Ken Jacobs
Directing
1933-05-25 · Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, USA
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.
Filmography
Downtown Loft with Skylights
2026 · Movie
A Date with Shirley
2026 · Movie
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 43
2026 · Movie
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 42
2026 · Movie
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 41
2026 · Movie
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 40
2025 · Movie
Book of Eternalisms 39
2025 · Movie
Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse
2025 · Movie
BMT
2025 · Movie
Riverbed
2024 · Movie
Tourists of the Familiar 70
2024 · Movie
Ken Jacobs - from Orchard Street to the Museum of Modern Art
2023 · Movie
Book of Eternalisms 8
2023 · Movie
Book of Eternalisms 7
2023 · Movie
For James Otis
2023 · Movie
Art-House America: Austin Film Society
2023 · Movie
Up the Illusion
2023 · Movie
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
2023 · Movie
Writhing City
2023 · Movie
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight
2023 · Movie
Other Urban Lives
2023 · Movie
Book of Eternalisms 1-6
2023 · Movie
Hobgoblin Ball
2023 · Movie
Tourists of the Familiar 5
2023 · Movie
Tourists of the Familiar 20
2023 · Movie
Whims of Twenty Twenty-Three
2023 · Movie
Tourists of the Familiar 15
2023 · Movie
Tourists of the Familiar 10
2023 · Movie
Spasm
2023 · Movie
Tourists of the Familiar 1
2023 · Movie
Manhattan is an Island
2023 · Movie
Real Action Figures
2022 · Movie
When Timofeev Moves Everything Moves
2022 · Movie
Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages
2022 · Movie
Fragments of Paradise
2022 · Movie
Sergei Eisenstein Embossed
2022 · Movie
Buster Keaton Embossed
2022 · Movie
Eat the Rich: Aligning Perspectives and Other Challenges to Viewers
2022 · Movie
One Dozen Roses
2022 · Movie
America Lets Her Hair Down 1905
2022 · Movie
Eternal Beach
2021 · Movie
Abstract Eternalism
2021 · Movie
Double Wow
2021 · Movie
XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX
2021 · Movie
Hoffman Student
2021 · Movie
Cartoonish 1-10
2021 · Movie
A Small Misunderstanding
2021 · Movie
In Front of Anthology
2021 · Movie
Adventures of Cookie Truck
2021 · Movie
Aspiring To Music
2021 · Movie
Movie That Invites Pausing
2020 · Movie
Storefront
2020 · Movie
Spiky
2020 · Movie
Transparent Apartments
2020 · Movie
Clouds and Trees
2020 · Movie
Municipal Building Passage
2020 · Movie
Bandit
2020 · Movie
Whirlpool
2020 · Movie
Hubble II
2020 · Movie
Spaceworks
2020 · Movie
Water Balloon
2020 · Movie
Halley’s Comet
2020 · Movie
Another Day in Days of Yore
2020 · Movie
Garage Wall
2020 · Movie
Period Piece
2020 · Movie
Street Commerce II
2020 · Movie
Resting Merchant
2020 · Movie
Street Commerce
2020 · Movie
Neon Sign
2020 · Movie
Flowers and Bike
2020 · Movie
Broadway Buildings II
2020 · Movie
Broadway Buildings III
2020 · Movie
Chinese New Years II
2020 · Movie
Chinese New Years
2020 · Movie
Broadway Building
2020 · Movie
Brick Building with Red and Green Windows
2020 · Movie
Fire Escape
2020 · Movie
Duck
2020 · Movie
Natural Collage
2020 · Movie
Working Girls (short)
2020 · Movie
Waiting Room Window
2020 · Movie
Bison
2020 · Movie
Friendly Building
2020 · Movie
Bargains
2020 · Movie
Doyer Street
2020 · Movie
City Foliage
2020 · Movie
Lazy City
2020 · Movie
DeKooning Passed
2020 · Movie
Sleeping American
2020 · Movie
Reading Society
2020 · Movie
Roots of Manhattan
2020 · Movie
Barber
2020 · Movie
Foliage in Moving Car Window
2020 · Movie
Facade with Face
2020 · Movie
RECIPROCAL
2020 · Movie
Red Green
2020 · Movie
Ken and Flo
2020 · Movie
Rain Clouds
2020 · Movie
PAINTED POSTER
2020 · Movie
DR. TOOTHY
2020 · Movie
Rubble
2020 · Movie
