Cinema 16
Amos Vogel started Cinema 16 alongside his wife Marcia Vogel in New York City in 1947, and the non-profit film society was an institution of the city’s film culture from its establishment until its end, due to financial constraints, in 1963. The program for each month was typically shown four or five times, and screenings took place at the 1600-seat auditorium at the Central High School of Needle Trades (now the High School of Fashion Industries) and at other Manhattan venues like the Paris Theatre and the Beekman Theatre. With 7000 members at one point, Cinema 16 was the largest film society in the U.S.
Over sixteen years, the Vogels presented films that could not be seen theatrically elsewhere, such as avant-garde films, documentaries, and medical films, to the enthusiastic audience of Cinema 16 members. In the 1952-1953 brochure, Amos Vogel described the need to structure the film society as private screenings for members: “Legal restrictions, censorship regulations, profit considerations prevent public showing of a vast store of outstanding social documentaries, controversial adult screen fare, advanced experimental films, classics of the international cinema, and medical-psychiatric studies.” In many of the monthly programs that he curated, Vogel balanced challenging, sometimes disturbing selections that would run afoul of censors (or the tastes of mainstream film exhibitors) with more approachable, lighthearted fare. He also distributed many of the titles to other film societies, making his taste a major influence on the film society culture that grew across the United States starting in the 1950s.
