Report

Rachel Rosen returns to San Francisco Film Society

By Michael Fox

Rachel Rosen, who served as assistant director of programming at the San Francisco Film Society from 1994 to 2001, has rejoined the organization as director of programming, effective today. She succeeds Linda Blackaby, who held the post with distinction for the past eight years. Rosen was the director of programming of Film Independent (FIND) and the Los Angeles Film Festival since 2001, where she significantly increased attendance through innovative programming and a broader spotlight on foreign films.

“Rachel brings a whole host of talents to the table—smart, strong, independent-minded,” SFFS executive director Graham Leggat told SF360. “She’s very well-respected and well-connected, and has a really good sense of all the various ingredients that go into making a superb year-round film exhibition program.”

Rosen has an established reputation for originating fresh programming ideas. In her previous tenure at the SFFS, she devised the “Indelible Images” series of local luminaries introducing a favorite film that had played an earlier San Francisco International Film Festival, and curated a series of boxing films at the Castro. Although it’s premature to talk about potential programming initiatives, Leggat said, “She’s very curious about a lot of different things, and we will give her the reins to do that.”

When someone returns to the scene of an earlier success, an old adage comes to mind. The mention of Thomas Wolfe’s novel, “You Can’t Go Home Again” elicited a chuckle from Rosen over the phone from Los Angeles.

“I’ll be honest and say that it does seem to be the general rule in life,” Rosen said. “It’s not usually a good idea to go backwards. But I feel that the organization is a completely different organization than it was when I was there eight years ago. Even though I know a few people who work there, I’m starting at a Film Society that’s different than the one I used to work at.”

Rosen was referring to the SFFS’s expanded year-round programming that includes the now-annual French Cinema Now series (Oct. 22-Nov. 2) and the premiere Cinema by the Bay festival (Oct 23-25). She also cited the Film Society’s burgeoning role in supporting filmmakers in ways that go beyond exhibition.

The Washington, D.C. native’s original connection to the Bay Area was the graduate film program at Stanford, where she earned her master’s after completing her undergraduate studies at Brown. Rosen worked for a year in programming and publicity at the venerable Manhattan arthouse theater Film Forum before returning to the Bay Area and the SFFS.

She has a short documentary to her credit, Storm Chasers, that screened at several festivals. Rosen has also written numerous articles for Film Comment over the years about documentary film.

Bay Area filmmakers and festgoers who know Rosen from her original tenure with the festival, or from her work at LAFF, are aware of her unwavering passion for foreign and nonfiction cinema. She returns to San Francisco, however, with enhanced knowledge of the Hollywood and Indiewood worlds.

“It’s always helpful to have connections to the American film industry, both on the studio side and on the independent side, and our proximity to L.A. is something we should take advantage of,” Leggat said. “It’s always helpful to have more access. That can’t hurt. I’m interested in nurturing and playing to the essential aspects of San Francisco film culture. We’ll continue doing very much the same sort of things we’ve been doing since I’ve been here.”

Leggat went on to pay tribute to Linda Blackaby’s contributions as director of programming for the past eight years, a period that began with the departure of longtime artistic director Peter Scarlet and the arrival of executive director Roxanne Messina Captor, whose tenure lasted until 2005.

“Linda’s done a terrific job in helping us expand and strengthen the Film Society’s programming,” Leggat noted. “During the transition from the prior administration to this one, she played a leadership role, and she has been a terrific colleague to me and a wonderful asset to the organization. She’s very well thought of in the field, has many friends worldwide, and I’m sure she’ll be doing some wonderful things in the near future. Linda’s a very conscientious, dedicated professional as well as having an excellent critical sensibility. She was a great member of the team at a crucial time in the organization’s development and I’m very grateful to her for everything she has done.”

Rosen may not be spotted around San Francisco for a little while, between packing up her belongings in L.A. and attending the Toronto International Film Festival in early September. But she conveyed her eagerness to reconnect with Bay Area audiences, given all the developments—economic, technological and artistic—in the film world in the past eight years.

“Things have changed so dramatically with the distribution of international film and the production of independent film,” Rosen said. “It’s up to festivals and organizations like the Film Society to figure out what role they should be playing in this new landscape. That also makes coming back to San Francisco not going home again. The way the Film Society has evolved puts it in a position to play a really interesting role in that new landscape. And that’s something I feel strongly about, supporting the films that I care about. That’s what’s really exciting to me about coming back.”

topics: bay area, castro theatre, film festivals, hollywood, san francisco international film festival, toronto international film festival, world cinema

08.10.2009