CRUSH
2019 · Movie
PAPPY SEES 3D, TOO
2019 · Movie
Failure
2019 · Movie
Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party
2019 · Movie
MOVING ROAD
2019 · Movie
Things to Come
2019 · Movie
Figures I - V
2019 · Movie
THE WHOLE SHEBANG
2019 · Movie
ABSTRACT
2019 · Movie
Chaos Is Order Misunderstood
2019 · Movie
Above the Rain
2019 · Movie
The Sky Socialist: The Environs
2019 · Movie
Joan Mitchell: Departures
2019 · Movie
Once Upon a Planet
2019 · Movie
Details of Pollock's White Light
2019 · Movie
Cartoon
2019 · Movie
Nervous Magic Lantern: 3D for One or Two Naked Eyes
2019 · Movie
Dimsum and Dragons
2019 · Movie
The Moments: Evening Boat Ride
2018 · Movie
Tree Stump
2018 · Movie
Swee’pea’s Favorite Eternalisms
2017 · Movie
Shelley Duvall is Olive Oyl
2017 · Movie
Along the Elevated
2017 · Movie
Get Up and Go
2017 · Movie
A Spin Through Night City
2017 · Movie
Beautiful Dreamer
2017 · Movie
Ulysses in the Subway
2017 · Movie
Windbreaker
2017 · Movie
Capitalism Defeats Life on Earth, Cab in Rain
2017 · Movie
Central Park
2016 · Movie
Snow in Headlights II
2016 · Movie
Reichstag 9/11
2016 · Movie
BMT Canal Street
2016 · Movie
Mosco Street 2
2016 · Movie
Mosco Street 3: Attack of The Perfect Camera (Fuji W3)
2016 · Movie
Molten Landscape
2016 · Movie
Lurking
2016 · Movie
Reminiscences of Jonas Mekas
2016 · Movie
Ken Jacobs / Victoria Keddie @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Ken Jacobs / Tom Chiu of Flux Quartet @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Ken Jacobs / Rick Reed & Tara Bhattacharya @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Ken Jacobs / Robert Poss @The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Ken Jacobs / Ghosts Of The Holy Ghost Spermic Brotherhood @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Ken Jacobs / JG Thirlwell @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Ken Jacobs / diNMachine @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival
2016 · Movie
Hydroelectric Dam
2016 · Movie
I'm Telling You
2016 · Movie
Empty Seats
2015 · Movie
Batchellor’s Dog and Beach
2015 · Movie
Afternoon Tide
2015 · Movie
Zazie Learns About Money
2015 · Movie
Aimless Sightseeing, Seoul
2015 · Movie
Chrysalis
2015 · Movie
Cyclops Observes the Celestial Bodies
2015 · Movie
Granular
2015 · Movie
Floral
2015 · Movie
The Lackadaisical Speed of Light
2015 · Movie
Wire Fence
2014 · Movie
Canopy
2014 · Movie
Pygmalion Cubed
2014 · Movie
Celestial Bodies
2014 · Movie
The Guests
2014 · Movie
Popeye Sees 3-D
2014 · Movie
A Primer in Sky Socialism
2013 · Movie
What Is Cinema?
2013 · Movie
The Eternal Courtship
2013 · Movie
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #2
2013 · Movie
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #3
2013 · Movie
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #1
2013 · Movie
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #4
2013 · Movie
Emma's Dilemma
2012 · Movie
Blankets for Indians
2012 · Movie
Street Vendor
2012 · Movie
20 Little Films
2012 · Movie
60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero
2011 · Movie
Sleepless Nights Stories
2011 · Movie
OCCUPY WALL STREET, THE 99% JOIN IN
2011 · Movie
Seeking the Monkey King
2011 · Movie
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
2011 · Movie
The Pushcarts Leave Eternity Street
2011 · Movie
America at War, The Home Front: Film Opening
2011 · Movie
Revolving Door
2011 · Movie
Turbulent Waters
2011 · Movie
Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin
2011 · Movie
The Roses
2011 · Movie
The Green Wave
2011 · Movie
Another Occupation
2011 · Movie
Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman
2011 · Movie
DAY AND NIGHT
2011 · Movie
A Loft
2010 · Movie
Santos Dumont: Pré-Cineasta?
