Ken Jacobs
Photoplayd Industry Rating
Not enough rated films yet to compute a weighted score.
Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
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.
Known for
Credits
Blonde Cobra (1963)
Director
20 Little Films (2012)
Director
Up the Illusion (2023)
Director
60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero (2011)
Director
Little Stabs at Happiness (1963)
Director
Star Spangled to Death (2004)
Director
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son (1969)
Director
Urban Peasants (1975)
Director
Seeking the Monkey King (2011)
Director
Other Urban Lives (2023)
Director
Flo Rounds a Corner (1999)
Director
Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman (2011)
Director
DeKooning Passed (2020)
Director
Mosco Street Rapture (2007)
Director
Sensoriums at Sea: Toothy Two (2010)
Director
Blankets for Indians (2012)
Director
Jerry Takes A Back Seat, Then Passes Out Of The Picture (1975)
Director
Perfect Film (1985)
Director
Reichstag 9/11 (2016)
Director
We Are Charming (2007)
Director
Working Girls (short) (2020)
Director
The Near-Collision (2010)
Director
Gift of Fire: Nineteen (Obscure) Frames That Changed The World (2007)
Director
Orchard Street (1955)
Director
The Day Was a Scorcher (2009)
Director
The Green Wave (2011)
Director
Le Prince: Leeds Bridge 1888 (2005)
Director
Brook (2009)
Director
Tree Stump (2018)
Director
Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise (2005)
Director
1st Window (1964)
Director
The Signing (2009)
Director
Keaton's Cops (1991)
Director
The Winter Footage (1964)
Director
Pygmalion Cubed (2014)
Director
Saturday Afternoon Blood Sacrifice (1956)
Director
Clouds and Trees (2020)
Director
Double Wow (2021)
Director
Alone at Last (2008)
Director
Ken Jacobs / JG Thirlwell @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
America Lets Her Hair Down 1905 (2022)
Director
Joan Mitchell: Departures (2019)
Director
Mountaineer Spinning (2004)
Director
Rubble (2020)
Director
Failure (2019)
Director
THE WHOLE SHEBANG (2019)
Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #4 (2013)
Director
Razzle Dazzle: The Lost World (2007)
Director
Empty Seats (2015)
Director
Globe (1969)
Director
Facade with Face (2020)
Director
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days (2009)
Director
Keeping an Eye on Stan (2003)
Director
Anaglyph Tom (Tom with Puffy Cheeks) (2008)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 15 (2023)
Director
A Small Misunderstanding (2021)
Director
The Sky Socialist: The Environs (2019)
Director
Little Cobra Dance (1956)
Director
PAINTED POSTER (2020)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 70 (2024)
Director
Batchellor’s Dog and Beach (2015)
Director
Barber (2020)
Director
CRUSH (2019)
Director
Spiky (2020)
Director
The Death of P'town (1961)
Director
"Slow is Beauty"-Rodin (2009)
Director
Cyclops Observes the Celestial Bodies (2015)
Director
Another Day in Days of Yore (2020)
Director
Changing Azazel (1973)
Director
Return to the Scene of the Crime (2008)
Director
For Life, Against the War (1967)
Director
MOVING ROAD (2019)
Director
Hot Dogs At The Met (2009)
Director
Chinese New Years II (2020)
Director
The Scenic Route (2008)
Director
Things to Come (2019)
Director
Riverbed (2024)
Director
Municipal Building Passage (2020)
Director
XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX (2021)
Director
Sensoriums at Sea: Dr. Toothy's New Entranceway (2010)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Victoria Keddie @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
The Alps and The Jews (1986)
Director
Street Vendor (2012)
Director
Celestial Bodies (2014)
Director
The Discovery (2008)
Director
Waiting Room Window (2020)
Director
Ulysses in the Subway (2017)
Director
Let There Be Whistle Blowers (2005)
Director
