Gavin Smith Named Vice President, Cohen Media Group

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Friday, 19 February 2016 14:44

Written by Janet Walker

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Charles S. Cohen, owner, Chairman/CEO of Cohen Media Group, today announced the appointment of Gavin Smith, the longtime editor of Film Comment, to the new position of Vice President, Cohen Media Group.  

Smith will work alongside Charles S. Cohen and CMG's Vice President and Archivist, Tim Lanza, to seek out films to acquire for the Cohen Film Collection, currently comprised of over 800 landmark works by cinema giants.

Smith will collaborate in programming the repertory screen at the newly redesigned Quad and will also help create film series, filmmaker presentations and discussions.

The appointment of Smith will enhance the status of the Quad Cinema as the New York City home of classic, foreign, art-house and independent films. Cohen acquired the historic Greenwich Village movie house in 2014 and is in the process of renovating and modernizing it to present a wide range of new and vintage films.

For decades, Gavin Smith has been a highly respected figure in the film world, as critic and programmer. He joined the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1987 and began programming there in 1995. In 2000, he became the editor of Film Comment, the FSLC's official publication and America's leading magazine of film criticism.

Under Smith's leadership, Film Comment reemphasized cinema's contemporary relevance while honoring its past with impassioned writing by such renowned critics as Amy Taubin, Kent Jones, Dave Kehr, Andrew Sarris and J. Hoberman, and instituted regular columns by such filmmakers as Alex Cox and Guy Maddin. Smith has worked in various capacities at FSLC for 28 years. 

Charles S. Cohen said, "We are thrilled to bring a film figure of Gavin's stature to our team. His expertise, taste and passion for cinema will be invaluable as we strive to make the new Quad Cinema a welcoming place for New York City's filmgoers."

The 800-plus-title Cohen Film Collection comprises landmark works by Buster Keaton, Jean-Luc Godard, Alfred Hitchcock and many others cinema giants, and includes such wide-ranging titles as Intolerance, For Ever Mozart, The General, Jamaica Inn, Tristana and W.C. Fields's shorts.

Since acquiring this treasure-trove (formerly the Rohauer Collection), Cohen Media Group has embarked on a major ongoing restoration project, with new prints of key films receiving theatrical engagements prior to release in deluxe Blu-ray and DVD packages.

For more information on the Cohen Media Group:www.cohenmedia.net