Ben Barenholtz

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Ben Barenholtz is an American film producer.

Barenholtz got his start in the film business in 1958 working as assistant theater manager. In 1968, he opened the Elgin Cinema in New York City. He used the Elgin as a showcase to champion films by Buster Keaton, D. W. Griffith, the Marx Brothers and many other classic American and European movies. The Elgin rose to prominence in the United States as a result. He also originated the "Midnight Movie" format with his successful screenings of El Topo, Pink Flamingos and others.

In 1975, Barenholtz formed Libra Films, a specialized film distribution company. From 1975-1982, Libra launched and distributed such independent films as George A. Romero's Martin, John Sayles' Return of the Secaucus 7, David Lynch's Eraserhead and Jean-Charles Tacchella's Cousin Cousine, which received three Academy Award nominations and proved to be one of the most successful foreign films ever released in North America at the time.

In 1982, Barenholtz sold Libra to the Almi Group and stayed on as the president of the newly-formed Libra-Cinema 5 Films. In 1984, he left Almi to start up the Circle Releasing Corporation with Ted and Jim Pedas. The films launched and distributed by Chris Bernard's Letter to Brezhnev, Joel and Ethan Coen's Blood Simple, John Woo's The Killer, and Guy Maddin's Tales from the Gimli Hospital.

In 1986, Circle Films produced the Coens' second feature, the commercially and critically successful Raising Arizona. Barenholtz followed up as executive producer of their third film, Miller's Crossing, which was released worldwide by 20th Century Fox. He continued his successful relationship with the Coens as the executive producer of their fourth feature, Barton Fink, which won the Palme d'Or at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. After leaving Circle Films, under the Barenholtz Productions banner, he went on to executive produce the critically-acclaimed film, Georgia, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh.

In recent years, he's produced George Romero's Bruiser and co-executive produced Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream.