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Karen Cooper | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | President and director ofFilm Forum |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Smith College |
Karen Cooper is the president and director of theNew York City-based independent, nonprofit cinemaFilm Forum.
Karen Cooper has served as director of Film Forum since 1972, presiding over the growth of thenonprofit Manhattan movie house from a 50-seat screening room to its present-day incarnation: a four-screen cinema, located in lower Manhattan. Today considered one of America's leading venues for new American independent and foreign art house features,[1] Cooper oversees programming and selects premieres for Film Forum alongside associate Mike Maggiore.[2][3] The theater is also renowned for its international and domestic repertory programming, curated byBruce Goldstein.
Under Cooper, Film Forum introduced the early films ofNew German Cinema filmmakersRainer Werner Fassbinder,Wim Wenders, andWerner Herzog in the 1970s.[4] The 1980s saw Cooper bringing such documentaries asThe Atomic Cafe andHenry Hampton'sEyes on the Prize to the theater's screens. In the pursuing decades, various films and documentaries have been presented by Cooper to Film Forum and New York audiences at large, by such filmmakers asAllison Anders,Chris Marker,Albert Maysles,Bruce Weber, andAsghar Farhadi.[3][5] Recently, Film Forum premieredMaren Ade'sToni Erdmann andRaoul Peck'sI Am Not Your Negro, both of which were nominated at the89th Academy Awards.
In addition to her work at Film Forum, Cooper has served as juror at film festivals worldwide, including those in Naples, Morelia (Mexico), Oberhausen, Leipzig, Vancouver, Sarajevo, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen. She has also served on funding panels for theNational Endowment on the Arts, theNYC Department of Cultural Affairs, and the NYS Council on the Arts. She is the recipient ofBrandeis University's Citation for Film, theNew York Film Critics Special Award for Programming,New York Women in Film's MUSE Award and the Municipal Art Society's Certificate of Merit. In 2010, theMuseum of Modern Art paid tribute to Cooper withKaren Cooper Carte Blanche: 40 Years of Documentary Premieres at Film Forum.[6]
A graduate ofSmith College, Cooper received anHonorary Doctorate from theAmerican Film Institute in 1995.[7]She is a longtime resident ofGreenwich Village and is married toGeorge Griffin, an experimental animator.