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.

Personal Details

• Born: 1933-05-25 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, USA
• Known For: Directing

Ken Jacobs Movies List

Looking for Ken Jacobs movies? Here are some of their most popular films and where they rank in their career:

• As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)
• Blonde Cobra (1963)
• Diaries, Notes, and Sketches (1968)
• What Is Cinema? (2013)
• Lost, Lost, Lost (1976)
• Scotch Tape (1962)
• Momma's Man (2008)
• Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film (2011)
• Cinematic Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J.L. Guerin (2011)
• Star Spangled to Death (2004)

Explore the complete Ken Jacobs movies list and find where to stream them on Watchlist Wizard.