Film-makers' Cooperative

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The Film-makers' Cooperative is an independent and non-commercial organization of filmmakers founded in New York City in 1962 with the purpose of promoting the art of film. It is based on Leonard Street in Manhattan .

The cooperative was founded by Jonas Mekas , Shirley Clarke and over 20 other filmmakers after experimental filmmakers met in New York in 1960 to form their own organization. The New American Cinema Group then met monthly under Mekas' chairmanship to implement their vision of a non-commercial, censorship- free avant-garde cinema. Diffusion, in particular, was a problem that needed to be addressed. Since the only focus of the existing organizations was profit, the solution could only exist in a self-organized distribution.

Founding members included Stan Vanderbeek , Ron Rice , Rudy Burckhardt , Jack Smith , Lloyd Williams , Robert Breer , David Brooks , Ken Jacobs , Gregory Markopoulos , Ray Wisniweski , Doc Humes and Robert Downey senior .

Today the Coop has more than 12,000 films and videos , 5,000 of which are loaned to interested parties around the world.

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