--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Yes, I got my first Bolex camera a few…" description: "\"Yes, I got my first Bolex camera a few weeks after being dropped in New York by the United Nations Refugee Organization. That was on October 29th, 1949..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f5/jonas-mekas-12648_brother_yes-i-got-my-first-bolex-camera-a-few-we_1601691.png" --- # Yes, I got my first Bolex camera a few weeks after being… ![“Yes, I got my first Bolex camera a few weeks after being dropped in New York by the United Nations Refugee Organization. That was on October 29th, 1949. With my brother Adolfas, we wanted to make a film about displaced persons, how one feels being uprooted from one's home.” quote by Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f5/jonas-mekas-12648_brother_yes-i-got-my-first-bolex-camera-a-few-we_1601691.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f5/jonas-mekas-12648_brother_yes-i-got-my-first-bolex-camera-a-few-we_1601691.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f5/jonas-mekas-12648_brother_yes-i-got-my-first-bolex-camera-a-few-we_1601691.png) > “Yes, I got my first Bolex camera a few weeks after being dropped in New York by the United Nations Refugee Organization. That was on October 29th, 1949. With my brother Adolfas, we wanted to make a film about displaced persons, how one feels being uprooted from one's home.” [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Mekas recounts acquiring his first Bolex camera after being displaced, aiming to document refugee experiences through film. **In simple terms:** He got a camera to capture the lives of displaced people. Key Takeaway Use art to give voice to marginalized stories. Themes displacement film refugee creativity history Mood hopeful determined Type activist creative When to use this quote - refugee camps - film workshops - archival projects - community screenings Key Concepts documentary visual storytelling memory human rights Questions to Reflect On - How can you support displaced artists? - What stories need to be told now? A Different Perspective Resources and platforms for refugee storytelling may be limited. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Brother](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brother/) [Cameras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cameras/) [Film](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/film/) [Home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/home/) [Nations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nations/) [New york](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-york/) [October](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/october/) [Organization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organization/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Refugee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/refugee/) [United nations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/united-nations/) [Week](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/week/) ## Related quotes > ['Deracine' is French for uprooting, or someone who's been displaced from their natural environment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hidetaka-miyazaki/deracine-is-french-for-uprooting-or-someone-who-s-been-displaced-from/) [Hidetaka Miyazaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hidetaka-miyazaki/) > [“I was born walking, born in the nowhere between galaxies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-lillith-assadi/i-was-born-walking-born-in-the-nowhere-between-galaxies/) [Hannah Lillith Assadi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-lillith-assadi/) > [Men can get jobs from one country to another, they can get in. But the people who always fell through the cracks were women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iman-abdulmajid/men-can-get-jobs-from-one-country-to-another-they-can-get-in-but-the/) [Iman Abdulmajid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iman-abdulmajid/) > [Movies are our cheap and easy expression, the sullen art of displaced persons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-kael/movies-are-our-cheap-and-easy-expression-the-sullen-art-of-displaced/) [Pauline Kael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-kael/) > [“According to the United Nations annual report released Friday, most of the forcibly displaced worldwide are homeless in their own countries and are known…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/according-to-the-united-nations-annual-report-released-friday-most-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We must think of millions of people who have had to cross national borders and seek protection as refugees; of millions of people suffering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-joseph-benziger/we-must-think-of-millions-of-people-who-have-had-to-cross-national/) [T Joseph Benziger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-joseph-benziger/) > [We entered a synagogue which was packed with the greatest stinking bunch of humanity I have ever seen. Either these Displaced Persons never had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-s-patton/we-entered-a-synagogue-which-was-packed-with-the-greatest-stinking/) [George S. Patton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-s-patton/) > [I have witnessed firsthand the anguish of this humanitarian tragedy - in Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, and other conflict and post-conflict zones. The destruction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/queen-noor-of-jordan/i-have-witnessed-firsthand-the-anguish-of-this-humanitarian-tragedy/) [Queen Noor of Jordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/queen-noor-of-jordan/) > [If human rights are an attribute of being human, then we must consider the fact that tens of millions of displaced people around the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/if-human-rights-are-an-attribute-of-being-human-then-we-must-consider/) [Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/) > [Towards the end of touring 'The North Borders' I had a lot of personal stuff going on - family members who had died -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonobo/towards-the-end-of-touring-the-north-borders-i-had-a-lot-of-personal/) [Bonobo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonobo/) > [I am so proud to be from New Orleans and to be one of those people who had been displaced. I wasn't there during…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyler-perry/i-am-so-proud-to-be-from-new-orleans-and-to-be-one-of-those-people/) [Tyler Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyler-perry/) > [Do you ever want to go home?' I asked Paul. He brushed an ash from my face. 