Ben Barenholtz (October 5, 1935 – June 27, 2019) was a Polish-born American film exhibitor, distributor and producer, who was a presence in the independent film scene since the late 1960s, when he opened
The Elgin Cinema in New York City in 1968.
He is known for his innovations distributing and screening films; having discovered first time directors such as
The Coen Brothers
Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...
,
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...
,
John Sayles
John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor, and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, for ''Passion Fish'' (1992) and ''L ...
and
Guy Maddin
Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film in ...
, and the first American presentations of
Cousin Cousine, and
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu ...
's ''
The Killer''.
Barenholtz appeared in the documentary ''The Hicks of Hollywood'',
had a bit role in ''
Liquid Sky
''Liquid Sky'' is a 1982 American independent science fiction film directed by Slava Tsukerman and starring Anne Carlisle and Paula E. Sheppard. It debuted at the Montreal Film festival in August 1982 and was well received at several film festiv ...
'', 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
Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...
.
In 2016, he received the Berlinale Camera award from the Berlinale Film Festival to honor his contributions to the independent film scene.
Barenholtz directed his first fiction film, ''Alina'', starring
Darya Ekamasova
Darya Nikolaevna Ekamasova (russian: Дарья Николаевна Екамасова; born 20 May 1984) is a Russian theater and film actress. Her film credits include ''Once Upon a Time There Lived a Simple Woman'' (2011), '' Free Floating' ...
, which was released in the fall of 2017. At the time of his death he was developing the sequel to Alina as well as working on an autobiographical film, ''Aaron''.
He died on June 27, 2019 in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
,
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
at the age of 83.
Early years
Ben Barenholtz was born Berl Barenholtz on October 5, 1935 in
Kupiczów,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
to Aaron and Paula Barenholtz, the youngest in a family of four. He has one older brother, Rubin. Being Jewish, the Barenholtz family spent the war years living in the forest in hiding from
Ukrainians collaborating with the Germans. They survived thanks to the help of Władysław Kotowski's family from the Gruszówka village, who sheltered them in the barn during the Ukrainian roundup.
In 1947, Ben and his mother immigrated to the United States. After four years of schooling, Ben decided it was not for him, and began working. In 1957, Barenholtz joined the army, serving in Germany in 1958. He came back to New York in 1959, and landed his first job in film as the assistant manager of the
RKO
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...
Bushwick
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Par ...
in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
.
The Village Theater
From 1966–68, Barenhotlz managed and lived in the Village Theater, which ultimately became
the Fillmore East. At the Village Theater, Barenholtz provided a home for the counterculture, with appearances by
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...
,
Stokley Carmichael,
Rap Brown
Jamil Abdullah al-Amin (born Hubert Gerold Brown; October 4, 1943), formerly known as H. Rap Brown, is a civil rights activist, black separatist, and convicted murderer who was the fifth chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committe ...
,
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
, and
Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner (April 9, 1932 – July 21, 2019) was an American author, journalist, and comedian. He was the founder, editor, and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine ''The Realist'', first published in 1958. Krassner became a key ...
. Some of the first meetings of the
anti-Vietnam War movement
Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War (before) or anti-Vietnam War movement (present) began with demonstrations in 1965 against the escalating role of the United States in the Vietnam War and grew into a broad social move ...
, including Poets Against Vietnam, were held at the Village Theater. It was also a major music venue, with performances by
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
,
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...
,
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...
,
Ornette Coleman
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Colle ...
,
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, ...
, and many others. It also provided a space for
Yiddish Vaudeville and
Chinese opera
Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...
s.
In 1968, the theater was bought by
Bill Graham, who turned it into the
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the (at the time) Lower East Side neighborhood, now called the East Village neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan of New York City. ...
, and Barenholtz went on to acquire the Elgin.
The Elgin
In 1968, Barenholtz opened the
Elgin Cinema. Approaching
The Film-Makers' Cooperative
The Film-Makers' Cooperative a.k.a. legal name The New American Cinema Group, Inc. is an artist-run, non-profit organization incorporated in July 1961 in New York City by Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, Stan Brakhage, Lionel Rogosin, Gregory Markopoul ...
, Barenholtz suggested the Elgin would be a good place for experimental films, and was given
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
's ''
Chelsea Girls
''Chelsea Girls'' is a 1966 American experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films (both feature-length and short). It w ...
'' and $48 to get the theater started. The following month, Barenholtz decided to book the theater himself.
