Staff
YEAR-ROUND STAFF | FESTIVAL PRODUCTION STAFF
Year-Round Staff
Lexi Leban, Executive Director
lleban [at] sfjff.org
Lexi Leban brings 20 years of experience as an educator and award-winning independent filmmaker to the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. She comes to SFJFF from the Art Institute of California - San Francisco where she was the Academic Director of the Digital Filmmaking & Video Production program. She created the Bachelor's degree program and, in this capacity, built out a new state-of-the-art HD television production studio, created innovative curriculum in new media production and distribution, and initiated collaborative partnerships with Bay Area media organizations and non-profits.
As a Producer/Director, Leban has made award-winning films that focus on women's rights, criminal justice and LGBT issues. Her films have screened widely at festivals in the U.S. and abroad. Leban's feature documentary, Girl Trouble, was funded by ITVS and KQED, and aired nationally on the acclaimed PBS series Independent Lens. Girl Trouble won Best Bay Area documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival and an interactive game based on the film debuted at Sundance. The national outreach and engagement campaign for the film gained the support of the National Juvenile Justice Network and garnered the Prevention for a Safer Society Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.
For the past 8 years, she has worked in web operations and promotions for New Day Films, a 40 year old filmmaker-run educational distribution company with over 230 award-winning films. She has worked at the Mill Valley Film and San Francisco International Film Festivals and was a board member of the Film Arts Foundation. Her non-profit organization, Critical Images Inc. has created educational media and promotional videos for non-profit organizations in the Bay Area. She has a BA degree from Barnard College of Columbia University and an MFA in Cinema from San Francisco State University.
Jay Rosenblatt, Program Director
jrosenblatt [at] sfjff.org
Jay Rosenblatt is an internationally recognized filmmaker whose work has received many awards. A selection of his films had theatrical runs at the Film Forum in New York and at theaters around the country. Eight of his films have been at the Sundance Film Festival and several of his films have shown on HBO/Cinemax, the Independent Film Channel and the Sundance Channel. Articles about his work have appeared in the Sunday NY Times Arts & Leisure section, the LA Times, the NY Times, Filmmaker magazine and the Village Voice. Jay is a recipient of a Guggenheim, a USA Artists grant and a Rockefeller Fellowship. He has served on numerous festival juries throughout the world including the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and the Tampere Film Festival in Finland. In 2002, he co-produced and curated the 9/11 program “Underground Zero” which was named one of the Ten Best Films in 2002 by the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2005, Jay received the inaugural Freedom of Expression Award from the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
Jay is originally from New York and has lived in San Francisco for many years. Since 1989, he has taught film at various universities in the Bay Area, including Stanford University, S.F. State University, and the San Francisco Art Institute. He has a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology and, in a former life, worked as a therapist.
Owen Levin, Administrative Director
olevin [at] sfjff.org
Owen Levin has broad experience in the film business, with stints in acquisitions, international sales, marketing, publicity, distribution and production for companies including Miramax Films and The Shooting Gallery. Most recently, Owen worked as COO and Line Producer for Stick Figure Productions, a documentary film and television company in New York. He is delighted to be helping connect quality films and engaged audiences through the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
Recent transplants from Brooklyn, Owen and his family are enjoying all the great food, lovely weather and beauty the Bay Area has to offer. He has a BA from Vassar College and is a Masters candidate in Arts Administration from Columbia University.
Sam Ball, New Jewish Filmmaking Project Director
Sam Ball is an award-winning filmmaker, whose work has been exhibited at modern art museums around the world, including New York’s MoMA, Washington's Hirschorn Museum and the Pompidou Center in Paris; at many film festivals, including Sundance (1996 and 2000); and on PBS. His Jewish-subject films include PLEASURES OF URBAN DECAY, about cartoonist Ben Katchor and POUMY about a 92-year-old Jewish woman who fought in the French resistance during WW II. Ball has also received commissions to make films for several not-for-profit organizations including the National Yiddish Book Center (A BRIDGE OF BOOKS, 2001, is currently touring the many Jewish Film Festivals around the world). In 2001, he was awarded a fellowship from Joshua Venture to launch the New Jewish Filmmaking Project with the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the largest, most prestigious event of its kind. The New Jewish Filmmaking Project gives teenagers the resources and training they need to tell their own Jewish stories and exhibit their work around the world.
A dual citizen of France and the United States, Ball holds a Masters Degree in documentary film production from Stanford University (1995) and a BA from McGill University in Montreal, where he studied under Ruth Wisse and earned the Yaffee Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Yiddish Studies. He is the founder of Citizen Film. a San Francisco-based production company.
Kerri Gawryn, Manager of Individual and Corporate Relations and Special Events
kerri [at] sfjff.org
Before joining the SFJFF staff, Kerri Gawryn spent six years as a social advocate for homeless individuals and domestic violence survivors. Her interest in the arts and social policy runs deep: for her masters thesis at San Francisco State University, she created a community organizing photography workshop and directed and produced the accompanying documentary film, Exposing Homelessness.
