Ken Jacobs

Directing·May 25, 1933·Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, USA

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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.

Film	Credit
Downtown Loft with Skylights2026 · Director	Director
AA Date with Shirley2026 · Director	Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 432026 · Director	Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 412026 · Director	Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 422026 · Director	Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 402025 · Director	Director
Book of Eternalisms 392025 · Director	Director
BBMT2025 · Director	Director
RRiverbed2024 · Director	Director
TTourists of the Familiar 702024 · Director	Director
Book of Eternalisms 82023 · Director	Director
Book of Eternalisms 72023 · Director	Director
FFor James Otis2023 · Director	Director
Up the Illusion2023 · Actor, Director	Actor, Director
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde2023 · Director	Director
Writhing City2023 · Director	Director
Other Urban Lives2023 · Director	Director
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight2023 · Director	Director
Book of Eternalisms 1-62023 · Director	Director
Spasm2023 · Director	Director
Whims of Twenty Twenty-Three2023 · Director	Director
Tourists of the Familiar 152023 · Director	Director
Tourists of the Familiar 12023 · Director	Director
Tourists of the Familiar 52023 · Director	Director
Tourists of the Familiar 202023 · Director	Director
Tourists of the Familiar 102023 · Director	Director
MManhattan is an Island2023 · Director	Director
HHobgoblin Ball2023 · Director	Director
Real Action Figures2022 · Director	Director
When Timofeev Moves Everything Moves2022 · Director	Director
Sergei Eisenstein Embossed2022 · Director	Director
Buster Keaton Embossed2022 · Director	Director
One Dozen Roses2022 · Director	Director
America Lets Her Hair Down 19052022 · Director	Director
EEat the Rich: Aligning Perspectives and Other Challenges to Viewers2022 · Director	Director
Eternal Beach2021 · Director	Director
Abstract Eternalism2021 · Director	Director
Double Wow2021 · Director	Director
XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX2021 · Director	Director
Cartoonish 1-102021 · Director	Director
A Small Misunderstanding2021 · Director	Director
Adventures of Cookie Truck2021 · Director	Director
Hoffman Student2021 · Director	Director
Aspiring To Music2021 · Director	Director
IIn Front of Anthology2021 · Director	Director
Movie That Invites Pausing2020 · Director	Director
Storefront2020 · Director	Director
Spiky2020 · Director	Director
Transparent Apartments2020 · Director	Director
Municipal Building Passage2020 · Director	Director
Clouds and Trees2020 · Director	Director
BBandit2020 · Director	Director
Hubble II2020 · Director	Director
Whirlpool2020 · Director	Director
Water Balloon2020 · Director	Director
Halley’s Comet2020 · Director	Director
Spaceworks2020 · Director	Director
Another Day in Days of Yore2020 · Director	Director
Garage Wall2020 · Director	Director
Period Piece2020 · Director	Director
Street Commerce II2020 · Director	Director
Street Commerce2020 · Director	Director
Resting Merchant2020 · Director	Director
Broadway Buildings II2020 · Director	Director
Broadway Buildings III2020 · Director	Director
Neon Sign2020 · Director	Director
Flowers and Bike2020 · Director	Director
Chinese New Years2020 · Director	Director
Chinese New Years II2020 · Director	Director
Broadway Building2020 · Director	Director
Duck2020 · Director	Director
Fire Escape2020 · Director	Director
Brick Building with Red and Green Windows2020 · Director	Director
DeKooning Passed2020 · Director	Director
Doyer Street2020 · Director	Director
Sleeping American2020 · Director	Director
Waiting Room Window2020 · Director	Director
Natural Collage2020 · Director	Director
Reading Society2020 · Director	Director
Lazy City2020 · Director	Director
Roots of Manhattan2020 · Director	Director
Friendly Building2020 · Director	Director
Bison2020 · Director	Director
Working Girls (short)2020 · Director	Director
Bargains2020 · Director	Director
City Foliage2020 · Director	Director
Barber2020 · Director	Director
Foliage in Moving Car Window2020 · Director	Director
Facade with Face2020 · Director	Director
RECIPROCAL2020 · Director	Director
Ken and Flo2020 · Director	Director
Red Green2020 · Director	Director
Rain Clouds2020 · Director	Director
PAINTED POSTER2020 · Director	Director
DR. TOOTHY2020 · Director	Director
Rubble2020 · Director	Director
CRUSH2019 · Director	Director
PAPPY SEES 3D, TOO2019 · Director	Director
Failure2019 · Director	Director
Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party2019 · Director	Director