The Georgetown Loop (1996)
Director
Two Wrenching Departures (2006)
Director
Binghamton, My India (1970)
Director
BMT (2025)
Director
Whirlpool (2020)
Director
Windbreaker (2017)
Director
The Doctor's Dream (1977)
Director
Turbulent Waters (2011)
Director
Broadway Building (2020)
Director
Shelley Duvall is Olive Oyl (2017)
Director
Once Upon a Planet (2019)
Director
Along the Elevated (2017)
Director
Spaceworks (2020)
Director
Sky Dive (—)
Director
Spiral Nebula (2005)
Director
Storefront (2020)
Director
Titles (2007)
Director
America at War, The Home Front: Film Opening (2011)
Director
Popeye Sees 3-D (2014)
Director
Halley’s Comet (2020)
Director
The Whirled (2003)
Director
When Timofeev Moves Everything Moves (2022)
Director
Sleeping American (2020)
Director
Figures I - V (2019)
Director
Naomi Is A Dream of Loveliness (1965)
Director
Street Commerce II (2020)
Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #1 (2013)
Director
Fair And White: Parts I, II, III and Extra (2010)
Director
The Pushcarts Leave Eternity Street (2011)
Director
Get Up and Go (2017)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Tom Chiu of Flux Quartet @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
Natural Collage (2020)
Director
Transparent Apartments (2020)
Director
Flowers and Bike (2020)
Director
What Happened on 23rd Street in 1901 (2009)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Robert Poss @The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
Chrysalis (2015)
Director
Above the Rain (2019)
Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 43 (2026)
Director
The Sky Socialist (1966)
Director
Bandit (2020)
Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 41 (2026)
Director
Central Park (2016)
Director
Brick Building with Red and Green Windows (2020)
Director
Hubble II (2020)
Director
Another Occupation (2011)
Director
Baud'larian Capers (1962)
Director
New York Street Trolleys 1900 (1999)
Director
Book of Eternalisms 7 (2023)
Director
ABSTRACT (2019)
Director
Opening the Nineteenth Century: 1896 (1991)
Director
Dimsum and Dragons (2019)
Director
Nymph (2007)
Director
The Sky Socialist: Flight (2002)
Director
Nissan Ariana Window (1969)
Director
Pushcarts of Eternity Street (2006)
Director
Capitalism: Slavery (2007)
Director
Spotted Fever (—)
Director
Chronometer (1990)
Director
Reading Society (2020)
Director
Duck (2020)
Director
Ken Jacobs / diNMachine @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
Excerpt From THE SKY SOCIALIST Stratified (2009)
Director
The Moments: Evening Boat Ride (2018)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 5 (2023)
Director
The Lackadaisical Speed of Light (2015)
Director
Capitalism: Child Labor (2007)
Director
Nervous Magic Lantern: 3D for One or Two Naked Eyes (2019)
Director
Broadway Buildings III (2020)
Director
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight (2023)
Director
Foliage in Moving Car Window (2020)
Director
Love Story (2008)
Director
Water Balloon (2020)
Director
Airshaft (1967)
Director
Canopy (2014)
Director
Street Commerce (2020)
Director
Book of Splendors, Part Two, Book of Levers: Action at a Distance (1977)
Director
Eternal Beach (2021)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 1 (2023)
Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 40 (2025)
Director
Sergei Eisenstein Embossed (2022)
Director
Hanky Panky January 1902 (2007)
Director
A Date with Shirley (2026)
Director
Make Light On Film (1995)
Director
Downtown Loft with Skylights (2026)
Director
Elbow Dance (2008)
Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #3 (2013)
Director
Spasm (2023)
Director
Eat the Rich: Aligning Perspectives and Other Challenges to Viewers (2022)
Director
A Primer in Sky Socialism (2013)
Director
Book of Eternalisms 8 (2023)
Director
