Diaries Notes and Sketches: Lost, Lost, Lost

NOTE: Includes reel #1 and reel #2 only. 60 minutes total. Since 1950 I have been keeping a film diary. I have been walking around with my Bolex and reacting to the immediate reality: situations, friends, New York, seasons of the year. On some days I shot ten frames, on others ten seconds, on still others ten minutes. Or I shoot nothing. When one writes diaries, it’s a retrospective process: you sit down, you look back at your day, and you write it all down. To keep a film (camera) diary, is to react (with your camera) immediately, now, this instant: either you get it now, or you don’t get it at all… All footage that you’ll see in the “Diaries” is exactly as it came out from the camera: there was no way of achieving it in the editing rooms without destroying its form and content. (Jonas Mekas) This film covers the early years of Mekas’ life in the USA.