Lionel Rogosin
Encyclopedia
Lionel Rogosin was a maverick independent American filmmaker who helped pioneer a form of non-fiction filmmaking influenced by the traditions of Robert Flaherty and Italian neorealism
.
of the United States
, he was the only son of Israel Rogosin, one of the most eminent businessman-philanthropists in the textile industry
. Lionel Rogosin attended Yale University
and obtained a degree in chemical engineering
in order to join his father's business. He served in the United States Navy
during World War Two
. Upon his return, he spent his free time traveling in war-ridden Eastern
and Western Europe
and Israel
, as well as a trip to Africa
in 1948. He then worked in his father's company until 1954, while teaching himself film with a 16mm Bolex
camera. Deeply concerned with political issues including racism
and fascism, which to him were interconnected, Rogosin participated in a United Nations
film called Out, a documentary-style film about the plight of Hungarian
refugee
s.
, imperialism
, and racism. Apartheid was his first target, but in order to make a film against it, he decided to learn by filming the Bowery
, New York's skid row
, an effort influenced by the documentaries of Robert J. Flaherty
. Thus he made On the Bowery
in 1955-1956 in the tradition of neo-realism
. The film was the first American film to receive the Grand Prize for Documentary at the Venice Film Festival
in 1956. It also received a British Academy Film Award
in 1956, and was nominated for an Academy Award.
On the Bowery received high critical acclaim and made a great impression in Eastern Europe and England. The newly formed Free Cinema in London, founded by Lindsay Anderson, Lorenza Mazzetti, Karel Reisz, and Tony Richardson, invited Rogosin for their second program as they considered that he shared the same preoccupations and goals as they did for a new independent cinema.
Armed with this successful experience, Rogosin was able to begin his fight against Apartheid. With a small crew, and under the pretense of making a commercial film on African music
, he clandestinely documented the life of a black South African migrant worker
in Johannesburg
. Completed in 1958 with non-professional actors and a young African singer named Miriam Makeba
, Come Back, Africa
created a sensation at the Venice Film Festival, winning the Critics' Film Award. Recognizing Makeba's talent, Rogosin arranged for her to leave South Africa by bribing officials, and in effect launched her international career. Makeba was under contract to Rogosin, who arranged her first appearance on American television on the Steve Allen show. Rogosin supported Makeba financially, paying for her trip and living expenses when she left South Africa and travelled throughout Europe and the United States.
s in America, Rogosin founded and opened the Bleecker Street Cinema in New York City
in 1960. The Bleecker became one of the most important independent art houses in New York, along with the New Yorker Cinema, and a form of cinema university for emerging film makers such as Miloš Forman
, Francis Ford Coppola
, and many critics and film lovers. In the same period he was a founding and active member of the New American Cinema movement along with Jonas
and Adolfas Mekas
, Shirley Clarke
, Robert Downey, Sr. and many others, whose films were shown at the Bleecker Street Cinema.
Between 1960 and 1965, Rogosin traveled the world to gather material for his anti-nuclear war film Good Times, Wonderful Times, which was presented as the British entry at the Venice Film Festival in 1965. It was also shown at many American universities during the Vietnam War
. Aware of the problems of distribution and production, Rogosin founded Impact Films in 1965 as a solution and distributed many political and independent films which couldn't have been distributed otherwise through the company. In 1965, Rogosin organized, along with others including Bertrand Russell
(a fan of Good Times, Wonderful Times), the British Artists' Protest in August 1965 and the European Artists' Protest in December 1965 against the Vietnam War.
In 1966 he tried his hand at comedy by filming two zany, short, low-budget films called How Do You Like Them Bananas and Oysters are in Season while running the Bleecker Street Cinema and Impact Films.
. Two of them, Black Roots and Black Fantasy, dealt with economic and social hardships faced by blacks in America. He went on to make Wood-cutters of the Deep South, about a black and white cooperative
, and finally Arab-Israeli Dialogue, an attempt to give a voice and meeting ground to both parties through a discussion between a Palestinian
poet and an Israeli journalist.
Rogosin sold the Bleecker Street Theater in 1974 and brought Impact Films to an end in 1978. Though he continued to develop many film projects on subjects such as Navajo Indians
, police brutality
, Paul Gauguin
, and a musical about street children
in Brazil
, he was never able to raise enough money to film them. Despite critical success in Europe and among other American independent filmmakers, he was by and large neither recognized nor supported in the USA. He moved to England in the 1980s where he turned to writing. His health deteriorating, he went back to Los Angeles in the late 1990s.
He died in Los Angeles in December 2000. He is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, CA.
Italian neorealism
Italian neorealism is a style of film characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors...
.
