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.
Full Filmography
Directing
Orchard Street
(1955)
Director
Little Cobra Dance
(1956)
Director
Saturday Afternoon Blood Sacrifice
(1956)
Director
Baud'larian Capers
(1962)
Director
The Death of P'town
(1963)
Director
Blonde Cobra
(1963)
Director
Little Stabs at Happiness
(1963)
Director
TV Plug
(1963)
Director
Artie and Marty Rosenblatt’s Baby Pictures
(1963)
Director
The Winter Footage
(1964)
Director
We Stole Away
(1964)
Director
1st Window
(1964)
Director
Winter Sky
(1964)
Director
Window
(1964)
Director
Naomi Is A Dream of Loveliness
(1965)
Director
Lisa and Joey in Connecticut
(1965)
Director
Airshaft
(1967)
Director
For Life, Against the War
(1967)
Director
The Sky Socialist
(1968)
Director
Soft Rain
(1968)
Director
Globe
(1969)
Director
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
(1969)
Director
Nissan Ariana Window
(1969)
Director
Binghamton, My India
(1970)
Director
Changing Azazel
(1973)
Director
Jerry Takes A Back Seat, Then Passes Out Of The Picture
(1975)
Director
Urban Peasants
(1975)
Director
Spaghetti Aza
(1976)
Director
The Doctor's Dream
(1977)
Director
Perfect Film
(1985)
Director
The Alps and The Jews
(1986)
Director
Chronometer
(1990)
Director
Opening the Nineteenth Century: 1896
(1991)
Director
Keaton's Cops
(1991)
Director
Bitemporal Vision: The Sea
(1994)
Director
Looting For Rodney
(1995)
Director
Make Light On Film
(1995)
Director
Disorient Express
(1996)
Director
The Georgetown Loop
(1996)
Director
Flo Rounds a Corner
(1999)
Director
New York Street-Trollys 1900
(1999)
Director
Circling Zero: Part One, We See Absence
(2002)
Director
A Tom Tom Chaser
(2002)
Director
Keeping an Eye on Stan
(2003)
Director
Mountaineer Spinning
(2004)
Director
Star Spangled to Death
(2004)
Director
Let There Be Whistle Blowers
(2005)
Director
Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise
(2005)
Director
Krypton Is Doomed
(2005)
Director
Insistent Clamor
(2005)
Director
Le Prince: Leeds Bridge 1888
(2005)
Director
Ontic Antics Starring Laurel and Hardy: Bye Molly
(2005)
Director
Spiral Nebula
(2005)
Director
Incendiary Cinema
(2005)
Director
Two Wrenching Departures
(2006)
Director
The Surging Sea of Humanity
(2006)
Director
Pushcarts of Eternity Street
(2006)
Director
Popeye Sees 3-D, TOO
(2007)
Director
Hanky Panky January 1902
(2007)
Director
Capitalism: Slavery
(2007)
Director
Nervous Lantern at Kill Your Timid Notion Festival
(2007)
Director
New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903
(2007)
Director
Razzle Dazzle: The Lost World
(2007)
Director
Capitalism: Child Labor
(2007)
Director
Mosco Street Rapture
(2007)
Director
Nymph
(2007)
Director
The Whirled
(2007)
Director
Gift of Fire: Nineteen (Obscure) Frames That Changed The World
(2007)
Director
We Are Charming
(2007)
Director
Titles
(2007)
Director
Anaglyph Tom (Tom with Puffy Cheeks)
(2008)
Director
Return to the Scene of the Crime
(2008)
Director
Love Story
(2008)
Director
The Discovery
(2008)
Director
Amorous Interludes: His Favorite Wife Improved (or The Virtue Of Bad Reception)
(2008)
Director
Elbow Dance
(2008)
Director
Alone at Last
(2008)
Director
The Scenic Route
(2008)
Director
The Day Was a Scorcher
(2009)
Director
Bob Fleischner Dying
(2009)
Director
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days
(2009)
Director
Excerpt From THE SKY SOCIALIST Stratified
(2009)
Director
Ronald Gonzales, Sculptor
(2009)
Director
“Slow is Beauty”—Rodin
(2009)
Director
Berkeley To San Francisco
(2009)
Director
What Happened on 23rd Street in 1901
(2009)
Director
Gravity Is Tops
(2009)
Director
The Signing
(2009)
Director
Brook
(2009)
Director
Walkway
(2009)
Director
Brain Operations
(2009)
Director
Hot Dogs At The Met
(2009)
Director
Sensoriums at Sea: Toothy Two
(2010)
Director
Sensoriums at Sea: Dr. Toothy's New Entranceway
(2010)
Director
Fair And White: Parts I, II, III and Extra
(2010)
Director
The Near-Collision
(2010)
Director
A Loft
(2010)
Director
The Roses
(2011)
Director
Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman
