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