Jonas Mekas Film Screening & Conversation
Kimball Theatre Williamsburg, Virginia
Sunday, March 22 afternoon time to be confirmed
This screening brings together three short works by Jonas Mekas that reveal his ability to transform fleeting encounters into poetic time capsules. Shot on 16mm with his signature lightness of touch, the films offer intimate glimpses into the lives of artists, cultural figures, and family woven through with memory, tenderness, and lived history. A panel discussion and audience Q and A will follow the screening.
Film Program
Total running time 94 minutes
Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol 35 minutes
A luminous diary of Andy Warhol’s circle from 1966 to 1982. Mekas captures the Factory, gallery openings, and downtown New York through spontaneous footage of Warhol alongside Lou Reed, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Allen Ginsberg. This is not a documentary so much as a lived presence warm, unfiltered, and immediate.
Happy Birthday to John 24 minutes
Filmed on Lennon’s 32nd birthday, this work blends scenes from a Fluxus exhibition in Syracuse with a private hotel room celebration. Ono, Ringo Starr, Warhol, and Ginsberg gather in a moment that is at once informal and historically resonant.
This Side of Paradise 35 minutes A quiet, elegiac portrait centered on the Kennedy family during summers in Montauk. Shot in the early 1970s at a beach house shared by Jackie Kennedy and Lee Radziwill, the film observes John F. Kennedy Jr., Caroline Kennedy, their mother, and friends in candid moments of play and rest. The result is a meditation on innocence, intimacy, and the fragile beauty of everyday life
Exhibition of Jonas Mekas Still Images and Film Works
Andrews Gallery
William and Mary
421 Jamestown Road
Williamsburg, Virginia 23185
Exhibition Dates
March 6 through April 5
Gallery Hours
Monday through Friday 10 am to 4 pm
Admission
Free and open to the public
Exhibition Description
This exhibition presents a focused selection of still images by Jonas Mekas, drawn from his lifelong practice of filming daily life. Known primarily for his diary films, Mekas also produced photographic images by isolating individual frames from his 16mm footage. These works preserve fleeting moments of intimacy, friendship, and observation, allowing time to pause within the flow of lived experience.
The exhibition brings together framed still images alongside film elements presented on continuous loops, inviting viewers to experience Mekas’s cinema through both stillness and movement. Faces, gestures, and fragments of everyday life emerge as quiet records of presence, memory, and attention. Throughout the month, additional screenings and public programs intersect with the exhibition, situating the presentation within a broader exploration of Mekas’s films and legacy.
For updated program information, screenings, and related events, visit MatneyGallery.com to read more in real time.
Exhibition details and programming are subject to refinement in coordination with William and Mary.