'It's the century of the displaced person,'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/do-you-ever-want-to-go-home-i-asked-paul-he-brushed-an-ash-from-my/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [I speak the truth on what happened to me because it's happening to a lot of people that grow up in displaced and disadvantaged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-shamrock/i-speak-the-truth-on-what-happened-to-me-because-it-s-happening-to-a/) [Frank Shamrock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-shamrock/) > [As a piece of literacy criticism, Freud's best writing is about Dostoyevsky. It's a kind of displaced literacy criticism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/as-a-piece-of-literacy-criticism-freud-s-best-writing-is-about/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [“I've always tried to make a home for myself, but I have not felt at home in myself. I've worked hard at being the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/i-ve-always-tried-to-make-a-home-for-myself-but-i-have-not-felt-at/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) ## More by Jonas Mekas > [I live, therefore I make films. I make film, therefore I live. Life. Movement. I make home movies, therefore I live. I live, therefore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/i-live-therefore-i-make-films-i-make-film-therefore-i-live-life/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [I'm not so much in the future as always in the present. The future always takes care of itself. What I do now with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/i-m-not-so-much-in-the-future-as-always-in-the-present-the-future/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [“pasidaryt mažesniam reikia daug laiko.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/pasidaryt-ma-esniam-reikia-daug-laiko/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [To me, cinema is cinema. Cinema is one big tree with many branches. The same as literature. In literature, you don't just say, 'Oh,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/to-me-cinema-is-cinema-cinema-is-one-big-tree-with-many-branches-the/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [The nature of the video camera really makes you focus on the present. Since I have always been a diarist filmmaker, not one who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/the-nature-of-the-video-camera-really-makes-you-focus-on-the-present/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [In narrative cinema, a certain terminology has already been established: 'film noir,' 'Western,' even 'Spaghetti Western.' When we say 'film noir' we know what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/in-narrative-cinema-a-certain-terminology-has-already-been/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [An adventurer can always return home; an exile cannot. So I decided that my home would be culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/an-adventurer-can-always-return-home-an-exile-cannot-so-i-decided/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [Just as in writing, there are novelistic and sort of pedestrian ways of telling a story, to write a postcard with your little pocket…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/just-as-in-writing-there-are-novelistic-and-sort-of-pedestrian-ways/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [I myself saw the great works of Western civilization for the first time in my high school in Lithuania in bad black-and-white reproductions on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/i-myself-saw-the-great-works-of-western-civilization-for-the-first/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [Once you change the technology - from a film camera to a video camera, or from an 8-mm camera to 16 mm - you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/once-you-change-the-technology-from-a-film-camera-to-a-video-camera/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [I'm working in a form of cinema that can be described, and has been described, as a diaristic form of cinema. In other words,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/i-m-working-in-a-form-of-cinema-that-can-be-described-and-has-been/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [I'm a filmmaker, but my working procedures are different. All my basic structuring is done during the filming. You know, how long I keep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/i-m-a-filmmaker-but-my-working-procedures-are-different-all-my-basic/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [When I came to New York in 1949, there was already an entire fresh avant-garde film movement blooming in New York and California. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/when-i-came-to-new-york-in-1949-there-was-already-an-entire-fresh/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [I make home movies-therefore I live. I live-therefore I make home movies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/i-make-home-movies-therefore-i-live-i-live-therefore-i-make-home/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [“The hygienic slickness of our contemporary films, be they from Hollywood, Paris, or Sweden, is a contagious sickness that seems to be catching through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/the-hygienic-slickness-of-our-contemporary-films-be-they-from/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) [Explore all 46 Jonas Mekas quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) ## More Brother quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. 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He wants you to like him and admire him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/faith-hunter/yeah-you-treat-him-like-a-son-or-a-soldier-instead-of-like-a-brother/) [Faith Hunter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/faith-hunter/) > [“Your relationship with your brother will be, in many ways, the most complex and bewildering of all the interpersonal connections you will form. An…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-currie-jr/your-relationship-with-your-brother-will-be-in-many-ways-the-most/) [Ron Currie Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-currie-jr/) > [If I had my brothers I think with just a little bit of the correct marketing, I'd like to be almost exclusively in small…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-bozzio/if-i-had-my-brothers-i-think-with-just-a-little-bit-of-the-correct/) [Terry Bozzio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-bozzio/) > [There's no publicist, no advertisements, and no one's pushing us. If people are buying our records, it's because big brothers and sisters or friends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-moody/there-s-no-publicist-no-advertisements-and-no-one-s-pushing-us-if/) Spencer Moody > [The only way to make sure that the Hand didn't get to you would have been to kill your brother. I could've done it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilona-andrews/the-only-way-to-make-sure-that-the-hand-didn-t-get-to-you-would-have/) [Ilona Andrews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilona-andrews/) > [“Your favorite son and brother, Shade. Like”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-aveyard/your-favorite-son-and-brother-shade-like/) [Victoria Aveyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-aveyard/) > [Sister + brother = a lovely family](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/sister-brother-a-lovely-family/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There ain't no such thing as black Muslims. 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