MOVIES - Jan. 7, 1988

A group of prominent New York film makers, distributors and librarians have formed the Leo Dratfield Endowment to honor the memory of the pioneer film distributor. After acquiring Contemporary Films in 1951, Dratfield specialized in unconventional work, including animated films by John and Faith Hubley, documentaries by George Stoney, shorts from the National Film Board of Canada, student films by Martin Scorsese and Roman Polanski, foreign classics (“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”) and contemporary French films (“Hiroshima, Mon Amour”). Dratfield died in November, 1986, one month after receiving a tribute at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.