Shown in two parts: chapters 1–6 at 6:30, chapters 7–12 at 9:15. The entire program is repeated on September 17.

My film diaries 1970–1979: my marriage, children are born, you see them growing up....Seasons of the year as they pass through New York. Friends, home life, nature, unending search for moments of beauty and celebration of life....Nothing extraordinary, nothing special, things that we all experience as we go through our lives....The film is also my love poem to New York.-Jonas Mekas

Hailed by many European and American critics as a masterpiece, As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty is a rare and beautiful work made by one of the greatest practitioners of autobiographical cinema, Jonas Mekas. What we see in this nearly five–hour–long epic is a wonderfully poetic expression of the sweet moments of life-little daily events, personal celebrations and joys, a child's first steps, sunlight dancing through a sheer curtain in the afternoon, cats at play, a Manhattan snowstorm. By faithfully making a film about "nothing extraordinary," Mekas creates a profound work about the essence of life.