On the Bowery (1955)

Born in New York City, the son of a Russian Jewish immigrant who became a wealthy industrialist, he studied chemistry at Yale and served in the Navy as an engineer during WW II before joining his father's business as head of the textile division. Troubled by the sight of the skid row scene near his Greenwich Village home, and motivated by a creative urge, he used his own money to produce and direct ON THE BOWERY (1955), an hour-long documentary that was nominated for an Oscar and won the top prize in its category at the Venice Film Festival as well as the British Film Academy Award for Best Documentary. Rogosin confirmed his position as a leading voice of social consciousness in the film community with COME BACK AFRICA (1960), a dramatized documentary about the horrific plight of a dislocated Zulu family in Johannesburg. He shot the film in South Africa, partly with a concealed camera, and smuggled much of the footage out of the country to avoid scrutiny by the authorities. Although dramatically flawed, the film contained explosively revealing footage and was hailed as politically and socially significant. When he found no exhibiting outlet for the film, Rogosin leased and renovated an old Greenwich Village theater, renamed it the Bleecker Street Cinema, and premiered his film there. Until he sold it in 1974, the theater represented a popular outlet for quality "alternative" films. Regaining his course as a social critic, Rogosin assailed the horrors of war in GOOD TIMES, WONDERFUL TIMES (1966), exposed racial outrage in BLACK ROOTS (1970) and BLACK FANTASY (1972), and explored the nature of the Middle East conflict in ARAB ISRAELI DIALOGUE (1974).  Nominated for Documentary (Features) 1957: ON THE BOWERY - Producer 1 nomination