San Francisco, CA – The San Francisco Film Society will present SFFS Film Arts Forum: Meet the Programmers at 7:00 pm, Monday, Octobers 12 at Mezzanine, 444 Jessie Street. Film Arts Forum is the Film Society’s bimonthly information-sharing, discussion, networking, professional development filmmaker jamboree. It’s an opportunity for Bay Area filmmakers and cineastes to meet one another and talk about their craft.

Autumn is the time when filmmakers take stock of the film festival landscape and plan their strategy. Which festivals should they apply for? What do programmers look for? Why do good films get rejected? The sixth Film Arts Forum will open the door into the decision room of San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, SF IndieFest and San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Lead programmers from each festival will be on hand to reveal information beyond what’s available in their brochures, discuss their selection process, elaborate on what they’re looking for and weigh in on current trends in the field. Dozens of other programmers from a range of local festivals, theaters and venues will also be in attendance to participate in the discussion and answer questions.

The Panel
Nancy Fishman, program director, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
K.C. Price, executive director, Frameline
Rachel Rosen, director of programming, San Francisco Film Society
Jeff Ross, founder and director, San Francisco IndieFest
Chi-hui Yang, festival director, San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
Moderator: Susan Gerhard, editor, SF360.org

The panel will be prefaced by a brief preview of the Film Society’s fall festival lineup by Programmers Rod Armstrong and Sean Uyehara.

Back by popular demand, after the panel, Laptop Shop, a unique opportunity for filmmakers to screen their clips, trailers, marketing materials and design directions for peer-to-peer review and feedback. Filmmakers are welcome to bring their laptops and any materials that they would like to distribute.

All participants will be available to continue the conversation throughout the evening. The SFFS Film Arts Forum is an entire conference in the span of a few hours.

Tickets $5 year-round SFFS members; $8 general; available in advance at sffs.org. Must be 21+ to attend.

For more information, sffs.org/screenings-and-events.

San Francisco Film Society is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to celebrating film and the moving image in all its glorious forms. SFFS year-round programs and events are concentrated in four core areas: Celebrating Internationalism, Inspiring Bay Area Youth, Showcasing Bay Area Film Culture and Exploring New Digital Media. The Film Society shows the best of world cinema year-round on its SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas; presents the longest-running film festival in the Americas, the SF International (April 22–May 6, 2010); publishes a daily online magazine, SF360.org, featuring broad-ranging news and features on Bay Area film and media; annually reaches more than 8,000 students ages 6–18 with its acclaimed media literacy programs; and provides crucial support to the Bay Area filmmaking community through SFFS Filmmaker Services including FilmHouse Residencies, Fiscal Sponsorship, the SFFS/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grants, the Herbert Family Filmmaking Grants, the Hearst Screening Grant, the Djerassi/SFFS Screenwriting Fellowship, SFFS Film Arts Forums and professional-level filmmaker classes.

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