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Fragments of Paradise 15 rating

Intimate portrait of the life and career of the pioneering filmmaker, poet and critic, Jonas Mekas, assembled from thousands of hours of his personal film footage and letters.

Documentary 2023 98 mins

Director: KD Davison

CC

Overview

For over 70 years, Jonas Mekas, internationally known as the “godfather” of avant-garde cinema, documented his life in what came to be known as his diary films. From his arrival in New York City as a displaced person in 1949 to his death in 2019, he chronicled the trauma and loss of exile while pioneering institutons to support the growth of independent film in the United States. FRAGMENTS OF PARADISE is an intimate look at his life and work constructed from thousands of hours of his own video and film diaries—including never-before-seen tapes and unpublished audio recordings. It is a story about finding beauty amidst profound loss, and a man who tried to make sense of it all…with a camera.

Includes interviews with Amy Taubin, Peter Bogdanovich, John Waters, Martin Scorsese, as well as Jonas’s children Sebastian and Oona Mekas.

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