Ben Barenholtz

Director Ben Barenholtz has been a key presence in the independent film scene - as an exhibitor, distributor, and producer. In 1968 he opened the Elgin Cinema. The theater became the world's most innovative specialty and revival house, relaunching the films of Buster Keaton among others and screening cult, underground, and experimental films for the emerging counter-cultural audience. Barenholtz also developed new ways of screening movies. Most notably, he originated the Midnight Movie concept in 1970 with Jodorowsky's El Topo. and followed by John Waters' Pink Flamingos and Perry Henzell's The Harder They Come. Barenholtz formed Libra Films in 1972. The first film Libra distributed was a revival of Jean-Pierre Melville's Les Enfants Terrible, followed by Tacchella's Cousin, Cousine, which became one of the largest grossing foreign films in the US and was nominated for 3 Academy Awards. Libra also launched and distributed, among others, George Romero's Martin, John Sayles' first feature Return of the Secaucus Seven, and David Lynch's first feature Eraserhead. In 1984 he joined with Ted and Jim Pedas to form Circle Releasing. Among the films released by Circle were Yoshimitsu Morita's The Family Game, Guy Maddin's first feature Tales From the Gimli Hospital, Vincent Ward's The Navigator, John Woo's The Killer, Catherine Breillat's 36 Fillette, Alain Cavalier's Therese, and Blood Simple, the first film by Joel and Ethan Coen. He continued working with the Coens on the production of Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing and Barton Fink, which won the Palme d'Or at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, 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 went on to produce George Romero's Bruiser, J Todd Anderson's The Naked Man, executive-produced the only film Gregory Hines ever directed, Bleeding Hearts, and Ulu Grossbard's Georgia. He served as co-executive producer of Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream. Barenholtz directed his first feature, Music Inn, a documentary about the famed fifties jazz venue. His second documentary, Wakaliwood, was shot entirely in the slums of Kampala, Uganda. In 2016, he received the Berlinale Camera award from the Berlinale Film Festival to honor his contributions to the independent film scene. He has directed his first fiction film, Alina, starring Darya Ekamasova, which will release in Fall 2017. He is developing an autobiographical film, Aaron, and the sequel to Alina. But his real claim to fame is a five second appearance in George Romero's original Dawn of the Dead.