Jonas Mekas
Born December 24, 1922 (Age: 103)
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Semeniškiai, Lithuania
Biography
Jonas Mekas (12-24-1922 - 1-23-2019) was born in the farming village of Semeniškiai, Lithuania. In 1944, he and his brother Adolfas were taken by the Nazis to a forced labor camp in Elmshorn, Germany. After the War he studied philosophy at the University of Mainz. At the end of 1949 the UN Refugee Organization brought both brothers to New York City, where they settled down in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Two months after his arrival in New York he borrowed money to buy his first Bolex camera and began to record brief moments of his life. He soon got deeply involved in the American Avant-Garde film movement. In 1954, together with his brother, he started Film Culture magazine, which soon became the most important film publication in the US. In 1958 he began his legendary Movie Journal column in the Village Voice. In 1962 he founded the Film-Makers' Cooperative, and in 1964 the Film-Makers' Cinematheque, which eventually grew into Anthology Film Archives, one of the world's largest and most important repositories of avant-garde cinema, and a screening venue. During all this time he continued writing poetry and making films. To this date he has published more than 20 books of prose and poetry, which have been translated into over a dozen languages. His Lithuanian poetry is now part of Lithuanian classic literature and his films can be found in leading museums around the world. He is largely credited for developing the diaristic forms of cinema. Mekas has also been active as an academic, teaching at the New School for Social Research, the International Center for Photography, Cooper Union, New York University, and MIT. Mekas' film The Brig was awarded the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1963. Other films include Walden (1969), Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1972), Lost Lost Lost (1975), Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol (1990), Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (1992), As I was Moving Ahead I saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000), Letter from Greenpoint (2005), Sleepless Nights Stories (2011) and Out-takes from the Life of a Happy Man. In 2007, he completed a series of 365 short films released on the internet -- one film every day -- and since then has continued to share new work on his website. Since 2000, Mekas has expanded his work into the area of film installations, exhibiting at the Serpentine Gallery, the Centre Pompidou, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Moderna Museet (Stockholm), PS1 Contemporary Art Center MoMA, Documenta of Kassel, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Venice Biennale.
Jonas Mekas (12-24-1922 - 1-23-2019) was born in the farming village of Semeniškiai, Lithuania. In 1944, he and his brother Adolfas were taken by the Nazis to a forced labor camp in Elmshorn, Germany. After the War he studied philosophy at the University of Mainz. At the end of 1949 the UN Refugee Organization brought both brothers to New York City, where they settled down in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Two months after his arrival in New York he borrowed money to buy his first Bolex camera and began to record brief moments of his life. He soon got deeply involved in the American Avant-Garde film movement. In 1954, together with his brother, he started Film Culture magazine, which soon became the most important film publication in the US. In 1958 he began his legendary Movie Journal column in the Village Voice. In 1962 he founded the Film-Makers' Cooperative, and in 1964 the Film-Makers' Cinematheque, which eventually grew into Anthology Film Archives, one of the world's largest and most important repositories of avant-garde cinema, and a screening venue.
During all this time he continued writing poetry and making films. To this date he has published more than 20 books of prose and poetry, which have been translated into over a dozen languages. His Lithuanian poetry is now part of Lithuanian classic literature and his films can be found in leading museums around the world. He is largely credited for developing the diaristic forms of cinema. Mekas has also been active as an academic, teaching at the New School for Social Research, the International Center for Photography, Cooper Union, New York University, and MIT.
Mekas' film The Brig was awarded the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1963. Other films include Walden (1969), Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1972), Lost Lost Lost (1975), Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol (1990), Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (1992), As I was Moving Ahead I saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000), Letter from Greenpoint (2005), Sleepless Nights Stories (2011) and Out-takes from the Life of a Happy Man. In 2007, he completed a series of 365 short films released on the internet -- one film every day -- and since then has continued to share new work on his website.
Since 2000, Mekas has expanded his work into the area of film installations, exhibiting at the Serpentine Gallery, the Centre Pompidou, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Moderna Museet (Stockholm), PS1 Contemporary Art Center MoMA, Documenta of Kassel, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Venice Biennale.
