American Zoetrope


American Zoetrope is a privately run American film production company, centered in San Francisco, California and founded by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas.
Opened on December 12, 1969, the studio has produced not only the films of Coppola, but also George Lucas's pre-Star Wars films, as well as many others by avant-garde directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Akira Kurosawa, Wim Wenders and Godfrey Reggio. American Zoetrope was an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV.
Four films produced by American Zoetrope are included in the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films. American Zoetrope-produced films have received 15 Academy Awards and 68 nominations.

Formation

Initially located in a warehouse on Folsom Street, the company's headquarters have since 1972 been in the historic Sentinel Building, at 916 Kearny Street in San Francisco's North Beach neighbourhood.
Coppola named the studio after a zoetrope he was given in the late 1960s by the filmmaker and collector of early film devices, Mogens Skot-Hansen. "Zoetrope" is also the name by which Coppola's quarterly fiction magazine, ', is often known.
In 1980, it became Zoetrope Studios''', and it was decided that they will planning on to produce and distribute films, in the same way the later DreamWorks studio does.
American Zoetrope is now owned entirely by Coppola's son and daughter, directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola, while a majority of the film library is now owned by Lionsgate.

Zoetrope Virtual Studio

It also administers the Zoetrope Virtual Studio, a complete motion picture production studio for members only. Launched in June 2000 after more than four years work, it brings together departments for screenwriters, directors, producers and other filmmaker artists, plus new departments for other creative endeavours, offering e-collaborative tools. Filmmaker members can workshop a wide range of film arts, including music, graphics, design and film & video.

Filmography

Feature films

Television series

Cafe Zoetrope

In the building lobby Coppola operates a small Italian café, Cafe Zoetrope, featuring Inglenook Estate wine and memorabilia from his films.
The neighborhood is well known for its cafes and its writers. Coppola wrote much of the screenplay for The Godfather in the nearby Caffe Trieste and Lawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights Books is located up Columbus Avenue from the Sentinel Building.