Early life
Born and raised on the East CoastEast Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, he was the only son of Israel Rogosin, one of the most eminent businessman-philanthropists in the textile industry
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
. Lionel Rogosin attended Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and obtained a degree in chemical engineering
Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...
in order to join his father's business. He served in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during World War Two
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Upon his return, he spent his free time traveling in war-ridden Eastern
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, as well as a trip to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
in 1948. He then worked in his father's company until 1954, while teaching himself film with a 16mm Bolex
Bolex
Bolex is a Swiss company that manufactures motion picture cameras and lenses, the most notable products of which are in the 16 mm and Super 16 mm formats. The Bolex company was initially founded by Jacques Bogopolsky in 1927. Bolex is derived from his name. He had previously designed cameras for...
camera. Deeply concerned with political issues including racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and fascism, which to him were interconnected, Rogosin participated in a United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
film called Out, a documentary-style film about the plight of Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s.
Career Change
Drastically changing his destiny and giving up a promising career, he decided to dedicate his life to promoting peace and confronting issues such as nuclear warNuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
, imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
, and racism. Apartheid was his first target, but in order to make a film against it, he decided to learn by filming the Bowery
Bowery
Bowery may refer to:Streets:* The Bowery, a thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York City* Bowery Street is a street on Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.In popular culture:* Bowery Amphitheatre, a building on the Bowery in New York City...
, New York's skid row
Skid row
A skid row or skid road is a run-down or dilapidated urban area with a large, impoverished population. The term originally referred literally to a path along which working men skidded logs. Its current sense appears to have originated in the Pacific Northwest...
, an effort influenced by the documentaries of Robert J. Flaherty
Robert J. Flaherty
Robert Joseph Flaherty, F.R.G.S. was an American filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature length documentary film, Nanook of the North...
. Thus he made On the Bowery
On the Bowery
On the Bowery is a 1956 American documentary film directed by Lionel Rogosin. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature....
in 1955-1956 in the tradition of neo-realism
Neorealism (art)
In art, neorealism was established by the ex-Camden Town Group painters Charles Ginner and Harold Gilman at the beginning of World War I. They set out to explore the spirit of their age through the shapes and colours of daily life...
. The film was the first American film to receive the Grand Prize for Documentary at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
in 1956. It also received a British Academy Film Award
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
in 1956, and was nominated for an Academy Award.
On the Bowery received high critical acclaim and made a great impression in Eastern Europe and England. The newly formed Free Cinema in London, founded by Lindsay Anderson, Lorenza Mazzetti, Karel Reisz, and Tony Richardson, invited Rogosin for their second program as they considered that he shared the same preoccupations and goals as they did for a new independent cinema.
Armed with this successful experience, Rogosin was able to begin his fight against Apartheid. With a small crew, and under the pretense of making a commercial film on African music
Music of Africa
Africa is a vast continent and its regions and nations have distinct musical traditions. The music of North Africa for the most part has a different history from sub-Saharan African music traditions....
, he clandestinely documented the life of a black South African migrant worker
Migrant worker
The term migrant worker has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations' definition is broad, including any people working outside of their home country...
in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
. Completed in 1958 with non-professional actors and a young African singer named Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba , nicknamed Mama Africa, was a Grammy Award winning South African singer and civil rights activist....
, Come Back, Africa
Come Back, Africa
Come Back, Africa is the second feature-length film written, produced, and directed by American independent filmmaker Lionel Rogosin. The film had a profound effect on African Cinema, and remains of great historical and cultural importance as a document preserving the unique heritage of the...
created a sensation at the Venice Film Festival, winning the Critics' Film Award. Recognizing Makeba's talent, Rogosin arranged for her to leave South Africa by bribing officials, and in effect launched her international career. Makeba was under contract to Rogosin, who arranged her first appearance on American television on the Steve Allen show. Rogosin supported Makeba financially, paying for her trip and living expenses when she left South Africa and travelled throughout Europe and the United States.
Film Exhibition and Distribution
Aware of the difficulties of distributing independent filmIndependent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
s in America, Rogosin founded and opened the Bleecker Street Cinema in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1960. The Bleecker became one of the most important independent art houses in New York, along with the New Yorker Cinema, and a form of cinema university for emerging film makers such as Miloš Forman
Miloš Forman
Jan Tomáš Forman , better known as Miloš Forman , is a Czech-American director, screenwriter, professor, and an emigrant from Czechoslovakia. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both gaining him the Academy Award for...
, Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
, and many critics and film lovers. In the same period he was a founding and active member of the New American Cinema movement along with Jonas
Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas is a Lithuanian-born American filmmaker, writer, and curator who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals across Europe and America.-Biography:...
and Adolfas Mekas
Adolfas Mekas
Adolfas Mekas was a Lithuanian-born film director, and brother of Jonas Mekas. He is principally known for his work in the United States....