2010 · Movie
Sensoriums at Sea: Dr. Toothy's New Entranceway
2010 · Movie
Sensoriums at Sea: Toothy Two
2010 · Movie
The Near-Collision
2010 · Movie
Fair And White: Parts I, II, III and Extra
2010 · Movie
Lavender
2010 · Movie
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days
2009 · Movie
Excerpt From THE SKY SOCIALIST Stratified
2009 · Movie
Walkway
2009 · Movie
Brook
2009 · Movie
Brain Operations
2009 · Movie
Bob Fleischner Dying
2009 · Movie
"Slow is Beauty"-Rodin
2009 · Movie
Berkeley To San Francisco
2009 · Movie
What Happened on 23rd Street in 1901
2009 · Movie
Hot Dogs At The Met
2009 · Movie
Ronald Gonzales, Sculptor
2009 · Movie
Gravity Is Tops
2009 · Movie
The Signing
2009 · Movie
The Day Was a Scorcher
2009 · Movie
Return to the Scene of the Crime
2008 · Movie
The Discovery
2008 · Movie
Amorous Interludes: His Favorite Wife Improved (or The Virtue Of Bad Reception)
2008 · Movie
Elbow Dance
2008 · Movie
Alone at Last
2008 · Movie
The Scenic Route
2008 · Movie
Love Story
2008 · Movie
Anaglyph Tom (Tom with Puffy Cheeks)
2008 · Movie
Momma's Man
2008 · Movie
365 Day Project
2007 · Movie
We Are Charming
2007 · Movie
Nymph
2007 · Movie
Gift of Fire: Nineteen (Obscure) Frames That Changed The World
2007 · Movie
Hanky Panky January 1902
2007 · Movie
Titles
2007 · Movie
Popeye Sees 3-D, TOO
2007 · Movie
Mosco Street Rapture
2007 · Movie
Capitalism: Slavery
2007 · Movie
Razzle Dazzle: The Lost World
2007 · Movie
Nervous Lantern at Kill Your Timid Notion Festival
2007 · Movie
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
2007 · Movie
New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903
2007 · Movie
Capitalism: Child Labor
2007 · Movie
Monks of Cinema
2006 · Movie
Pushcarts of Eternity Street
2006 · Movie
Two Wrenching Departures
2006 · Movie
The Surging Sea of Humanity
2006 · Movie
Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise
2005 · Movie
Insistent Clamor
2005 · Movie
Le Prince: Leeds Bridge 1888
2005 · Movie
Ontic Antics Starring Laurel and Hardy: Bye Molly
2005 · Movie
Let There Be Whistle Blowers
2005 · Movie
Krypton Is Doomed
2005 · Movie
Spiral Nebula
2005 · Movie
Mountaineer Spinning
2004 · Movie
Star Spangled to Death
2004 · Movie
Nervous Ken
2003 · Movie
Keeping an Eye on Stan
2003 · Movie
The Whirled
2003 · Movie
Shorts From the Underground
2002 · Movie
Circling Zero: Part One, We See Absence
2002 · Movie
A Tom Tom Chaser
2002 · Movie
The Sky Socialist: Flight
2002 · Movie
Flo and Ken Jacobs
2001 · Movie
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
2000 · Movie
New York Street Trolleys 1900
1999 · Movie
Flo Rounds a Corner
1999 · Movie
Birth of a Nation
1997 · Movie
Disorient Express
1996 · Movie
The Georgetown Loop
1996 · Movie
Looting For Rodney
1995 · Movie
Make Light On Film
1995 · Movie
Bitemporal Vision: The Sea
1994 · Movie
Jonas in the Desert
1994 · Movie
Quartet Number One
1991 · Movie
Opening the Nineteenth Century: 1896
1991 · Movie
Keaton's Cops
1991 · Movie
Chronometer
1990 · Movie
The Alps and The Jews
1986 · Movie
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
1986 · Movie
Perfect Film
1985 · Movie
Home Movies 1971-81
1985 · Movie
The Doctor's Dream
1977 · Movie
Book of Splendors, Part Two, Book of Levers: Action at a Distance
1977 · Movie
Lost, Lost, Lost
1976 · Movie
Spaghetti Aza
1976 · Movie
Urban Peasants
1975 · Movie
Jerry Takes A Back Seat, Then Passes Out Of The Picture
1975 · Movie
Horizons
1973 · Movie
Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”
1973 · Movie
Changing Azazel
1973 · Movie
Binghamton, My India
1970 · Movie
Nissan Ariana Window
1969 · Movie
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
1969 · Movie
Globe
1969 · Movie
Huge Pupils
1968 · Movie
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
1968 · Movie
Soft Rain
1968 · Movie
For Life, Against the War
1967 · Movie
Bill's Hat
1967 · Movie
Airshaft
1967 · Movie
The Sky Socialist
1966 · Movie
Lisa and Joey in Connecticut
1965 · Movie
Naomi Is A Dream of Loveliness
1965 · Movie
1st Window
1964 · Movie
Window
1964 · Movie
We Stole Away
1964 · Movie
The Winter Footage
1964 · Movie
Winter Sky
1964 · Movie
Artie and Marty Rosenblatt’s Baby Pictures
1964 · Movie
Little Stabs at Happiness
1963 · Movie
TV Plug
1963 · Movie
Blonde Cobra
1963 · Movie
Scotch Tape
1963 · Movie
Baud'larian Capers
1962 · Movie
The Death of P'town
1961 · Movie
Little Cobra Dance
1956 · Movie
Saturday Afternoon Blood Sacrifice
1956 · Movie
Orchard Street
1955 · Movie
Sky Dive
Movie
Depth for One Eye or Two
Movie
Spotted Fever
Movie