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Ken Jacobs
Kenneth Martin Jacobs (May 25, 1933 – October 5, 2025) was an American experimental filmmaker. His style often involved the use of found footage which he edited and manipulated. He also directed films using his own footage.
Ken Jacobs was born in Brooklyn on May 25, 1933. He directed Blonde Cobra in 1963. This short film stars Jack Smith who directed his own Flaming Creatures the same year. In 1969 he directed Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son (1969, USA), in which he took the original 1905 short film and manipulated the footage to recontextualize it. This is considered an important first example of deconstruction in film. The film was admitted to the National Film Registry in 2007. His Star Spangled to Death (2004, USA) is a nearly seven-hour film consisting largely of found footage. Jacobs began compiling the archival footage in 1957 and the film took 47 years to complete.
Jacobs taught at the Cinema Department at Harpur College at Binghamton University from 1969 to 2002. His son Azazel Jacobs is also a filmmaker.
In the 1990s, Jacobs began working with John Zorn and experimented with a stroboscopic effect, digital video, and 3D effects. Jacobs died from kidney failure in Manhattan, New York, on October 5, 2025, at the age of 92. His wife and frequent collaborator, Flo, died in June of the same year.
He was a recipient of the 1994 American Film Institute's Maya Deren Award. In 2012 he received a Creative Capital Moving Image grant award. In 2014 he was named a United States Artists (USA) Fellow.
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Ken Jacobs
Kenneth Martin Jacobs (May 25, 1933 – October 5, 2025) was an American experimental filmmaker. His style often involved the use of found footage which he edited and manipulated. He also directed films using his own footage.
Ken Jacobs was born in Brooklyn on May 25, 1933. He directed Blonde Cobra in 1963. This short film stars Jack Smith who directed his own Flaming Creatures the same year. In 1969 he directed Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son (1969, USA), in which he took the original 1905 short film and manipulated the footage to recontextualize it. This is considered an important first example of deconstruction in film. The film was admitted to the National Film Registry in 2007. His Star Spangled to Death (2004, USA) is a nearly seven-hour film consisting largely of found footage. Jacobs began compiling the archival footage in 1957 and the film took 47 years to complete.
Jacobs taught at the Cinema Department at Harpur College at Binghamton University from 1969 to 2002. His son Azazel Jacobs is also a filmmaker.
In the 1990s, Jacobs began working with John Zorn and experimented with a stroboscopic effect, digital video, and 3D effects. Jacobs died from kidney failure in Manhattan, New York, on October 5, 2025, at the age of 92. His wife and frequent collaborator, Flo, died in June of the same year.
He was a recipient of the 1994 American Film Institute's Maya Deren Award. In 2012 he received a Creative Capital Moving Image grant award. In 2014 he was named a United States Artists (USA) Fellow.