The Elgin became the world's most innovative specialty and revival house, re-launching the films of
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
and
D. W. Griffith, running a variety of independent films by young American directors, and screening cult, underground, and experimental films for the emerging counter cultural audience.
The films of
Stan Brakhage
James Stanley Brakhage ( ; January 14, 1933 – March 9, 2003) was an American filmmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th-century experimental film.
Over the course of five decades, Brakhage created a large ...
,
Jack Smith,
Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, February 3, 1927) is an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and author. Working exclusively in short films, he has produced almost 40 works since 1937, nine of which have been grouped ...
, and
Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas (; December 24, 1922 – January 23, 2019) was a Lithuanian-American filmmaker, poet, and artist who has been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema". Mekas' work has been exhibited in museums and at festivals worldwi ...
, as well as early works by
Jonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker. Beginning his career under B-movie producer Roger Corman, Demme made his directorial debut with the 1974 women-in-prison film ''Caged Heat'', before ...
and
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
, all played at the Elgin. The First International Cat Film Festival, and an early
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
tribute (pre-"
Sleeper") were also held at the Elgin.
Barenholtz developed new ways of screening movies. He began screening dance and opera films on Saturday and Sunday morning, and created the "
All Night Show" movies starting at midnight and ending at dawn. Most notably, Barnenholtz originated the "
Midnight Movie
The term midnight movie is rooted in the practice that emerged in the 1950s of local television stations around the United States airing low-budget genre films as late-night programming, often with a host delivering ironic asides. As a cinematic ...
" in 1970 with
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (; born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French avant-garde filmmaker.
Best known for his 1970s films '' El Topo'' and '' The Holy Mountain'', Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his wor ...
's ''
El Topo
''El Topo'' (, "The Mole") is a 1970 Mexican acid Western art film written, scored, directed by and starring Alejandro Jodorowsky. Characterized by its bizarre characters and occurrences, use of maimed and dwarf performers, and heavy doses of Ju ...
'', which ran for six months, seven days a week, to sold-out audiences.
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
eventually bought the film.
John Waters
John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his Cinema of Transgression, transgressive cult films, including ''Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), ''Pink Flamin ...
' ''
Pink Flamingos
''Pink Flamingos'' is a 1972 American film directed, written, produced, narrated, filmed, and edited by John Waters. It is part of what Waters has labelled the "Trash Trilogy", which also includes ''Female Trouble'' (1974) and ''Desperate Livin ...
'' followed ''El Topo'' at midnight, then
Perry Henzell
Perry Henzell (7 March 1936 – 30 November 2006) was a Jamaican director. He directed the first Jamaican feature film, ''The Harder They Come'' (1972), co-written by Trevor D. Rhone and starring Jimmy Cliff.
Life and career
Henzell, who ...
's ''
The Harder They Come
''The Harder They Come'' is a 1972 Jamaican crime film directed by Perry Henzell and co-written by Trevor D. Rhone, and starring Jimmy Cliff. The film is most famous for its reggae soundtrack that is said to have "brought reggae to the world".
...
''.
Distribution
Barenholtz's first foray into distribution began with ''
King of Hearts
The king of hearts is a playing card in the standard 52-card deck.
King of Hearts may also refer to:
Games
* The King of Hearts Has Five Sons, card game that may have been a precursor to Cluedo
Books
* King of Hearts (''Alice's Adventures ...
'' by
Philippe de Broca
Philippe de Broca (; 15 March 1933 – 26 November 2004) was a French movie director.
He directed 30 full-length feature films, including the highly successful ''That Man from Rio, That Man from Rio (''L'Homme de Rio'')'', ''Le Magnifique, The M ...
. Still in exhibition, he bought the state rights for New York, and began exclusively playing the movie at the Elgin, and another theater near Lincoln Center.
His next film, and his first full film in distribution, was ''
Les Enfants Terribles'' by
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...
and
Jean-Pierre Melville
Jean-Pierre Melville (; born Jean-Pierre Grumbach; 20 October 1917 – 2 August 1973) was a French filmmaker and actor. Among his films are ''Le Silence de la mer'' (1949), ''Bob le flambeur'' (1956), '' Le Doulos'' (1962), ''Le Samouraï'' (196 ...
, an old film that had been re-released. While acquiring the film, he created his own distribution company, Libra Films, which was later bought by the Almi Group, which he stayed with until forming Circle Releasing in 1984.
