Ken Jacobs
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Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
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.
Known for
Credits
20 Little Films (2012)
Director
60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero (2011)
Director
For Life, Against the War (1967)
Director
THE WHOLE SHEBANG (2019)
Director
Blonde Cobra (1963)
Director
Ken and Flo (2020)
Director
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight (2023)
Director
Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman (2011)
Director
The Signing (2009)
Director
The Whirled (2003)
Director
Period Piece (2020)
Director
Little Cobra Dance (1956)
Director
"Slow is Beauty"-Rodin (2009)
Director
Little Stabs at Happiness (1963)
Director
Rain Clouds (2020)
Director
RECIPROCAL (2020)
Director
Book of Eternalisms 7 (2023)
Director
The Scenic Route (2008)
Director
Waiting Room Window (2020)
Director
Hanky Panky January 1902 (2007)
Director
Friendly Building (2020)
Director
Star Spangled to Death (2004)
Director
Mosco Street 3: Attack of The Perfect Camera (Fuji W3) (2016)
Director
Keeping an Eye on Stan (2003)
Director
The Discovery (2008)
Director
Wire Fence (2014)
Director
Two Wrenching Departures (2006)
Director
The Sky Socialist (1966)
Director
Writhing City (2023)
Director
Spaceworks (2020)
Director
The Guests (2014)
Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #4 (2013)
Director
Orchard Street (1955)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Ghosts Of The Holy Ghost Spermic Brotherhood @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903 (2007)
Director
Nervous Magic Lantern: 3D for One or Two Naked Eyes (2019)
Director
Circling Zero: Part One, We See Absence (2002)
Director
CRUSH (2019)
Director
Tree Stump (2018)
Director
Window (1964)
Director
Real Action Figures (2022)
Director
Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise (2005)
Director
Chaos Is Order Misunderstood (2019)
Director
Along the Elevated (2017)
Director
Canopy (2014)
Director
Municipal Building Passage (2020)
Director
One Dozen Roses (2022)
Director
Working Girls (short) (2020)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Victoria Keddie @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
Ronald Gonzales, Sculptor (2009)
Director
Up the Illusion (2023)
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Flowers and Bike (2020)
Director
Seeking the Monkey King (2011)
Director
Hoffman Student (2021)
Director
Water Balloon (2020)
Director
Capitalism: Slavery (2007)
Director
Bison (2020)
Director
Razzle Dazzle: The Lost World (2007)
Director
Natural Collage (2020)
Director
1st Window (1964)
Director
Sergei Eisenstein Embossed (2022)
Director
The Green Wave (2011)
Director
A Spin Through Night City (2017)
Director
Red Green (2020)
Director
TV Plug (1963)
Director
Chinese New Years II (2020)
Director
The Death of P'town (1961)
Director
Joan Mitchell: Departures (2019)
Director
The Near-Collision (2010)
Director
Popeye Sees 3-D (2014)
Director
Flo Rounds a Corner (1999)
Director
Street Vendor (2012)
Director
Bandit (2020)
Director
Perfect Film (1985)
Director
Central Park (2016)
Director
Blankets for Indians (2012)
Director
Rubble (2020)
Director
Lisa and Joey in Connecticut (1965)
Director
Aspiring To Music (2021)
Director
Things to Come (2019)
Director
Ken Jacobs / JG Thirlwell @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
Saturday Afternoon Blood Sacrifice (1956)
Director
Halley’s Comet (2020)
Director
Sensoriums at Sea: Toothy Two (2010)
Director
Hydroelectric Dam (2016)
Director
Zazie Learns About Money (2015)
Director
Fire Escape (2020)
Director
Storefront (2020)
Director
Facade with Face (2020)
Director
Cartoon (2019)
Director
Reading Society (2020)
Director
The Georgetown Loop (1996)
Director
Krypton Is Doomed (2005)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 15 (2023)
Director
Barber (2020)
Director
Sleeping American (2020)
Director
Revolving Door (2011)
Director
The Moments: Evening Boat Ride (2018)
Director
Windbreaker (2017)
Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #2 (2013)
Director
Another Occupation (2011)
Director
Capitalism: Child Labor (2007)
Director
I'm Telling You (2016)
Director
Afternoon Tide (2015)
Director
Let There Be Whistle Blowers (2005)
