MEKAS, Jonas
Transcript 04 44' 14" – Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR Jonas Mekas

Full transcript of Mekas's Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR: a five-hour-long film made up of footage from US television newscasts covering the independence of Lithuania and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
On March 11, 1990, Lithuania became the first of the three Baltic states to declare independence, initiating the collapse of the Soviet Union. Lithuanian director and artist Jonas Mekas used his video camera to film the newscasts and TV footage aired in the US from 1989 to 1991, recording how America experienced the fall of its rival.
This book, Transcript 04 44' 14" Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR, contains a full transcript of the five-hour-long film, showing the key events and figures and the opinions being voiced in those crucial days. Mekas described his work as a Greek tragedy in which the destinies of nations are changed by unimaginable developments. The will of one man, of one small country determined to regain its freedom, backed by the gods in its fight against power: this was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. [publisher's note]

Published by Humboldt Books, 2020
Film & Video / Monographs