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Filmography
Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
2023
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as Self (archive footage)
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Age: 100
Back from New York
2021
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as Himself
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Age: 98
Cinema and Sanctuary
2019
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as Self
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Age: 96
On the Holy Spirit
2016
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as
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Age: 93
Últimas correspondencias
2016
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as Self
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Age: 93
Behind the Artist: Andy Warhol, an American Prophet
2015
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as
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Age: 92
A Report from Venice
2015
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as
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Age: 92
All About Bolex
2015
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as
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Age: 92
River of Fundament
2014
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as Wake Guest
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Age: 91
My Mars Bar Movie
2011
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as himself
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Age: 88
Re: Maciunas and Fluxus
2011
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as
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Age: 88
No Image
Portrait Serie - Jonas Mekas
2010
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as himself
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Age: 87
New York Conversations
2010
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as
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Age: 87
Lavender
2010
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as Self
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Age: 87
Visionaries
2010
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as Himself
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Age: 87
Jonas Mekas in Kodachrome Days
2009
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as Himself
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Age: 87
The Signing
2009
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as
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Age: 86
No Image
The Perfect Team: The Making of 'On the Bowery'
2009
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as Self
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Age: 86
365 Day Project
2007
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as Self
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Age: 85
Sunday December 30, 2007
2007
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as Self
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Age: 85
Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007
2007
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as Self
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Age: 84
The Song of Central Park
2006
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as Himself (voice)
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Age: 83
Who Gets to Call It Art?
2006
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as Self
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Age: 83
No Image
Nam June Paik: Lessons from the Video Master
2006
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as Self
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Age: 83
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
2006
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as
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Age: 83
The Definition of Insanity
2005
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as
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Age: 82
Vies et morts d'Andy Warhol
2005
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as
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Age: 82
Excavating Taylor Mead
2005
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as Self
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Age: 82
No Image
A Letter from Greenpoint
2004
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as Mekas
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Age: 81
Jonas Keeps Shooting Around
2002
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as Himself
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Age: 79
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
2002
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as Himself
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Age: 79
Notes in Lifestyle Margins
2002
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as
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Age: 79
As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
2000
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as Narrator (voice)
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Age: 77
No Image
Requiem for a Manual Typewriter
2000
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as Himself
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Age: 77
Jonas Mekas in Paris 10/97
1998
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as
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Age: 75
Song of Avignon
1998
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as Self
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Age: 75
No Image
My Country is Cinema
1998
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as Self
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Age: 75
Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit
1997
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as Self
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Age: 74
A Poet from the Lower East Side
1997
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as Self
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Age: 74
Jonas Mekas, Friday 13th October
1996
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as Himself
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Age: 74
Michael Snow Up Close
1996
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as Himself
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Age: 73
Cinema Is Not 100 Years Old
1996
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as Himself
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Age: 73
Jonas Mekas in Budapest
1993
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as Himself
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Age: 70
No Image
Zefiro Torna or Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (Fluxus)
1992
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as
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Age: 70
Award
1992
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as Himself
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Age: 69
No Image
Just Visiting This Planet
1991
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as
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Age: 68
Quartet Number One
1991
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as
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Age: 68
No Image
Interview and Reading: Jonas Mekas
1991
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as Himself
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Age: 68
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol
1990
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as Self
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Age: 67
Step Across the Border
1990
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as Butterfly Wing
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Age: 67
Belladonna
1989
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as
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Age: 66
Warhol's Cinema 1963-1968: Mirror for the Sixties
1989
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as Self
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Age: 66
Home Movies 1971-81
1985
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as
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Age: 62
Strong Medicine
1981
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as
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Age: 58
The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man
1981
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as
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Age: 58
No Image
No. 18: Mahagonny
1980
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as Self
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Age: 57
Self-Portrait
1980
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as Himself
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Age: 57
J. Mekas
1980
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as Self
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Age: 57
Cinématon
1978
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as N°1590
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Age: 55
Four Shadows
1978
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as
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Age: 55
Notes for Jerome
1978
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as Self
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Age: 55
‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen
1974
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as
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Age: 51
Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”
1973
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as
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Age: 50
Imagine
1972
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as Self
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Age: 49
Going Home
1972
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as Himself
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Age: 49
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
1972
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as Self
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Age: 49
No Image
Ricky Leacock Visit, April 15, 1971
1971
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as Self
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Age: 48
Journey to Lithuania
1971
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as Himself
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Age: 48
Occhio privato sul nuovo mondo
1970
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as
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Age: 47
Filmmakers
1969
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as Himself
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Age: 46
A Matter of Baobab
1968
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as
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Age: 45
Underground New York
1968
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as Self
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Age: 45
Andy Warhol Screen Tests
1965
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as Self
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Age: 42
No Image
Dirt
1965
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as
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Age: 42
Jonas in the Brig
1965
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as Himself
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Age: 42
Empire
1965
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as Self (uncredited)
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Age: 42
No Image
Award Presentation to Andy Warhol
1964
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as Self
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Age: 41
No Image
Diane the Zebra Woman
1962
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as
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Age: 39
No Image
The Sin of Jesus
1961
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as
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Age: 38