Libra Films
In 1972 Barenhotz formed the specialty distributor Libra Films. The first film that Libra Films distributed was a revival of
Jean-Pierre Melville
Jean-Pierre Melville (; born Jean-Pierre Grumbach; 20 October 1917 – 2 August 1973) was a French filmmaker and actor. Among his films are ''Le Silence de la mer'' (1949), ''Bob le flambeur'' (1956), '' Le Doulos'' (1962), ''Le Samouraï'' (196 ...
's ''
Les Enfants Terrible'', followed by
Claude Chabrol
Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues an ...
's ''
Just Before Nightfall
''Just Before Nightfall'' (french: Juste avant la nuit) is a 1971 crime drama film written and directed by Claude Chabrol, based on the 1951 novel ''The Thin Line'' by Edward Atiyah. Audran won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role f ...
'', and
Jean-Charles Tacchella
Jean-Charles Tacchella (born 23 September 1925) is a French screenwriter and film director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his film '' Cousin Cousine'' (1975), which was also nominated for the Academy Awar ...
's ''
Cousin, Cousine
''Cousin Cousine'' is a 1975 French romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Charles Tacchella and starring Marie-Christine Barrault, Victor Lanoux, and Marie-France Pisier. Written by Tacchella and Danièle Thompson, the film is about two cousins by ...
'', which became one of the highest-grossing foreign films in the United States and was nominated for three
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
. Around this time, Barenholtz left the Elgin.
While at Libra, Barenholtz also launched and distributed, among others,
George Romero's ''
Martin Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austral ...
'';
John Sayles
John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor, and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, for ''Passion Fish'' (1992) and ''L ...
' first feature, ''
Return of the Secaucus Seven'';
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...
's first feature, ''
Eraserhead
''Eraserhead'' is a 1977 American surrealist film, surrealist horror film written, directed, produced, and edited by David Lynch. Lynch also created its Eraserhead (soundtrack), score and sound design, which included pieces by a variety of oth ...
'';
Karen Arthur
Karen Arthur (born August 24, 1941) is an American film director, producer, and actress.
Arthur has directed three feature films, including '' Lady Beware'' (1987) and '' The Mafu Cage'' (1978), but the majority of her work has been in televisi ...
's first feature, ''
Legacy
In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property.
Legacy or legacies may refer ...
''; Earl Mack's first feature, ''Children of Theater Street''; and
Péter Gothár
Péter Gothár (born 28 August 1947) is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. He has directed 23 films since 1974. His film ''The Outpost (1995 film), The Outpost'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1995 Cannes Film Fest ...
's ''
Time Stands Still'', which won the
New York Film Critic's Award for Best Foreign Film.
Barenholtz sold Libra Films to the Almi Group in 1982, but stayed with the company, becoming President of Libra-Cinema 5 Films. After a year and a half, he left Almi, and formed Circle Films, in partnership with Jim and Ted Pedas, which continued distributing films, including the
Coen Brothers
Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...
' first film ''
Blood Simple
''Blood Simple'' is a 1984 American independent neo-noir crime film written, edited, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and starring John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, and M. Emmet Walsh. Its plot follows a Texas bartender who ...
'', among others.
Films in distribution
Production
Barenholtz's involvement in film production began with
Wynn Chamberlain
Elwyn Moody "Wynn" Chamberlain, (19 May 1927 – 27 November 2014), was an American artist , film maker and author. Described by ''The New York Times'' as a "pioneer realist painter", Chamberlain has two works, ''Interior: Late August'' (1955) a ...
's ''Brand X'' starring
Abbie Hoffman
Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and was a member of the Chicago Seven. He was also a leading proponen ...
in 1974, before he left The Elgin. A few years later in 1978 he produced
George Romero's ''
Martin Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austral ...
''. The bulk of Barenholtz's production began in ‘1984, when he formed Circle Releasing with Ted and Jim Pedas.
Circle Films
In 1984, after leaving Almi Barenholtz joined with Ted and Jim Pedas to form Circle Releasing. Among the films released by Circle were
Yoshimitsu Morita
was a Japanese film director who was born in Tokyo. Career
Self-taught, first making shorts on 8 mm film during the 1970s, he made his feature film debut with ''No Yōna Mono'' (''Something Like It'', 1981).Mark Schillin"Director Yoshimitsu Mo ...
's ''
The Family Game
is a 1983 Japanese movie directed by Yoshimitsu Morita. ''The Family Game'' received several awards including the best movie of the year as selected by Japanese critics. Although the movie missed the Japan Academy Prize for the Best Picture (lo ...
