground
2002 · Movie
as Self
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Flo and Ken Jacobs
2001 · Movie
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
2000 · Movie
as Self
Birth of a Nation
1997 · Movie
as Self
Jonas in the Desert
1994 · Movie
as Self
Quartet Number One
1991 · Movie
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
1986 · Movie
as Self (archive footage)
Home Movies 1971-81
1985 · Movie
Lost, Lost, Lost
1976 · Movie
as Self
Horizons
1973 · Movie
Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”
1973 · Movie
Huge Pupils
1968 · Movie
as Himself
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
1968 · Movie
as Self
Bill's Hat
1967 · Movie
Blonde Cobra
1963 · Movie
Scotch Tape
1962 · Movie
Crew Credits
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 41
2026 · Movie
Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 42
2026 · Movie
Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 43
2026 · Movie
Director
Downtown Loft with Skylights
2026 · Movie
Director
No image
A Date with Shirley
2026 · Movie
Director
Book of Eternalisms 39
2025 · Movie
Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 40
2025 · Movie
Director
No image
BMT
2025 · Movie
Director
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Tourists of the Familiar 70
2024 · Movie
Director
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Riverbed
2024 · Movie
Director
Spasm
2023 · Movie
Director
Whims of Twenty Twenty-Three
2023 · Movie
Director
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
2023 · Movie
Director
Up the Illusion
2023 · Movie
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 1
2023 · Movie
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 5
2023 · Movie
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 10
2023 · Movie
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 15
2023 · Movie
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 20
2023 · Movie
Director
Book of Eternalisms 1-6
2023 · Movie
Director
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight
2023 · Movie
Director
Other Urban Lives
2023 · Movie
Director
Writhing City
2023 · Movie
Director
No image
For James Otis
2023 · Movie
Director
No image
Manhattan is an Island
2023 · Movie
Director
No image
Hobgoblin Ball
2023 · Movie
Director
Book of Eternalisms 7
2023 · Movie
Director
Book of Eternalisms 8
2023 · Movie
Director
Buster Keaton Embossed
2022 · Movie
Director
Sergei Eisenstein Embossed
2022 · Movie
Director
One Dozen Roses
2022 · Movie
Director
America Lets Her Hair Down 1905
2022 · Movie
Director
Real Action Figures
2022 · Movie
Director
When Timofeev Moves Everything Moves
2022 · Movie
Director
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Eat the Rich: Aligning Perspectives and Other Challenges to Viewers
2022 · Movie
Director
Double Wow
2021 · Movie
Director
Abstract Eternalism
2021 · Movie
Director
Cartoonish 1-10
2021 · Movie
Director
XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX
2021 · Movie
Editor, Director
A Small Misunderstanding
2021 · Movie
Director
Adventures of Cookie Truck
2021 · Movie
Director
Hoffman Student
2021 · Movie
Director
Eternal Beach
2021 · Movie
Director
Aspiring To Music
2021 · Movie
Director
No image
In Front of Anthology
2021 · Movie
Director
Rubble
2020 · Movie
Director
Rain Clouds
2020 · Movie
Director
RECIPROCAL
2020 · Movie
Director
Red Green
2020 · Movie
Director
Ken and Flo
2020 · Movie
Director
PAINTED POSTER
2020 · Movie
Director
DR. TOOTHY
2020 · Movie
Director
Barber
2020 · Movie
Director
Foliage in Moving Car Window
2020 · Movie
Director
Facade with Face
2020 · Movie
Director
Doyer Street
2020 · Movie
Director
Sleeping American
