I went to see The Brig, the play, the night it closed. The Becks were told to shut down and get out. The performance, by this time, was so precisely acted that it moved with the inevitability of life itself. As I watched it I thought: Suppose this was a real brig; suppose I was a newsreel reporter; suppose I got permission from the U.S. Marine Corps to go into one of their brigs and film the goings-on: What a document one could bring to the eyes of humanity!

This box brings together the key works of Jonas Mekas, one of the most prolific avant-garde film artists and an acclaimed poet. Born in Lithuania in 1922, chased west by Soviet and Nazi forces, Mekas and his brother spent four years in German displaced persons' camps before arriving in New York in 1949 where they started shooting 16mm films on exile, military domination and poetic freedom. Jonas developed his diary style of filmmaking while busying himself as a film critic, programmer, organizer and distributor.

The story of my hair can be told in two lines. My hair was long and black. It has turned white. It hasn't been cut since 1982, almost thirty years ago. Story of my Hair is a journey, both in space and in time. Anyone looking for truths, whether geographical, scientific or historical, will be disappointed. After looking at real events and real places the film very soon distances itself from them, preferring poetry and fiction. In his own fashion the auteur has combined the story of Samson and Delilah, the journey of those condemned to the death camps, the science of hair and a few thoughts about the meaning and fragility of life.