1 Media Industries 4.1 (2017) 000002JPH XXX10.1177/2053019616000002The Undergraduate Journal of Public HealthUnintended Consequences of the Bangladesh Tubewell Intervention—Tiwari research-article 2017 Donald Rugoff, Cinema V, and Commercial Strategies of 1960s–1970s Art Cinema Justin Wyatt 1 University of Rhode Island justinw @ uri.edu Abstract: This article considers the cultural and economic impact of Donald Rugoff, founder of Cinema V and one of the seminal figures in the 1960s art cinema world. Rugoff initiated key aspects of marketing, distribution, and strategy that would influence other regimes of independent cinema through the decades. The eventual demise of Cinema V follows the pattern for the continual assimilation of independent film by mainstream forces. In this way, Cinema V shows us that art cinema and independent cinema are always tentative categories, best defined by case studies, rather than trends, and never far from the reach of mainstream Hollywood. Keywords: Advertising, Exhibition, Film, Marketing The “fathers” of the art cinema from the 1960s have been largely relegated to a brief citation in motion picture exhibition texts and specialized film histories. Nevertheless, these figures established much of what became common practice within independent film marketing and distribution, carving a space for independent fare separate from studio production. One of the seminal figures in the independent film world from this era was Donald Rugoff, founder of Cinema V. Rugoff illustrates the key aspects of marketing, distribution, and strategy that would influence other regimes of independent cinema through the decades. Rugoff was widely known for his strong visual advertising, his showmanship, and his ability to use his exhibition houses to support the efforts of his independent distribution company, Cinema V. Even with these marketing and structural differences in place, Cinema V ultimately per- ished at the hands of larger forces, in this case the incorporation of independent exhibitors by larger theater chains in the 1980s. The demise of Cinema V sets the pattern for the con- tinual assimilation of independent film by mainstream forces. While displaying the strength of innovative marketing strategies, the Cinema V example also demonstrates just how vul- nerable and tentative art cinema has always been as a segment of the marketplace. The Origins of Cinema V The art cinema developed in urban centers of post–World War II America with a renewed national interest in foreign nations, and, for some, a desire to view film as akin to the high