Joshua Moore, Associate Programmer
jmoore [at] sfjff.org
Joshua has worked for both Michael Douglas and Francis Coppola and as a programmer at the Mill Valley Film Festival and editor for the San Francisco International Film Festival before joining SFJFF.
A graduate of the Los Angeles Film School and San Francisco State University, Joshua earned his degree in Cinema theory and production, and worked as a teaching assistant in courses focusing on film history and international cinema.
An indpendent filmmaker, Joshua's debut feature, I Think It's Raining had its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in July 2011. When not watching and making films, Joshua can be found riding along the Northern California coastline on his vintage motorcycle.
Doug Blakely, Office Manager
dblakely [at] sfjff.org
Doug began his creative journey at the University of South Florida studying theater arts, film and art history. He then left South Florida in his twenties to pursue various roles in the business world of optical marketing, medical finance and retail merchandising after completing a Marketing degree at the University of Phoenix. Doug was a member of the Odyssey Theater Group in Sonoma for 4 years and is happy to be back in the world of creative arts. Doug is currently pursuing his latest venture, “Life as Art” while living in downtown San Francisco and working at SFJFF.
Josh Thelin, Development/Membership Coordinator
jthelin [at] sfjff.org
Originally from Lake Tahoe, Josh grew up in Nevada City, California before heading to Ohio to attend Oberlin College. For most of the last 15 years he worked as a professional stage actor on the East Coast and returned to Northern California in 2010 to pursue a new career in the non-profit development world. Josh started at SFJFF as an intern in 2010 and was quickly brought on board as a full-time employee. He lives in Berkeley with his wife, Emily, a food and lifestyle freelance writer.
Valentina Kartsub, Marketing/PR
vkartsub [at] sfjff.org
Valentina holds a degree in Art History and Russian Studies from San Diego State University. She later went on to earn a certificate in Museum and Gallery Exhibition Skills. Currently Valentina lives in San Francisco and is pursuing her dream of working in the arts.
Production Staff, SFJFF31
Peter L. Stein, Executive Director
Owen Levin, Administrative Director
Jay Rosenblatt, Program Director
Joshua Moore, Associate Programmer
Shira Zucker, Manager, Marketing/PR
Allyson Halpern, Director of Development, SFJFF31
Kerri Gawryn, Development & Sponsorship Associate
Josh Thelin, Development & Membership Assistant
Doug Blakely, Administrative Coordinator
John Valte, Bookkeeping Assistant
Myra Feiger, Community Outreach Coordinator
Marketing by Storm — Cara Storm, Marketing Consultant
Kuros Ghaffari, Publications & Website
Jeff Ross, Publicity Coordinator
Larsen Associates — Karen Larsen, Leo Wong, Ani Klose, Festival Publicists
Monisha Gandhi, Hospitality Coordinator
Max Foreman, Digital Archive/Production Coordinator
Jane Francis, Natalia Guecheva, Matthew Kaplan, Valentina Kartsub, Ericka Miele, Erin Prado, Arina Tilipalova, Interns
Michael LoPresti, Josh Thelin, Volunteer Coordinators
Alysanne Taylor, Volunteer Coordinator, Marin
415 Productions, San Francisco — Doug Domonkos, Chris Purvis, Ben Rigby, Web Design/Development
Suzy Drell, Events Coordinator
David White, Sponsor Reel
Kerri Gawryn, Hospitality/Window Boxes
John Bouvier, Brian Freeman, David Gutierez, Hospitality Assistants
Brad Robinson, House Manager, SF & Berkeley
Gino Caputi, House Manager, Palo Alto
Hal Rowland, Technical Director
Mitchell Vaughn, Box Office Manager
Box Cubed, Box Office Services
Robert Avila, Copy Editor
Alex Cantin, Print Traffic Coordinator
Eagle Press, Printer
Jennie Adler, Margot Breier, Bonnie Burt, Bill Chayes, Myra Feiger, Ed Feldman, Max Goldberg, Keren Hantman, Deborah Hoffman, Marcia Jarmel, Nancy Kates, Vivian Kleiman, Jan Krawitz, Valerie Lapin-Ganley, David Liu, Judy Montell, Kenn Rabin, Shevi Rosenfeld, Emmy Scharlatt, Ken Schneider, Harvey Schwartz, Jennifer Schwartz, Veronica Selver, Susan Stern, Mark Valentine, Lauren Vanett, Diane Wolf, Pre-Screeners 2011
Public, Inc. / Mende Design — Todd Foreman, Lindsay Wheeler, Jeremy Mende, Creative Direction and Design
Debbie Berne, David White, Additional Graphic Design
Joshua Moore, Jay Rosenblatt, Peter L. Stein, Program Catalog Editors
2011 SFJFF TRAILER
Created and Written by Mike Reiss
Starring Jim J. Bullock
Animation by Xeth Feinberg
Produced by Tal Vigderson
Voiceover Directed by Tal Vigderson
Audio Production by Rick Dickerson and Gigi Meroni
