Meet our talented team of programmers – the people who work and watch movies all year long to curate the best films possible for the Seattle International Film Festival, celebrating its 49th year from May 11 to 21, 2023. Full program info siff.net/festival.

What are your 10 favorite films ever?

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (dir. D. A. Pennebaker) 
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (dir. Paul Schrader)
Paris is Burning (dir. Jennie Livingston)
The White Meadows (dir. Mohammad Rasoulof)
Fantastic Planet (dir. René Laloux)
Fish Tank (dir. Andrea Arnold)
True Stories (dir. David Byrne)
Ivan's Childhood & Stalker - it's a tie! (dir. Andrei Tarkovsky)
Holy Motors (dir. Leos Carax)
Leningrad Cowboys Go America (dir. Aki Kaurismäki)

What is one of your favorite festival moments?
Seeing Lynn Shelton's film Sword of Trust open SIFF in 2019, one year before we lost her. I just worshipped her. Seeing her on the red carpet gave me this enormous sense of hope and joy for women in independent cinema, and for people who want to make movies with heart. Of course I was too shy to talk to her (I'm still kicking myself about it!) but she continues to inspire me always.

What is your guilty pleasure film?
I shamelessly love Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and Earth Girls are Easy, but I am embarrassed about Bobby Deerfield, which stars an impossibly beautiful 1970s Al Pacino as race car driver in Italy. The film is a wreck by my god his hair. Perfection.

What's one thing we should know about you that is NOT film related?
I grew up in rodeo and used to barrel race. Somewhere there's a drawer full of belt buckles I won as a kid

What do you consider your hometown?
When I need sagebrush, it's Ellensburg. When I need rain and city streets, it's Seattle. Always.