The academic and champion of American film culture has died in New York. He was 91.
Vogel was born Amos Vogelbaum in Vienna, Austria, and became well known for his book Film As A Subversive Art and as the founder of the avant-garde film club Cinema 16.
Along with Richard Roud he founded the New York Film Festival in 1963 and served as programme director until 1968.
In 1973, Vogel launched the Annenberg Cinematheque at the University Of Pennsylvania and later was given a Chair for film studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, where he taught and lectured for two decades.
“If you’re looking for the origins of film culture in America, look no further than Amos Vogel,” Martin Scorsese said, “Between Cinema 16, which he ran with his beloved wife Marcia and which opened our eyes to Maya Deren, Stan Brakhage, Bruce Conner, Kenneth Anger, Cassavetes’ Shadows, and hundreds of other visionary films and filmmakers, The New York Film Festival… and his book Film As A Subversive Art, Amos opened the doors to every possibility in film viewing, film exhibition, film curating, 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.”
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