JONAS MEKAS - LAUREATE OF THE DRAGON OF DRAGONS AWARD!

Jonas Mekas, a forerunner and representative of the American avant-garde film receives the Dragon of Dragons Award in recognition of his contribution to the world cinema . The artist has accepted our invitation and he will visit Krakow in May to receive the award during the jubilee 50th edition of the Festival. This will be his first visit in Poland!

The Dragon of Dragons Awards, granted since 1998, acknowledges the outstanding creators of documentary films and animation. Among past winners are: Bohdan Kosinski, Jan Lenica, Raymond Depardon, Jan Svankmajer, Werner Herzog, Stephen and Timothy Quay, Albert Maysles, Yuri Norstein, Kazimierz Karabasz, Raoul Servais, Allan King, and last year - Jerzy Kucia.

Jonas Mekas is one of the leading figures of Independent and Avantgarde cinema. As a filmmaker, critic, editor, distributor, archivist and poet, Mekas has contributed heavily to the creation of the modern avant-garde and independent Film movements, which he continues to expand today.

Mekas’ own output as a filmmaker ranges from narrative films (Guns of the Trees, 1961 & The Brig, 1963) to "diary films" including Walden (1969); Lost, Lost, Lost, (1975); Reminiscences of a Voyage to Lithuania, (1972); Zefiro torna, (1992) Birth of a Nation (1997) As I was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2001) and A letter from GreenPoint (2005) and documentary diary films including Notes on an American Film Director: Martin Scorsese (2008) and Lithuania And The Collapse Of The USSR (2009)
His work has been screened extensively at festivals and museums around the world such as the Venice Biennale, The Tate Modern, The Serpentine Gallery, The Whitney museum and The Museum of Modern art, NewYork .

In 2006 the Directors Guild of America awarded Anthology Film Archives and Mekas the DGA Honours award, recognizing Mekas’ dedication to preserving the art of cinema. Later that year Mekas was honoured at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's award ceremony for his significant contribution to American film culture.
In its annual selection of 25 films, the United States National Film Preservation Board selected Mekas’ film Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania, for preservation at the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.

The Dragon of Dragons Awards ceremony will be held on 1st June 2010. Also retrospective of films and an exhibition of artistic works of Mekas and his meetings with the audience are planned.

More information on the festival’s website.