We Stole Away (1964)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Ghosts Of The Holy Ghost Spermic Brotherhood @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
Krypton Is Doomed (2005)
Director
TV Plug (1963)
Director
OCCUPY WALL STREET, THE 99% JOIN IN (2011)
Director
BOOK OF ETERNALISMS 42 (2026)
Director
Wire Fence (2014)
Director
Afternoon Tide (2015)
Director
BMT Canal Street (2016)
Director
Depth for One Eye or Two (—)
Director
Granular (2015)
Director
Rain Clouds (2020)
Director
Looting For Rodney (1995)
Director
Mosco Street 2 (2016)
Director
Book of Eternalisms 39 (2025)
Director
In Front of Anthology (2021)
Director
Bargains (2020)
Director
Bison (2020)
Director
A Loft (2010)
Director
Mosco Street 3: Attack of The Perfect Camera (Fuji W3) (2016)
Director
Amorous Interludes: His Favorite Wife Improved (or The Virtue Of Bad Reception) (2008)
Director
Ken Jacobs / Rick Reed & Tara Bhattacharya @ The Nervous Magic Lantern Festival (2016)
Director
The Surging Sea of Humanity (2006)
Director
For James Otis (2023)
Director
Hobgoblin Ball (2023)
Director
Capitalism Defeats Life on Earth, Cab in Rain (2017)
Director
Soft Rain (1968)
Director
Disorient Express (1996)
Director
Beautiful Dreamer (2017)
Director
Chinese New Years (2020)
Director
Aspiring To Music (2021)
Director
I'm Telling You (2016)
Director
Ken and Flo (2020)
Director
Window (1964)
Director
RECIPROCAL (2020)
Director
Lazy City (2020)
Director
Aimless Sightseeing, Seoul (2015)
Director
Swee’pea’s Favorite Eternalisms (2017)
Director
Book of Eternalisms 1-6 (2023)
Director
Floral (2015)
Director
Circling Zero: Part One, We See Absence (2002)
Director
Writhing City (2023)
Director
Whims of Twenty Twenty-Three (2023)
Director
Period Piece (2020)
Director
Walkway (2009)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 10 (2023)
Director
DAY AND NIGHT (2011)
Director
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2023)
Director
Bitemporal Vision: The Sea (1994)
Director
Chaos Is Order Misunderstood (2019)
Director
Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus #2 (2013)
Director
The Roses (2011)
Director
Red Green (2020)
Director
Insistent Clamor (2005)
Director
DR. TOOTHY (2020)
Director
Popeye Sees 3-D, TOO (2007)
Director
Gravity Is Tops (2009)
Director
The Guests (2014)
Director
Garage Wall (2020)
Director
A Tom Tom Chaser (2002)
Director
City Foliage (2020)
Director
Abstract Eternalism (2021)
Director
Molten Landscape (2016)
Director
Neon Sign (2020)
Director
Snow in Headlights II (2016)
Director
Cartoon (2019)
Director
One Dozen Roses (2022)
Director
Details of Pollock's White Light (2019)
Director
Winter Sky (1964)
Director
Cartoonish 1-10 (2021)
Director
Broadway Buildings II (2020)
Director
PAPPY SEES 3D, TOO (2019)
Director
Doyer Street (2020)
Director
Adventures of Cookie Truck (2021)
Director
Sebastian and Jonas Leaving the Party (2019)
Director
Lisa and Joey in Connecticut (1965)
Director
Resting Merchant (2020)
Director
New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903 (2007)
Director
Manhattan is an Island (2023)
Director
Movie That Invites Pausing (2020)
Director
Spaghetti Aza (1976)
Director
Buster Keaton Embossed (2022)
Director
Friendly Building (2020)
Director
Berkeley To San Francisco (2009)
Director
Lurking (2016)
Director
Ronald Gonzales, Sculptor (2009)
Director
Ontic Antics Starring Laurel and Hardy: Bye Molly (2005)
Director
Nervous Lantern at Kill Your Timid Notion Festival (2007)
Director
Artie and Marty Rosenblatt’s Baby Pictures (1964)
Director
Fire Escape (2020)
Director
Hoffman Student (2021)
Director
Roots of Manhattan (2020)
Director
A Spin Through Night City (2017)
Director
Bob Fleischner Dying (2009)
Director
Revolving Door (2011)
Director
Hydroelectric Dam (2016)
Director
Zazie Learns About Money (2015)
Director
Brain Operations (2009)
Director
Real Action Figures (2022)
Director
Tourists of the Familiar 20 (2023)
Director