Things to Come2019 · Director	Director
MOVING ROAD2019 · Director	Director
Figures I - V2019 · Director	Director
THE WHOLE SHEBANG2019 · Director	Director
ABSTRACT2019 · Director	Director
Chaos Is Order Misunderstood2019 · Director	Director
Above the Rain2019 · Director	Director
The Sky Socialist: The Environs2019 · Director	Director
Joan Mitchell: Departures2019 · Director	Director
Once Upon a Planet2019 · Director	Director
Details of Pollock's White Light2019 · Director	Director
Cartoon2019 · Director	Director
Nervous Magic Lantern: 3D for One or Two Naked Eyes2019 · Director	Director
Dimsum and Dragons2019 · Director	Director
The Moments: Evening Boat Ride2018 · Director	Director
Tree Stump2018 · Director	Director
Swee’pea’s Favorite Eternalisms2017 · Director	Director
GGet Up and Go2017 · Director	Director
A Spin Through Night City2017 · Director	Director
AAlong the Elevated2017 · Director	Director
Shelley Duvall is Olive Oyl2017 · Director	Director
BBeautiful Dreamer2017 · Director	Director
Ulysses in the Subway2017 · Director	Director
WWindbreaker2017 · Director	Director
CCapitalism Defeats Life on Earth, Cab in Rain2017 · Director	Director
Central Park2016 · Director	Director
Snow in Headlights II2016 · Director	Director
Reichstag 9/112016 · Director	Director
BMT Canal Street2016 · Director	Director
Mosco Street 22016 · Director	Director
Mosco Street 3: Attack of The Perfect Camera (Fuji W3)2016 · Director	Director
MMolten Landscape2016 · Director	Director
LLurking2016 · Director	Director
Ken Jacobs / Victoria Keddie @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival2016 · Director	Director
Ken Jacobs / Tom Chiu of Flux Quartet @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival2016 · Director	Director
Ken Jacobs / Ghosts Of The Holy Ghost Spermic Brotherhood @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival2016 · Director	Director
Ken Jacobs / Rick Reed & Tara Bhattacharya @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival2016 · Director	Director
Ken Jacobs / Robert Poss @The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival2016 · Director	Director
Ken Jacobs / diNMachine @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival2016 · Director	Director
Ken Jacobs / JG Thirlwell @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival2016 · Director	Director
II'm Telling You2016 · Director	Director
Hydroelectric Dam2016 · Director	Director
Empty Seats2015 · Director	Director
Batchellor’s Dog and Beach2015 · Director	Director
Afternoon Tide2015 · Director	Director
ZZazie Learns About Money2015 · Director	Director
AAimless Sightseeing, Seoul2015 · Director	Director
Chrysalis2015 · Director	Director
CCyclops Observes the Celestial Bodies2015 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
The Lackadaisical Speed of Light2015 · Director	Director
Granular2015 · Director	Director
FFloral2015 · Director	Director
WWire Fence2014 · Director	Director
Canopy2014 · Director	Director
PPygmalion Cubed2014 · Director	Director
CCelestial Bodies2014 · Director	Director
TThe Guests2014 · Director	Director
PPopeye Sees 3-D2014 · Director	Director
AA Primer in Sky Socialism2013 · Director	Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #22013 · Director	Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #12013 · Director	Director
JJoys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #42013 · Director	Director
JJoys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #32013 · Director	Director
Blankets for Indians2012 · Director	Director
Street Vendor2012 · Director	Director
20 Little Films2012 · Director	Director
60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero2011 · Director	Director
OCCUPY WALL STREET, THE 99% JOIN IN2011 · Director	Director
Seeking the Monkey King2011 · Director	Director
The Pushcarts Leave Eternity Street2011 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
AAmerica at War, The Home Front: Film Opening2011 · Director	Director
RRevolving Door2011 · Director	Director
Turbulent Waters2011 · Director	Director
The Roses2011 · Director	Director
The Green Wave2011 · Director	Director
Another Occupation2011 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman2011 · Actor, Director	Actor, Director
DAY AND NIGHT2011 · Director	Director
A Loft2010 · Director	Director
SSensoriums at Sea: Dr. Toothy's New Entranceway2010 · Director	Director
The Near-Collision2010 · Director	Director
SSensoriums at Sea: Toothy Two2010 · Director	Director
FFair And White: Parts I, II, III and Extra2010 · Director	Director
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days2009 · Director	Director
Walkway2009 · Director	Director
Excerpt From THE SKY SOCIALIST Stratified2009 · Director	Director