Director
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son (1969)
Director
Brick Building with Red and Green Windows (2020)
Director
A Primer in Sky Socialism (2013)
Director
Above the Rain (2019)
Director
New York Street Trolleys 1900 (1999)
Director
Brain Operations (2009)
Director
Depth for One Eye or Two (—)
Director
Nymph (2007)
Director
Fair And White: Parts I, II, III and Extra (2010)
Director
Garage Wall (2020)
Director
Shelley Duvall is Olive Oyl (2017)
Director
Book of Eternalisms 1-6 (2023)
Director
Ulysses in the Subway (2017)
Director
Berkeley To San Francisco (2009)
Director
Soft Rain (1968)
Director
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days (2009)
Director
Doyer Street (2020)
Director
Details of Pollock's White Light (2019)
Director
Elbow Dance (2008)
Director
We Are Charming (2007)
Director
Roots of Manhattan (2020)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 1 (2023)
Director
Book of Eternalisms 8 (2023)
Director
Disorient Express (1996)
Director
Book of Splendors, Part Two, Book of Levers: Action at a Distance (1977)
Director
A Loft (2010)
Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 41 (2026)
Director
Celestial Bodies (2014)
Director
Bargains (2020)
Director
Airshaft (1967)
Director
DeKooning Passed (2020)
Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #3 (2013)
Director
The Lackadaisical Speed of Light (2015)
Director
Brook (2009)
Director
The Day Was a Scorcher (2009)
Director
Chinese New Years (2020)
Director
Lurking (2016)
Director
Bitemporal Vision: The Sea (1994)
Director
We Stole Away (1964)
Director
Double Wow (2021)
Director
America Lets Her Hair Down 1905 (2022)
Director
When Timofeev Moves Everything Moves (2022)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Tom Chiu of Flux Quartet @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX (2021)
Director
Empty Seats (2015)
Director
Get Up and Go (2017)
Director
MOVING ROAD (2019)
Director
Gift of Fire: Nineteen (Obscure) Frames That Changed The World (2007)
Director
A Tom Tom Chaser (2002)
Director
Dimsum and Dragons (2019)
Director
Sensoriums at Sea: Dr. Toothy's New Entranceway (2010)
Director
Make Light On Film (1995)
Director
DAY AND NIGHT (2011)
Director
Love Story (2008)
Director
Walkway (2009)
Director
Clouds and Trees (2020)
Director
Eternal Beach (2021)
Director
Globe (1969)
Director
Hot Dogs At The Met (2009)
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Insistent Clamor (2005)
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Pushcarts of Eternity Street (2006)
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Alone at Last (2008)
Director
Jerry Takes A Back Seat, Then Passes Out Of The Picture (1975)
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Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party (2019)
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Neon Sign (2020)
Director
Bob Fleischner Dying (2009)
Director
Whirlpool (2020)
Director
The Surging Sea of Humanity (2006)
Director
Whims of Twenty Twenty-Three (2023)
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Amorous Interludes: His Favorite Wife Improved (or The Virtue Of Bad Reception) (2008)
Director
What Happened on 23rd Street in 1901 (2009)
Director
Naomi Is A Dream of Loveliness (1965)
Director
Street Commerce (2020)
Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 40 (2025)
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Opening the Nineteenth Century: 1896 (1991)
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City Foliage (2020)
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Baud'larian Capers (1962)
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Popeye Sees 3-D, TOO (2007)
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Cartoonish 1-10 (2021)
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Spaghetti Aza (1976)
Director
Riverbed (2024)
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Hubble II (2020)
Director
Binghamton, My India (1970)
Director
Other Urban Lives (2023)
Director
Batchellor’s Dog and Beach (2015)
Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #1 (2013)
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Aimless Sightseeing, Seoul (2015)
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Street Commerce II (2020)