'',
Guy Maddin
Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film in ...
's first feature, ''
Tales from the Gimli Hospital
''Tales from the Gimli Hospital'' is a 1988 film directed by Guy Maddin. His feature film debut, it was his second film after the short '' The Dead Father''. ''Tales from the Gimli Hospital'' was shot in black and white on 16 mm film and star ...
'',
Vincent Ward's ''
The Navigator'',
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu ...
's ''
The Killer'',
Catherine Breillat
Catherine Breillat (; born 13 July 1948) is a French filmmaker, novelist and professor of auteur cinema at the European Graduate School. In the film business for over 40 years, Catherine Breillat chooses to normalize previously taboo subjects in ...
's ''
36 Fillette'', DeWitt Sage's first feature, ''
Pavarotti in China'',
Alain Cavalier
Alain Cavalier (; born 14 September 1931) is a French film director.
Biography
Cavalier was born in Vendôme, Loir-et-Cher and studied film at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques. He won several awards, including the César Awar ...
's ''
Thérèse'', and ''
Blood Simple
''Blood Simple'' is a 1984 American independent neo-noir crime film written, edited, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and starring John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, and M. Emmet Walsh. Its plot follows a Texas bartender who ...
'', the first film by
Joel Joel or Yoel is a name meaning "Yahweh Is God" and may refer to:
* Joel (given name), origin of the name including a list of people with the first name.
* Joel (surname), a surname
* Joel (footballer, born 1904), Joel de Oliveira Monteiro, Brazili ...
and
Ethan Coen
Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...
.
With ''
Blood Simple
''Blood Simple'' is a 1984 American independent neo-noir crime film written, edited, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and starring John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, and M. Emmet Walsh. Its plot follows a Texas bartender who ...
'', Barenholtz and the Pedas brothers formed a relationship with the
Coens, and began producing their next films, ''
Miller's Crossing
''Miller's Crossing'' is a 1990 American neo-noir gangster film written, directed and produced by the Coen brothers and starring Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Jon Polito, J. E. Freeman, and Albert Finney. The plot concerns a ...
'', ''
Barton Fink
''Barton Fink'' is a 1991 American historical drama, period black comedy psychological thriller film written, produced, edited and directed by the Coen brothers. Set in 1941, it stars John Turturro in the title role as a young New York City play ...
'', and ''
Raising Arizona
''Raising Arizona'' is a 1987 American crime comedy film directed by Joel Coen, produced by Ethan Coen, and written by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Nicolas Cage as H.I. "Hi" McDunnough, an ex-convict, and Holly Hunter as Edwina "Ed" McDunnough, ...
''. ''Barton Fink'' won the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
at the 1991
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
, as well as awards for Best Director and Best Actor. This was the first and last time the three top honors have all gone to the same film at Cannes.
Barenholtz Production Inc.
Created in 1983, the company began producing films after Barenholtz left Circle Releasing, including
George Romero's ''
Bruiser'',
J Todd Anderson's ''The Naked Man'', and
Adek Drabiński
Adek Drabiński (born 16 October 1948) is a Polish film director and screenwriter. He has been nominated for two Golden Lions and has received Gdynia Film Festival Award for Best New Director, as well as Andrzej Munk Film Award.
Drabiński ...
's ''Cheat'', which was
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character roles—typically lowlifes, eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical produ ...
's first appearance in film. He executive produced
Gregory Hines' directorial debut, ''Bleeding Hearts'', and
Ulu Grosbard
Israel "Ulu" Grosbard (9 January 1929 – 19 March 2012) was a Belgian-born, naturalized American theatre and film director and film producer.
Life and career
Born in Antwerp, Grosbard was the son of Rose (Tenenbaum) and Morris Grosbard, who wor ...
's ''
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
'', which earned an
Academy Award nomination for
Mare Winningham
A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four y ...
. He served as co-executive producer of
Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His films are noted for their surrealistic, melodramatic, and sometimes disturbing elements, often in the form of psychological fiction.
Aronof ...
's ''
Requiem for a Dream
''Requiem for a Dream'' is a 2000 American psychological drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher McDonald and Marlon Wayans. It is based on the 1978 novel of the same name ...
'', which earned
Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complicated women in dramas, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Em ...
an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in 2000.
Films as a producer
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barenholtz, Ben
1935 births
2019 deaths
American film producers
20th-century American Jews
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
21st-century American Jews