(2011)
Director
Turbulent Waters
(2011)
Director
Another Occupation
(2011)
Director
The Pushcarts Leave Eternity Street
(2011)
Director
The Green Wave
(2011)
Director
America at War, The Home Front: Film Opening
(2011)
Director
DAY AND NIGHT
(2011)
Director
Revolving Door
(2011)
Director
Seeking the Monkey King
(2011)
Director
60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero
(2011)
Director
Street Vendor
(2012)
Director
Blankets for Indians
(2012)
Director
20 Little Films
(2012)
Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #4
(2013)
Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #1
(2013)
Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #3
(2013)
Director
A Primer in Sky Socialism
(2013)
Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #2
(2013)
Director
Celestial Bodies
(2014)
Director
Popeye Sees 3-D
(2014)
Director
Wire Fence
(2014)
Director
The Guests
(2014)
Director
Canopy
(2014)
Director
Pygmalion Cubed
(2014)
Director
The Lackadaisical Speed of Light
(2015)
Director
Chrysalis
(2015)
Director
Zazie Learns About Money
(2015)
Director
Aimless Sightseeing, Seoul
(2015)
Director
Cyclops Observes the Celestial Bodies
(2015)
Director
Hydroelectric Dam
(2016)
Director
I'm Telling You
(2016)
Director
Molten Landscape
(2016)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Victoria Keddie @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
(2016)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Tom Chiu of Flux Quartet @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
(2016)
Director
Reichstag 9/11
(2016)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Rick Reed & Tara Bhattacharya @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
(2016)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Ghosts Of The Holy Ghost Spermic Brotherhood @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
(2016)
Director
Lurking
(2016)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Robert Poss @The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
(2016)
Director
Ken Jacobs / JG Thirlwell @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
(2016)
Director
Ken Jacobs / diNMachine @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
(2016)
Director
Along the Elevated
(2017)
Director
Get Up and Go
(2017)
Director
A Spin Through Night City
(2017)
Director
Shelley Duvall is Olive Oyl
(2017)
Director
Windbreaker
(2017)
Director
Ulysses in the Subway
(2017)
Director
Swee’pea’s Favorite Eternalisms
(2017)
Director
The Moments: Evening Boat Ride
(2018)
Director
Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party
(2019)
Director
MOVING ROAD
(2019)
Director
PAPPY SEES 3D, TOO
(2019)
Director
CRUSH
(2019)
Director
Failure
(2019)
Director
Figures I - V
(2019)
Director
Cartoon
(2019)
Director
Nervous Magic Lantern: 3D for One or Two Naked Eyes
(2019)
Director
Dimsum and Dragons
(2019)
Director
THE WHOLE SHEBANG
(2019)
Director
Above the Rain
(2019)
Director
The Sky Socialist: The Environs
(2019)
Director
Things to Come
(2019)
Director
Joan Mitchell: Departures
(2019)
Director
Details of Pollock's White Light
(2019)
Director
Once Upon a Planet
(2019)
Director
Chaos Is Order Misunderstood
(2019)
Director
Bison
(2020)
Director
Doyer Street
(2020)
Director
Working Girls (short)
(2020)
Director
Sleeping American
(2020)
Director
Barber
(2020)
Director
Foliage in Moving Car Window
(2020)
Director
Facade with Face
(2020)
Director
DeKooning Passed
(2020)
Director
Friendly Building
(2020)
Director
Red Green
(2020)
Director
DR. TOOTHY
(2020)
Director
PAINTED POSTER
(2020)
Director
RECIPROCAL
(2020)
Director
Rain Clouds
(2020)
Director
Ken and Flo
(2020)
Director
Bargains
(2020)
Director
Rubble
(2020)
Director
City Foliage
(2020)
Director
Another Day in Days of Yore
(2020)
Director
Garage Wall
(2020)
Director
Water Balloon
(2020)
Director
Street Commerce II
(2020)
Director
Resting Merchant
(2020)
Director
Flowers and Bike
(2020)
Director
Street Commerce
(2020)
Director
Transparent Apartments
(2020)
Director
Storefront
(2020)