2020 · Movie
Director
DeKooning Passed
2020 · Movie
Director
Waiting Room Window
2020 · Movie
Director
Natural Collage
2020 · Movie
Director
Reading Society
2020 · Movie
Director
Roots of Manhattan
2020 · Movie
Director
Lazy City
2020 · Movie
Director
Bison
2020 · Movie
Director
Friendly Building
2020 · Movie
Director
Working Girls (short)
2020 · Movie
Director
Broadway Buildings II
2020 · Movie
Director
Bargains
2020 · Movie
Director
City Foliage
2020 · Movie
Director
Broadway Buildings III
2020 · Movie
Director
Brick Building with Red and Green Windows
2020 · Movie
Director
Broadway Building
2020 · Movie
Director
Fire Escape
2020 · Movie
Director
Duck
2020 · Movie
Director
Chinese New Years
2020 · Movie
Director
Chinese New Years II
2020 · Movie
Director
Street Commerce
2020 · Movie
Director
Resting Merchant
2020 · Movie
Director
Neon Sign
2020 · Movie
Director
Flowers and Bike
2020 · Movie
Director
Street Commerce II
2020 · Movie
Director
Halley’s Comet
2020 · Movie
Director
Water Balloon
2020 · Movie
Director
Spaceworks
2020 · Movie
Director
Period Piece
2020 · Movie
Director
No image
Bandit
2020 · Movie
Director
Another Day in Days of Yore
2020 · Movie
Director
Garage Wall
2020 · Movie
Director
Hubble II
2020 · Movie
Director
Whirlpool
2020 · Movie
Director
Storefront
2020 · Movie
Director
Transparent Apartments
2020 · Movie
Director
Spiky
2020 · Movie
Director
Municipal Building Passage
2020 · Movie
Director
Clouds and Trees
2020 · Movie
Director
Movie That Invites Pausing
2020 · Movie
Director
Cartoon
2019 · Movie
Director
Chaos Is Order Misunderstood
2019 · Movie
Director
Nervous Magic Lantern: 3D for One or Two Naked Eyes
2019 · Movie
Director
Dimsum and Dragons
2019 · Movie
Director
Details of Pollock's White Light
2019 · Movie
Director
Joan Mitchell: Departures
2019 · Movie
Director
Once Upon a Planet
2019 · Movie
Director
Above the Rain
2019 · Movie
Director
The Sky Socialist: The Environs
2019 · Movie
Director
THE WHOLE SHEBANG
2019 · Movie
Director
Things to Come
2019 · Movie
Director
Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party
2019 · Movie
Director
Failure
2019 · Movie
Director
CRUSH
2019 · Movie
Director
Figures I - V
2019 · Movie
Director
PAPPY SEES 3D, TOO
2019 · Movie
Director
MOVING ROAD
2019 · Movie
Director
ABSTRACT
2019 · Movie
Director
The Moments: Evening Boat Ride
2018 · Movie
Director
Tree Stump
2018 · Movie
Director
No image
Windbreaker
2017 · Movie
Director
Ulysses in the Subway
2017 · Movie
Director
Shelley Duvall is Olive Oyl
2017 · Movie
Director
No image
Get Up and Go
2017 · Movie
Director
A Spin Through Night City
2017 · Movie
Director
No image
Along the Elevated
2017 · Movie
Director
Swee’pea’s Favorite Eternalisms
2017 · Movie
Director
No image
Capitalism Defeats Life on Earth, Cab in Rain
2017 · Movie
Director
No image
Beautiful Dreamer
2017 · Movie
Director
Reichstag 9/11
2016 · Movie
Director
Mosco Street 3: Attack of The Perfect Camera (Fuji W3)
2016 · Movie
Director
Mosco Street 2
2016 · Movie
Director
No image
I'm Telling You
2016 · Movie
Director
Hydroelectric Dam
2016 · Movie
Director
No image
Lurking
2016 · Movie
Director
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Molten Landscape
2016 · Movie
Director
Ken Jacobs / diNMachine @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Director
Ken Jacobs / JG Thirlwell @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Director
Ken Jacobs / Ghosts Of The Holy Ghost Spermic Brotherhood @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Director
Ken Jacobs / Rick Reed & Tara Bhattacharya @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Director
