Amos Vogel

Amos Vogel was born on April 18, 1921 in Vienna, Austria as Amos Vogelbaum. He was married to Marcia Vogel.

Son of Mathilde Vogelbaum, a teacher; and Samuel Vogelbaum, a lawyer. He began his fascination with film when his father bought him a 9.5 millimeter camera. His family fled the Nazis and spent several months in Cuba before coming to the United States. He was determined to make a life in a Jewish homeland, prepared by living on a kibbutz by studying animal husbandry at the University of Georgia. But by 1941, he had abandoned his belief in Zionism and settled in New York City where he trained as a diamond cutter in the jewelry district.

He founded Cinema 16 in 1947 and ran it with his wife, Marcia Vogel, until 1963. He founded the New York Film Festival in 1962. He directed the festival from 1963 to 1968. He was the film department director at Lincoln Center in New York City. He was also a film consultant to Grove Press and National Educational Television. He taught at Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn, New York; New York University in New York City; Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he was director of the film at the Annenberg Center.

Founded the Lincoln Center Film Department. Co-founded the New York Film Festival - was the first director of the film festival, programming there until 1968.