Producer Charles Cohen ’77 Nominated for Two Academy Awards

01/31/2018

Charles Cohen ’77, a New York City real estate magnate and film producer, has received Academy Award nominations for two projects he co-produced: Faces Places and The Insult.

Faces Places is a movie by French filmmaker Agnes Varda, who Cohen met at the Cannes Film Festival two years ago. The film, which received a nomination for best documentary feature, explores visual artist JR’s “Inside Out” project, in which he pastes large posters depicting regular people’s faces onto buildings. The film has garnered positive reviews around the world.

The Insult, which has been nominated for best foreign language film, is a legal thriller directed by Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri. Last year’s Oscar-winner for best foreign language, The Salesman, was distributed by the Cohen Media Group.

Both of the movies can be seen at Cohen’s recently renovated art-house theater, Quad Cinema, on West 13th Street in Manhattan.

“It’s not dissimilar to real estate in that I’m creating an asset…that throws off ancillary income for years,” Cohen said of his foray into production. “There are many ways now to make money from film—from video on demand to DVD sales to showings on college campuses, cruise ships, and airplanes. For me it’s about building a library of film assets that I can be proud of.”