Ben Barenholtz

Ben Barenholtz is an independent film exhibitor, distributor and producer. In the late 1960s, he opened the Elgin Cinema in New York City, which became a prominent arthouse theatre. He relaunched the films of Buster Keaton and D. W. Griffith, as well as a variety of independent films by new American directors. The work of Stan Brakhage, Jack Smith, Maya Deren, Kenneth Anger, Jonas Mekas, Andy Warhol, Jonathan Demme and Martin Scorsese, all played at the theatre. Barenholtz created the concept of the "Midnight Movie". He screened Alexander Jodorowsky's "El Topo", John Waters' "Pink Flamingoes" and Perry Henzell's "The Harder They Come" each for months at a time, seven days a week. In the 1970s, Barenholtz formed the distribution company...