Director
Turbulent Waters (2011)
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Nissan Ariana Window (1969)
Director
The Sky Socialist: The Environs (2019)
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Broadway Building (2020)
Director
A Date with Shirley (2026)
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Broadway Buildings III (2020)
Director
Beautiful Dreamer (2017)
Director
Winter Sky (1964)
Director
Le Prince: Leeds Bridge 1888 (2005)
Director
Foliage in Moving Car Window (2020)
Director
Spiky (2020)
Director
The Alps and The Jews (1986)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 20 (2023)
Director
Mosco Street Rapture (2007)
Director
Nervous Lantern at Kill Your Timid Notion Festival (2007)
Director
Book of Eternalisms 39 (2025)
Director
Granular (2015)
Director
Floral (2015)
Director
Keaton's Cops (1991)
Director
Looting For Rodney (1995)
Director
The Roses (2011)
Director
The Sky Socialist: Flight (2002)
Director
Resting Merchant (2020)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Rick Reed & Tara Bhattacharya @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
Cyclops Observes the Celestial Bodies (2015)
Director
Mountaineer Spinning (2004)
Director
The Winter Footage (1964)
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Changing Azazel (1973)
Director
Movie That Invites Pausing (2020)
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Molten Landscape (2016)
Director
Adventures of Cookie Truck (2021)
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Lazy City (2020)
Director
Urban Peasants (1975)
Director
Mosco Street 2 (2016)
Director
Broadway Buildings II (2020)
Director
Another Day in Days of Yore (2020)
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PAPPY SEES 3D, TOO (2019)
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BMT (2025)
Director
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2023)
Director
Spasm (2023)
Director
America at War, The Home Front: Film Opening (2011)
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Anaglyph Tom (Tom with Puffy Cheeks) (2008)
Director
Failure (2019)
Director
PAINTED POSTER (2020)
Director
DR. TOOTHY (2020)
Director
Figures I - V (2019)
Director
Spotted Fever (—)
Director
Chronometer (1990)
Director
Pygmalion Cubed (2014)
Director
Once Upon a Planet (2019)
Director
Duck (2020)
Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 42 (2026)
Director
Buster Keaton Embossed (2022)
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Artie and Marty Rosenblatt’s Baby Pictures (1964)
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Titles (2007)
Director
A Small Misunderstanding (2021)
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The Pushcarts Leave Eternity Street (2011)
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Ontic Antics Starring Laurel and Hardy: Bye Molly (2005)
Director
Transparent Apartments (2020)
Director
OCCUPY WALL STREET, THE 99% JOIN IN (2011)
Director
Chrysalis (2015)
Director
Reichstag 9/11 (2016)
Director
Ken Jacobs / diNMachine @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 5 (2023)
Director
Excerpt From THE SKY SOCIALIST Stratified (2009)
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Gravity Is Tops (2009)
Director
BMT Canal Street (2016)
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Manhattan is an Island (2023)
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Ken Jacobs / Robert Poss @The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
ABSTRACT (2019)
Director
The Doctor's Dream (1977)
Director
Return to the Scene of the Crime (2008)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 70 (2024)
Director
Capitalism Defeats Life on Earth, Cab in Rain (2017)
Director
Abstract Eternalism (2021)
Director
Swee’pea’s Favorite Eternalisms (2017)
Director
Snow in Headlights II (2016)
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Spiral Nebula (2005)
Director
Downtown Loft with Skylights (2026)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 10 (2023)
Director
Sky Dive (—)
Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 43 (2026)
Director
Eat the Rich: Aligning Perspectives and Other Challenges to Viewers (2022)
Director
For James Otis (2023)
Director
Hobgoblin Ball (2023)
Director
In Front of Anthology (2021)
Director