Ken Jacobs / Robert Poss @The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Director
Ken Jacobs / Victoria Keddie @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Director
Ken Jacobs / Tom Chiu of Flux Quartet @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Director
Snow in Headlights II
2016 · Movie
Director
Central Park
2016 · Movie
Director
BMT Canal Street
2016 · Movie
Director
Chrysalis
2015 · Movie
Director
No image
Cyclops Observes the Celestial Bodies
2015 · Movie
Director, Writer
Afternoon Tide
2015 · Movie
Director
Empty Seats
2015 · Movie
Director
Batchellor’s Dog and Beach
2015 · Movie
Director
The Lackadaisical Speed of Light
2015 · Movie
Director
No image
Aimless Sightseeing, Seoul
2015 · Movie
Director
No image
Zazie Learns About Money
2015 · Movie
Director
Granular
2015 · Movie
Director
No image
Floral
2015 · Movie
Director
Canopy
2014 · Movie
Director
No image
The Guests
2014 · Movie
Director
No image
Wire Fence
2014 · Movie
Director
No image
Popeye Sees 3-D
2014 · Movie
Director
No image
Celestial Bodies
2014 · Movie
Director
No image
Pygmalion Cubed
2014 · Movie
Director
No image
A Primer in Sky Socialism
2013 · Movie
Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #2
2013 · Movie
Director, Technical Supervisor
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #1
2013 · Movie
Director
No image
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #3
2013 · Movie
Director
No image
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #4
2013 · Movie
Director
Blankets for Indians
2012 · Movie
Director
20 Little Films
2012 · Movie
Director
Street Vendor
2012 · Movie
Director
Seeking the Monkey King
2011 · Movie
Director
DAY AND NIGHT
2011 · Movie
Director
No image
America at War, The Home Front: Film Opening
2011 · Movie
Director
The Pushcarts Leave Eternity Street
2011 · Movie
Director, Writer
Another Occupation
2011 · Movie
Director, Writer
The Green Wave
2011 · Movie
Director
Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman
2011 · Movie
Director
The Roses
2011 · Movie
Director
No image
Revolving Door
2011 · Movie
Director
60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero
2011 · Movie
Director
Turbulent Waters
2011 · Movie
Director
OCCUPY WALL STREET, THE 99% JOIN IN
2011 · Movie
Director
A Loft
2010 · Movie
Editor, Director
No image
Sensoriums at Sea: Dr. Toothy's New Entranceway
2010 · Movie
Director
No image
Sensoriums at Sea: Toothy Two
2010 · Movie
Director
The Near-Collision
2010 · Movie
Director
No image
Fair And White: Parts I, II, III and Extra
2010 · Movie
Director
The Day Was a Scorcher
2009 · Movie
Director, Writer
The Signing
2009 · Movie
Director
"Slow is Beauty"-Rodin
2009 · Movie
Director
No image
Berkeley To San Francisco
2009 · Movie
Director
What Happened on 23rd Street in 1901
2009 · Movie
Director
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days
2009 · Movie
Director
Bob Fleischner Dying
2009 · Movie
Director
Brain Operations
2009 · Movie
Director
Brook
2009 · Movie
Director
Excerpt From THE SKY SOCIALIST Stratified
2009 · Movie
Director
No image
Hot Dogs At The Met
2009 · Movie
Director
No image
Ronald Gonzales, Sculptor
2009 · Movie
Director
Gravity Is Tops
2009 · Movie
Director
Walkway
2009 · Movie
Director
Return to the Scene of the Crime
2008 · Movie
Director
Anaglyph Tom (Tom with Puffy Cheeks)
2008 · Movie
Director
The Scenic Route
2008 · Movie
Director
No image
Elbow Dance
2008 · Movie
Director
Amorous Interludes: His Favorite Wife Improved (or The Virtue Of Bad Reception)
2008 · Movie
Director
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Alone at Last
2008 · Movie
Director
No image
The Discovery
2008 · Movie
Director
No image
Love Story
