Ben Barenholtz is a film exhibitor, distributor and producer who has been a key presence in the independent film scene since the late 1960?s, when he opened The Elgin Cinema in New York City in 1968. He is known for his innovations distributing and screening films and for discovering first time directors such as The Coen Brothers, David Lynch, John Sayles and Guy Maddin, and for the first American presentation of Cousin Cousine, and John Woo?s The Killer. Barenholtz appeared in the documentary The Hicks of Hollywood, had a bit role in Liquid Sky, and appeared as a zombie in Romero's classic Dawn of the Dead. He was the subject in Stuart Samuels' 2005 documentary Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream. In 2005 Barenholtz directed his first feature, Music Inn, a documentary about the famed Jazz venue, and was the producer of Jamie Greenberg's feature film Stags. In 2012, he produced Suzuya Bobo's first feature, Family Games. In 2012 he directed and produced Wakaliwood: The Documentary, shot in the slums of Kampala, Uganda. Barenholtz is currently working on the first film of an autobiographical trilogy about his early years. [More at Wikipedia]

October 5th, 1935 in   /  Died:   Jun 27th, 2019