"The period I am dealing with in these six reels was a period of desperation, of attempts to grow roots into the new ground, to create new memories. In these six painful reels I tried to indicate what it feels to be in exile, how I felt in those years. These reels carry the title Lost Lost Lost, the title of a film myself and my brother wanted to make in 1949, and it indicates the mood we were in, in those years. It describes the mood of a Displaced Person who hasn’t yet forgotten the native country but hasn’t gained a new one. The sixth reel is a transitional reel where we begin to see some relaxation, where I begin to find moments of happiness. New life begins." (Jonas Mekas)

Jonas Mekas (1922-2019) was born in Lithuania and, with his brother Adolfas, was held captive in a forced labor camp during World War II. He immigrated to New York in the late 1940s. There he became an emblematic figure of the American experimental cinema and the avant-garde scene, making mainly diary films but also founding magazines, collectives and experimental film archives. He was the first director of the famous organization for experimental cinema Anthology Film Archives. Until the end of his life he wrote poetry and published books on cinema, made diaristic cinema with film but also with the new digital media.