Filmmakers

Ken Jacobs

Birth:
May 25, 1933 (Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

Official Website:
Star Spangled to Death

Major Works:
Disorient Express (1996)
The Georgetown Loop (1996)
Keaton’s Cops (1991)
Perfect Film (1985)
The Doctor’s Dream (1978)
Spaghetti Aza (1976)
Urban Peasants (1975)
Tom, Tom, The Piper’s Son (1969)
Soft Rain (1968)
Airshaft (1967)
Lisa and Joey in Connecticut: “You’ve Come Back!” “You’re Still Here!” (1965)
Thirties Man: Chapter One of the Big Blackout of ’65 (1965)
Naomi Is a Vision of Loveliness (1965)
The Sky Socialist (1965– )
The Winter Footage (1964)
We Stole Away (1964)
Baud’Larian Capers (1963)
Blonde Cobra (1959-63)
Little Stabs at Happiness (1959-63)
The Death of P’Town (1961)
Star Spangled to Death (1957-59) (2003-04)
Saturday Afternoon Blood Sacrifice: TV Plug: Little Cobra Dance (1957)
Orchard Street (1955)

Years Working:
1956 — 1957
1961 — 1965

Notes:
Studied painting with Hans Hofmann, one of the founders of Abstract Expressionism.

Founded the Millennium Film Workshop in 1967, a filmmakers cooperative.

Helped organize the SUNY educational system’s first Department of Cinema while teaching at Binghamton University where he continues to be a Distinguished Professor Emeritus.

1994: Recipient of AFI’s Maya Deren Independent Film and Video Artists Award.

Online Resources:
IMDB: Profile
Logos: Interview
Conversation with History: Interview
Wikipedia: Bio and info

Film Books About Ken Jacobs:

An Introduction to the American Underground Film by Sheldon Renan (E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York, 1967) (Published simultaneously in Canada by Clarke, Irwin and Company, Limited, Toronto and Vancouver) (pp. 147-153.)

Video:
Conversations with History: Ken Jacobs

Underground Film Feedback (5 Notes)

  1. [...] Boyce, Martha Colburn, Bradley Eros, Kevin Everson, Ernie Gehr, Michael Gitlin and Jacqueline Goss, Ken Jacobs, Kent Lambert, Oliver Laric, Jeanne Liotta, Eileen Maxson, Jenny Perlin, Luther Price, Michael [...]

    Posted by Light Industry: A Tribute To Bruce Conner | Bad Lit | September 3, 2009, 2:53 pm
  2. [...] Ken Jacobs Born: 1933, New York, New York (pp. 147-153.) [...]

    Posted by Who Was Underground In ‘67? | Bad Lit | April 17, 2010, 11:14 pm
  3. [...] Ken Jacobs Barbara Kopple Julie [...]

    Posted by Underground Film History: AFI’s Maya Deren Award | Bad Lit | July 27, 2010, 8:06 am
  4. [...] box set includes films by such underground luminaries Bruce Baillie, Stan Brakhage, Shirley Clarke, Ken Jacobs, George Kuchar, Jonas Mekas, Marie Menken, Andy Warhol and many more. In the introductory booklet, [...]

    Posted by Martin Scorsese: Champion Of The Underground | Bad Lit | January 10, 2011, 3:10 pm
  5. [...] Death in the Forenoon, 1955 Canaries, 1968 Film Portrait, 1971Ian Hugo: Bells of Atlantis, 1952Ken Jacobs: Little Stabs at Happiness, 1961 Blonde Cobra, 1962 (with Bob Fleischner) Tom, Tom, The [...]

    Posted by Anthology Film Archives’ Essential Cinema Repertory Collection | Bad Lit | January 12, 2012, 5:58 pm

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