Fragments of Paradise
"Catch some of the beauty, some of the happiness..."
For over 70 years, Jonas Mekas, internationally known as the "godfather" of avant-garde cinema, documented his life in what came to be known as his diary films. From his arrival in New York City as a displaced person in 1949 to his death in 2019, he chronicled the trauma and loss of exile while pioneering institutions to support the growth of independent film in the United States. Fragments of Paradise is an intimate look at his life and work constructed from thousands of hours of his own video and film diaries-including never-before-seen tapes and unpublished audio recordings. It is a story about finding beauty amidst profound loss, and a man who tried to make sense of it all... with a camera.
Where to Watch
Availability: United States
Stream with Subscription
Rent
Buy
Streaming availability data provided by JustWatch.
Top Cast
Jonas Mekas
Self (archive footage)
Amy Taubin
Self
Peter Bogdanovich
Self
John Waters
Self
Martin Scorsese
Self
Flo Jacobs
Self
Ken Jacobs
Self
M.M. Serra
Self
Jim Jarmusch
Self
Penny Arcade
Self
Lee Ranaldo
Self
Phuong Bui
Self
Edita Mekaitė-Rubinienė
Self
Ina Mekaitė-Guogienė
Self
Greg Smulewicz Zucker
Self
Lolita Jablonskienė
Self
Vytautas V. Landsbergis
Self
Hollis Melton
Self
Oona Mekas
Self
Sebastian Mekas
Self
Crew
More Like This
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
2000 · ★ 7.8
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
1972 · ★ 7.0
McQueen
2018 · ★ 7.4
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
2018 · ★ 7.1
The U.S. vs. John Lennon
2006 · ★ 6.6
Directed by John Ford
1971 · ★ 7.0
Love, Marilyn
2013 · ★ 6.5
Naqoyqatsi
2002 · ★ 6.2
Drew: The Man Behind the Poster
2013 · ★ 7.0
The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button
2009 · ★ 7.0
Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski
2018 · ★ 7.5
Seduced and Abandoned
2013 · ★ 6.2
Maria by Callas
2017 · ★ 7.4
Sidney
2022 · ★ 6.9
I Am Heath Ledger
2017 · ★ 7.4
To Kill a Tiger
2023 · ★ 7.6
My Mom Jayne
2025 · ★ 8.0
A Decade Under the Influence
2003 · ★ 7.9
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
2019 · ★ 6.5
Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me
2023 · ★ 6.1
More Featuring Jonas Mekas
The Velvet Underground
2021 · ★ 6.8
Cinématon
1978 · ★ 4.9
Film: The Living Record of Our Memory
2022 · ★ 7.8
Birth of a Nation
1997 · ★ 7.0
Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
2023 · ★ 6.8
River of Fundament
2014 · ★ 6.0
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol
1990 · ★ 7.0
Imagine
1972 · ★ 7.1
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
2011 · ★ 6.8
Notes on an American Film Director at Work
2008 · ★ 5.5
3.11 A Sense of Home Films
2011 · ★ 6.5
Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships and Intersections
1990 · ★ 6.6
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
1968 · ★ 7.3
What Is Cinema?
2013 · ★ 6.4
Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film
2019 · ★ 6.8