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Champion of subversive cinema: Amos Vogel R.I.P.
04.29.2012
01:08 am
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John Lennon and Amos Vogel.
 
Amos Vogel, one of cinema’s greatest friends and supporters, has died at the age of 91. Founder of Cinema 16 and director of the first New York Film Festival, Vogel championed and helped introduce the works of film makers like Roman Polanski, John Cassavetes, Luis Buñuel, Robert Bresson, Richard Lester, Yoko Ono, Maya Deren and Stan Brakhage to American audiences and the world at large. Vogel authored Film As Subversive Art (1974), a hugely influential book in which Vogel celebrates the…

[...] accelerating worldwide trend toward a more liberated cinema, in which subjects and forms hitherto considered unthinkable or forbidden are boldly explored.”

Vogel deeply felt that cinema could and was changing consciousness by altering our perception and challenging our values.

The most interesting films are precisely those that show things that have never been seen before or show things in a completely new way. This is something that upsets many people or prevents them from appreciating what is being shown to them. I, on the other hand, prefer to be upset, and one of my main criteria, in fact, in looking at films and in writing about them is the unpredictability of what I am seeing.”

Martin Scorsese on Vogel:

If you’re looking for the origins of film culture in America, look no further than Amos Vogel. Amos opened the doors to every possibility in film viewing, film exhibition, film curating and film appreciation. He was also unfailingly generous, encouraging and supportive of so many young filmmakers, including me when I was just starting to make my first pictures. No doubt about it — the man was a giant.”

Paul Cronin’s 2004 documentary Film as a Subversive Art: Amos Vogel and Cinema 16 is a wonderful introduction to a celluloid hero.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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04.29.2012
01:08 am
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