, Shirley Clarke
Shirley Clarke
Shirley Clarke was an American independent filmmaker.-Early life:Born Shirley Brimberg in New York City, Shirley Clarke was the daughter of a Polish-immigrant father who made his fortune in manufacturing. Her mother was the daughter of a multimillionaire Jewish manufacturer and inventor. Her...
, Robert Downey, Sr. and many others, whose films were shown at the Bleecker Street Cinema.
Between 1960 and 1965, Rogosin traveled the world to gather material for his anti-nuclear war film Good Times, Wonderful Times, which was presented as the British entry at the Venice Film Festival in 1965. It was also shown at many American universities during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Aware of the problems of distribution and production, Rogosin founded Impact Films in 1965 as a solution and distributed many political and independent films which couldn't have been distributed otherwise through the company. In 1965, Rogosin organized, along with others including Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
(a fan of Good Times, Wonderful Times), the British Artists' Protest in August 1965 and the European Artists' Protest in December 1965 against the Vietnam War.
In 1966 he tried his hand at comedy by filming two zany, short, low-budget films called How Do You Like Them Bananas and Oysters are in Season while running the Bleecker Street Cinema and Impact Films.
Final Films
In the 1970s, with rising financial difficulties, Rogosin made low-budget films supported by European television stationsTelevision channel
A television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...
. Two of them, Black Roots and Black Fantasy, dealt with economic and social hardships faced by blacks in America. He went on to make Wood-cutters of the Deep South, about a black and white cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
, and finally Arab-Israeli Dialogue, an attempt to give a voice and meeting ground to both parties through a discussion between a Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
poet and an Israeli journalist.
Rogosin sold the Bleecker Street Theater in 1974 and brought Impact Films to an end in 1978. Though he continued to develop many film projects on subjects such as Navajo Indians
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
, police brutality
Police brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
, Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
, and a musical about street children
Street children
A street child is a child who lives on the streets of a city, deprived of family care and protection. Most children on the streets are between the ages of about 5 and 17 years old.Street children live in junk boxes, parks or on the street itself...
in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, he was never able to raise enough money to film them. Despite critical success in Europe and among other American independent filmmakers, he was by and large neither recognized nor supported in the USA. He moved to England in the 1980s where he turned to writing. His health deteriorating, he went back to Los Angeles in the late 1990s.
He died in Los Angeles in December 2000. He is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, CA.
Filmography
- On the BoweryOn the BoweryOn the Bowery is a 1956 American documentary film directed by Lionel Rogosin. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature....
(1956) - OutOut (film)Out was a short film produced by the United Nations Film Board on the refugee situation in Austria as a result of Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The film was conceived 28 November 1956, filming began on 3 December 1956, and the answer print was screened 4 January 1957....
(1957) (short film) - Come Back, AfricaCome Back, AfricaCome Back, Africa is the second feature-length film written, produced, and directed by American independent filmmaker Lionel Rogosin. The film had a profound effect on African Cinema, and remains of great historical and cultural importance as a document preserving the unique heritage of the...
(1960) - Good Times, Wonderful TimesGood Times, Wonderful TimesGood Times, Wonderful Times is an anti-war film, the third feature-length film written, produced, and directed by independent American filmmaker Lionel Rogosin...
(1965) - Oysters Are in Season (1966) (short film)
- How Do You Like Them Bananas?How Do You Like Them Bananas?How Do You Like Them Bananas? is the sixth film directed by American independent filmmaker Lionel Rogosin. It consists of a short sketch, done in an improvised slapstick style, featuring a "Reverend" and a "Banker" haggling over a donation to a local parish....
(1966) (short film) - Black Roots (1970)
- Black FantasyBlack FantasyBlack Fantasy is the fifth feature-length film produced and directed by American independent filmmaker Lionel Rogosin. It starred Jim Collier, who is credited also with "dialogue improvised by." Collier and Rogosin had previously worked together in Black Roots, produced two years earlier.Largely...
(1972) - Woodcutters of the Deep SouthWoodcutters of the Deep SouthWoodcutters of the Deep South is the sixth and final feature-length film produced and directed by American independent filmmaker Lionel Rogosin. He made one more short film, Arab Israeli Dialogue, released in 1974, but for the next 25 years he struggled to find support for a number of unrealized...
(1973) - Arab Israeli DialogueArab Israeli DialogueArab Israeli Dialogue is the tenth and final film directed by American independent filmmaker Lionel Rogosin. It is a filmed debate between the Palestinian poet Rashed Hussein and Amos Kenan, shot in the basement of Rogosin's Bleecker Street Cinema by Louis Brigante.Though Rogosin would live until...
(1974) (short film)