Director
Spiky
(2020)
Director
Clouds and Trees
(2020)
Director
Hubble II
(2020)
Director
Whirlpool
(2020)
Director
Bandit
(2020)
Director
Movie That Invites Pausing
(2020)
Director
Municipal Building Passage
(2020)
Director
Period Piece
(2020)
Director
Halley’s Comet
(2020)
Director
Broadway Buildings II
(2020)
Director
Brick Building with Red and Green Windows
(2020)
Director
Fire Escape
(2020)
Director
Broadway Buildings III
(2020)
Director
Broadway Building
(2020)
Director
Chinese New Years
(2020)
Director
Duck
(2020)
Director
Reading Society
(2020)
Director
Lazy City
(2020)
Director
Waiting Room Window
(2020)
Director
Roots of Manhattan
(2020)
Director
Natural Collage
(2020)
Director
Chinese New Years II
(2020)
Director
Neon Sign
(2020)
Director
Spaceworks
(2020)
Director
XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX
(2021)
Director
Adventures of Cookie Truck
(2021)
Director
Abstract Eternalism
(2021)
Director
Double Wow
(2021)
Director
Aspiring To Music
(2021)
Director
A Small Misunderstanding
(2021)
Director
Hoffman Student
(2021)
Director
Eternal Beach
(2021)
Director
Cartoonish 1-10
(2021)
Director
When Timofeev Moves Everything Moves
(2022)
Director
Real Action Figures
(2022)
Director
America Let's Her Hair Down 1905
(2022)
Director
Buster Keaton Embossed
(2022)
Director
Sergei Eisenstein Embossed
(2022)
Director
Writhing City
(2023)
Director
Other Urban Lives
(2023)
Director
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight
(2023)
Director
Spasm
(2023)
Director
Whims of Twenty Twenty-Three
(2023)
Director
Up the Illusion
(2023)
Director
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
(2023)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 1
(2023)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 5
(2023)
Director
Book of Eternalisms 1-6
(2023)
Director
One Dozen Roses
(2023)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 10
(2023)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 20
(2023)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 15
(2023)
Director
Acting
Scotch Tape
(1962)
Blonde Cobra
(1963)
Bill's Hat
(1967)
Huge Pupils
(1968)
Himself
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
(1968)
Self
Lost, Lost, Lost
(1976)
Self
Home Movies 1971-81
(1985)
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
(1986)
Self
Quartet Number One
(1991)
Jonas in the Desert
(1994)
Self
Birth of a Nation
(1997)
Self
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
(2000)
Self
Shorts From the Underground
(2002)
himself
Star Spangled to Death
(2004)
Oscar Friendly / Ringmaster / Janitor
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
(2007)
Self
Momma's Man
(2008)
Dad
Lavender
(2010)
Self
Santos Dumont: Pré-Cineasta?
(2010)
Himself
Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
(2011)
Himself
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
(2011)
Himself
Sleepless Nights Stories
(2011)
Self
Emma's Dilemma
(2012)
Himself
What Is Cinema?
(2013)
Self
Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas
(2016)
Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages
(2022)
Fragments of Paradise
(2022)
Self
Editing
Window
(1964)
Editor
Star Spangled to Death
(2004)
Editor
Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise
(2005)
Editor
A Loft
(2010)
Editor
XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX
(2021)
Editor
Crew
Window
(1964)
Cinematography
Star Spangled to Death
(2004)
Cinematography
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #2
(2013)
Technical Supervisor
Production
Window
(1964)
Producer
Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise
(2005)
Producer
New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903
(2007)
Producer
Writing
Keaton's Cops
(1991)
Writer
Opening the Nineteenth Century: 1896
(1991)
Writer
Star Spangled to Death
(2004)
Writer
Spiral Nebula
(2005)
Writer
The Day Was a Scorcher
(2009)
Writer
The Pushcarts Leave Eternity Street
(2011)
Writer
Another Occupation
(2011)
Writer
Cyclops Observes the Celestial Bodies
(2015)
Writer
Camera