Lionel Rogosin was an independent American filmmaker.
18 Facts About Lionel Rogosin
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Lionel Rogosin worked in political cinema, non-fiction partisan filmmaking and docufiction, influenced by Italian neorealism and Robert Flaherty.
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Lionel Rogosin attended Yale University and obtained a degree in chemical engineering in order to join his father's business.
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Lionel Rogosin served in the United States Navy during World War II.
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Lionel Rogosin then worked in his father's company until 1954, while teaching himself film with a 16mm Bolex camera.
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Concerned with political issues including racism and fascism, Lionel Rogosin participated in a United Nations film titled Out, a documentary about the plight of Hungarian refugees.
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At this juncture, Lionel Rogosin devoted himself to promoting peace and confronting issues such as nuclear war, imperialism, and racism.
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Lionel Rogosin arranged for Makeba to leave South Africa by bribing officials.
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Lionel Rogosin placed her under contract and arranged her first appearance on American television, on The Steve Allen Show.
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Lionel Rogosin supported Makeba financially, paying for her trip and living expenses when she left South Africa and traveled throughout Europe and the United States.
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Aware of the difficulties of distributing independent films in the United States, Lionel Rogosin purchased the Bleecker Street Cinema in New York City in 1960.
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Lionel Rogosin helped Jonas Mekas financially set up the Anthology Film Archives.
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Between 1960 and 1965, Lionel Rogosin traveled the world to gather material for his antinuclear war film Good Times, Wonderful Times, which was presented as the British entry at the Venice Film Festival in 1965.
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Lionel Rogosin founded Impact Films in 1965 to distribute many political and independent films.
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Lionel Rogosin made Woodcutters 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, Rashid Hussein and an Israeli journalist, Amos Kenan.
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Lionel Rogosin sold the Bleecker Street Theater in 1974 and brought Impact Films to an end in 1978.
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Lionel Rogosin moved to England in the 1980s where he turned to writing.
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Lionel Rogosin is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California.