Jonas Mekas, the juror

In 1963, Jacques Ledoux invited the celebrated Lithuanian avant-garde film director Jonas Mekas to be one of the jurors at the third edition of EXPRMNTL. Jonas was keen, as he knew the festival was one of the few that genuinely took an interest in experimental films and enabled young filmmakers to launch their careers. What he hadn’t anticipated was that the festival would be marred by allegations of censorship and controversy, which led to the banning of the film Flaming Creatures, directed by American filmmaker Jack Smith. Outraged, Jonas decided to withdraw from the competition jury in solidarity with his fellow countryman. He also organised private screenings of the film in hotel rooms. Despite the controversies surrounding the festival’s organisation, his relationship with Jacques Ledoux remained positive, and the two continued to meet occasionally, particularly when the Cinematek curator travelled to New York. The Lithuanian director recalled his meetings with Ledoux in an interview with Anne Head and acknowledged the importance of EXPRMNTL, especially for the generations of filmmakers of the 1940s and 1950s, when the avant-garde genre was still regarded as a less significant artistic form. Perhaps thanks to this immediate positive impact, Jonas and his colleagues gained widespread recognition in the 1960s and 1970s, not only in Europe but also in the United States. The full interview with Jonas Mekas can be accessed below.