Ben Barenholtz

Benjamin Barenholtz more commonly known as Ben Barenholtz is one of the Major Contributors in Independent Film scene. As an exhibitor, distributor & producer he has been a Key Figure in Indie cinema. Born on 5th October 1935 in Kovel, Eastern Poland (Now a part of Ukraine.), & lived in Kupichev. He was the youngest in the family of four. Facing the atrocities of war, losing his father to a raid, the family moved to New York Click to look into! >> Read More... in 1947. Ben was interested in cinema from his early years. He only had four years of formal schooling most of which was spent by him in movie theaters. He secured his first job as an assistant manager of RKO Bushwick Theater, Brooklyn in 1959.

After that, during 1966-68 he lived in and managed the East Village Theater. East Village turned out to be a prominent venue for music, with The Who, Leonard Cohen, John Coltrane, Cornet Coleman, Nina Simone, and many others performing there. It also gave a stage to Chinese Operas and Yiddish Vaudeville. Then in 1968, he opened “The Elign Cinema” with the intention of providing the place for experimental cinema. It turned Elign into a place for new & special ideas & acted as a revival house for many films. He relaunched many films and ran works of many young American directors, encouraging independent & experimental cinema.

The early works by Jonathan Demme and Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese is one of the most celebra >> Read More... , were also shown at The Elgin. It was the venue of early Woody Allen Heywood Allen, also known as Heywood “Woody” Allen >> Read More... tribute. Also the first International Cat Film Festival took place there. Barenholtz also devised innovative movie screening methods. He began screening dance and opera films on weekend mornings. He created the "All Night Show"- the shows starting on the middle of the night & ending on the break of morning. Most notably, Barnenholtz with Alexander Jodorowsky's El Topo originated the "Midnight Movie" in 1970, which ran every day for six months completely sold out. Later John Lennon acquired the film. Midnight-Movie was followed by John Waters' Pink Flamingo and then Perry Henzell's The Harder they come. He then turned from exhibitor to distributor & formed “Libra Films” which distributed specialty films in 1972.

Here also he continued his works of encouraging small, experimental & counterculture films. He distributed revivals & first features of multiple directors. The most noted film distributed by Libra would be Cousin, Cousine, by Jean-Charles Tacchella which made it's way into the list of the top-grossing foreign films in the US and got nominated for three Academy Awards. He launched and distributed, George Romero's Martin; Return of the Secaucus Seven; John Sayles' first feature, Eraserhead; John Sayles' first feature, and many others. He Sold “Libra” to Almi Group in 1982 & along with Ted and Jim Pedas formed “Circle Releasing” in 1984.

The films released by Circle included, Yoshimitsu Morita's The Family Game, Tales From the Gimli Hospital, Vincent Ward's The Navigator, DeWitt Sage's First feature, Catherine Breillat's 36 Fillette, Pavorotti In China, Guy Maddin's debut feature, Alain Cavalier's Therese,and Blood Simple, the debut film of Joel and Ethan Coen Ethan Coen is an American Film Director, Writer, F >> Read More... . After that, he turned to being Producer. His started entering into the line of production with George Romero's Martin and Wynn Chamberlain's Brand X. While he was at Elgin he continued to work on production of Raising Arizona with the Coens, as executive producer of Miller's Crossing and on Barton Fink, which received the awards for Best Director and Best Actor and Palme d'Or at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, Making it the only time the three top awards going to the same film at Cannes.

Barenholtz then produced J Todd Anderson's The Naked Man, Adek Drabinski's Cheat, which saw Philip Seymour Hoffman This man is one of the best actor and known for hi >> Read More... giving his first appearance in a film and George Romero's Bruiser. He was the executive producer in Ulu Grossbard's Georgia and Gregory Hine's directorial debut Bleeding Hearts, both earning Academy Award nomination for Mare Winningham. He was co-executive producer of Requiem for a Dream by Darren Aronofsky Film Director, Screenwriter, Film producer and Env >> Read More... , Which got Ellen Burstyn Ellen Burstyn is an actress in America and was bor >> Read More... the Academy Award Nomination for Best Actress in 2000. His on-screen appearances include a documentary The Hicks in Hollywood, a small role in Liquid Sky. His most notable appearance is portrayal of a zombie in Dawn of the Dead, a classic by Romero.

He was the prime feature in a 2005 documentary Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream by Stuart Samuel. He made his directorial debut with Music Inn, a documentary feature about the famous Jazz venue of the same name in 2005, he then went on to direct Wakaliiwood: The Documentary. It was wholly shot in Kampala, Uganda and released in 2013. Currently, he is working on Alina, with Darya Ekamasova in lead role. It is written & directed by Ben. Also in development is an autobiographical film, Aaron and the sequel of Alina. In 2016, Ben received Berlinale Camera award at the Berlinale Film Festival for his contributions to the indie film scene.