2008 · Movie
Director
Razzle Dazzle: The Lost World
2007 · Movie
Director
New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903
2007 · Movie
Director, Producer
Capitalism: Child Labor
2007 · Movie
Director
Capitalism: Slavery
2007 · Movie
Director
Gift of Fire: Nineteen (Obscure) Frames That Changed The World
2007 · Movie
Director
Hanky Panky January 1902
2007 · Movie
Director
Nymph
2007 · Movie
Director
We Are Charming
2007 · Movie
Director
No image
Popeye Sees 3-D, TOO
2007 · Movie
Director
No image
Mosco Street Rapture
2007 · Movie
Director
No image
Titles
2007 · Movie
Director
Nervous Lantern at Kill Your Timid Notion Festival
2007 · Movie
Director
No image
The Surging Sea of Humanity
2006 · Movie
Director
Two Wrenching Departures
2006 · Movie
Director
Pushcarts of Eternity Street
2006 · Movie
Director
Monks of Cinema
2006 · Movie
Camera Operator
Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise
2005 · Movie
Director, Editor, Producer
Let There Be Whistle Blowers
2005 · Movie
Director
Krypton Is Doomed
2005 · Movie
Director
Spiral Nebula
2005 · Movie
Director, Writer
Ontic Antics Starring Laurel and Hardy: Bye Molly
2005 · Movie
Director
Insistent Clamor
2005 · Movie
Director
Le Prince: Leeds Bridge 1888
2005 · Movie
Director
Star Spangled to Death
2004 · Movie
Director, Writer, Cinematography, Editor
No image
Mountaineer Spinning
2004 · Movie
Director
The Whirled
2003 · Movie
Director
Keeping an Eye on Stan
2003 · Movie
Director
A Tom Tom Chaser
2002 · Movie
Director
Circling Zero: Part One, We See Absence
2002 · Movie
Director
The Sky Socialist: Flight
2002 · Movie
Director
Flo Rounds a Corner
1999 · Movie
Director
New York Street Trolleys 1900
1999 · Movie
Director
The Georgetown Loop
1996 · Movie
Director
Disorient Express
1996 · Movie
Director
Looting For Rodney
1995 · Movie
Director
No image
Make Light On Film
1995 · Movie
Director
Bitemporal Vision: The Sea
1994 · Movie
Director
Opening the Nineteenth Century: 1896
1991 · Movie
Director, Writer
Keaton's Cops
1991 · Movie
Director, Writer
Chronometer
1990 · Movie
Director
No image
The Alps and The Jews
1986 · Movie
Director
Perfect Film
1985 · Movie
Director
The Doctor's Dream
1977 · Movie
Director
Book of Splendors, Part Two, Book of Levers: Action at a Distance
1977 · Movie
Director
Spaghetti Aza
1976 · Movie
Director
Urban Peasants
1975 · Movie
Director
Jerry Takes A Back Seat, Then Passes Out Of The Picture
1975 · Movie
Director
No image
Changing Azazel
1973 · Movie
Director
Binghamton, My India
1970 · Movie
Director
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
1969 · Movie
Director
No image
Nissan Ariana Window
1969 · Movie
Director
Globe
1969 · Movie
Director
Soft Rain
1968 · Movie
Director
Airshaft
1967 · Movie
Director
For Life, Against the War
1967 · Movie
Director
The Sky Socialist
1966 · Movie
Director
Lisa and Joey in Connecticut
1965 · Movie
Director
No image
Naomi Is A Dream of Loveliness
1965 · Movie
Director
Window
1964 · Movie
Director, Editor, Cinematography, Producer
Artie and Marty Rosenblatt’s Baby Pictures
1964 · Movie
Director
The Winter Footage
1964 · Movie
Director
No image
We Stole Away
1964 · Movie
Director
No image
Winter Sky
1964 · Movie
Director
1st Window
1964 · Movie
Director
Blonde Cobra
1963 · Movie
Director
Little Stabs at Happiness
1963 · Movie
Director
TV Plug
1963 · Movie
Director
Baud'larian Capers
1962 · Movie
Director
The Death of P'town
1961 · Movie
Director
Saturday Afternoon Blood Sacrifice
1956 · Movie
Director
Little Cobra Dance
1956 · Movie
Director
Orchard Street
1955 · Movie
Director
Sky Dive
· Movie
Director
Depth for One Eye or Two
· Movie
Director
Spotted Fever
· Movie
Director
