SPECIAL SCREENING  /  Jonas Mekas' film Ar buvo karas? Was There a War?

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29,  6.30 PM
Film duration 2hr 28 min., documentary, 2002. Film is in lithuanian language

Sla307 is pleased to present Jonas Mekas' New York premiere “Ar buvo karas? (“Was There a War?)
Mekas' legendary Bolex camera captures the intertwined fate of Lithuanian emigrants who fled from the Soviet violence after World War II. The documentary follows the lives subsequently following the subjects displacement from Lithuania to German displaced persons camps and finally to the United States and Canada. The filmmaker recorded their lives capturing the spectrum of daily routines to holiday celebrations during 1950-1955.  Many of the subjects found themselves in New York and Boston Philadelphia and became prominent politicians and actors in culture and art. Anxiety looms throughout the duration of the film; the uncertainty and instability of carving out a space in American society is conveyed by both the subjects as well as Jonas Mekas. Even more signifiant is the display of human experience after the fall of the three pillars of Western civilization: religion, culture and philosophy.  An individual is forced to face himself/herself in an attempt to find real, authentic life. 

Jonas Mekas (born December 24,1922) is a Lithuanian American filmmaker, poet and artist who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals worldwide.  For more information about Jonas Mekas please click here