In 1963, while working as an assistant for producer Roger Corman, Francis Ford Coppola made his directorial debut with the mystery horror film DEMENTIA 13. As a programmer at The Museum of Modern Art, Adrienne Mancia was an advocate of progressive “New Hollywood” filmmakers such as Coppola who, in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, subverted the moral and aesthetic traditions (and limitations) of the studio system by producing thematically and stylistically challenging work influenced by European cinema, the American avant-garde, and the countercultural ethos of the era at large. Part of Mancia’s advocacy of these filmmakers was seeking out their first works (often made for low-budget producers like Corman and production companies like American International Pictures) in order to chart the trajectory of their careers and connect their early output to the later works that brought them mainstream fame.