Jonas at the Ocean

Following on from Jonas in the Desert (2002), Peter Sempel's second study of the legendary image impresario, film-maker and enabler Jonas Mekas finds the main man arriving in late '40s New York City and ready to rock the cinematic boat with his pioneering work in shooting and exhibition. Images, interviews (Wenders, Frank, Ginsberg, Glass), readings and, most notably, generous excerpts from JM's own atmospheric archive paint a picture of a period spilling over with possibilities, personal, political and creative. I Had Nowhere to Go might be the title of his autobiography, but it's clear that for the immigrant Lithuanian Mekas, home became the moving image itself.