Amos Vogel, who made a sophisticated mark on the American film scene by co-creating Cinema 16 and the New York Film Festival, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 91.
Vogel emphasized experimental and independent fare in his programming for Cinema 16, an influential forum he launched with his wife, Marcia, in 1947.
During Cinema 16’s 17-year run, Vogel zoomed in on the work of directors like Roman Polanski, John Cassavetes, Kenneth Anger and Francois Truffaut. Audiences for the cinema club’s screenings topped 1,000 during its height.
In 1963, he brought the same curator's sensibility to his next big project, the New York Film Festival, which he co-founded with Richard Roud. He worked as the fest’s program director until 1968.
Five years later, he started the Annenberg Cinematheque at the University of Pennsylvania and taught for two decades at the Annenberg School for Communication.
The Vienna native, who fled with his family to the U.S. in 1938, was also the author of “Film as a Subversive Art” and a children’s book, “How Little Lori Visited Times Square,” illustrated by Maurice Sendak.