Brook2009 · Director	Director
Bob Fleischner Dying2009 · Director	Director
Brain Operations2009 · Director	Director
"Slow is Beauty"-Rodin2009 · Director	Director
BBerkeley To San Francisco2009 · Director	Director
What Happened on 23rd Street in 19012009 · Director	Director
HHot Dogs At The Met2009 · Director	Director
RRonald Gonzales, Sculptor2009 · Director	Director
Gravity Is Tops2009 · Director	Director
The Day Was a Scorcher2009 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Signing2009 · Director	Director
Return to the Scene of the Crime2008 · Director	Director
EElbow Dance2008 · Director	Director
TThe Discovery2008 · Director	Director
Amorous Interludes: His Favorite Wife Improved (or The Virtue Of Bad Reception)2008 · Director	Director
AAlone at Last2008 · Director	Director
The Scenic Route2008 · Director	Director
LLove Story2008 · Director	Director
Anaglyph Tom (Tom with Puffy Cheeks)2008 · Director	Director
Gift of Fire: Nineteen (Obscure) Frames That Changed The World2007 · Director	Director
Nymph2007 · Director	Director
Hanky Panky January 19022007 · Director	Director
We Are Charming2007 · Director	Director
TTitles2007 · Director	Director
MMosco Street Rapture2007 · Director	Director
PPopeye Sees 3-D, TOO2007 · Director	Director
Capitalism: Slavery2007 · Director	Director
Razzle Dazzle: The Lost World2007 · Director	Director
Nervous Lantern at Kill Your Timid Notion Festival2007 · Director	Director
New York Ghetto Fishmarket 19032007 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Capitalism: Child Labor2007 · Director	Director
Pushcarts of Eternity Street2006 · Director	Director
TThe Surging Sea of Humanity2006 · Director	Director
Two Wrenching Departures2006 · Director	Director
Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise2005 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Insistent Clamor2005 · Director	Director
Le Prince: Leeds Bridge 18882005 · Director	Director
Ontic Antics Starring Laurel and Hardy: Bye Molly2005 · Director	Director
Let There Be Whistle Blowers2005 · Director	Director
Krypton Is Doomed2005 · Director	Director
Spiral Nebula2005 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
MMountaineer Spinning2004 · Director	Director
Star Spangled to Death2004 · Oscar Friendly / Ringmaster / Janitor, Director, Writer	Oscar Friendly / Ringmaster / Janitor, Director, Writer
Keeping an Eye on Stan2003 · Director	Director
The Whirled2003 · Director	Director
Circling Zero: Part One, We See Absence2002 · Director	Director
A Tom Tom Chaser2002 · Director	Director
The Sky Socialist: Flight2002 · Director	Director
New York Street Trolleys 19001999 · Director	Director
Flo Rounds a Corner1999 · Director	Director
Disorient Express1996 · Director	Director
The Georgetown Loop1996 · Director	Director
Looting For Rodney1995 · Director	Director
MMake Light On Film1995 · Director	Director
Bitemporal Vision: The Sea1994 · Director	Director
Opening the Nineteenth Century: 18961991 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Keaton's Cops1991 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Chronometer1990 · Director	Director
TThe Alps and The Jews1986 · Director	Director
Perfect Film1985 · Director	Director
The Doctor's Dream1977 · Director	Director
Book of Splendors, Part Two, Book of Levers: Action at a Distance1977 · Director	Director
Spaghetti Aza1976 · Director	Director
Urban Peasants1975 · Director	Director
Jerry Takes A Back Seat, Then Passes Out Of The Picture1975 · Director	Director
CChanging Azazel1973 · Director	Director
Binghamton, My India1970 · Director	Director
NNissan Ariana Window1969 · Director	Director
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son1969 · Director	Director
Globe1969 · Director	Director
Soft Rain1968 · Director	Director
For Life, Against the War1967 · Director	Director
Airshaft1967 · Director	Director
The Sky Socialist1966 · Director	Director
Lisa and Joey in Connecticut1965 · Director	Director
NNaomi Is A Dream of Loveliness1965 · Director	Director
1st Window1964 · Director	Director
Window1964 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
WWe Stole Away1964 · Director	Director
The Winter Footage1964 · Director	Director
WWinter Sky1964 · Director	Director
Artie and Marty Rosenblatt’s Baby Pictures1964 · Director	Director
Little Stabs at Happiness1963 · Director	Director
TV Plug1963 · Director	Director
Blonde Cobra1963 · Actor, Director	Actor, Director
Baud'larian Capers1962 · Director	Director
The Death of P'town1961 · Director	Director
Saturday Afternoon Blood Sacrifice1956 · Director	Director
Little Cobra Dance1956 · Director	Director
Orchard Street1955 · Director	Director
Sky DiveDirector	Director
Depth for One Eye or TwoDirector	Director
Spotted FeverDirector	Director