Who Are These People (And What Are They Doing Here?)

Your job title is Documentary Programmer AND Operations Director - but who are you really? A glutton for punishment, that's what I am. Kidding. Well, this is my fifth AFI FEST and it gets bigger and better every year. Me personally, I'm a third-generation Scottish-Texan and now California transplant, and a grad-school educated music junkie and walking contradiction -- I could be a cowgirl or live in a New York City loft. I like to take the train, and be in the mountains, and I have an affinity for old turbo diesel Mercedes that run on biofuel.

Job titles aren't very descriptive, and the festival would obviously fall apart without you. What do you really do around here? I'm a cat-herder, a firefighter, a drill sergeant, a construction manager, an event planner, the Vice Principal, a counselor, a policewoman, a bean counter, and Lord of the Village. (And that's the AFI FEST Village Headquarters-- if you don't know what it is, c'mon up to the 7th floor of the ArcLight parking garage and check it out!)

Why do you work for AFI Fest? Because film is a culturally significant art form and it's not just about the brain candy that comes out on any given Friday -- there's so much more to discover that gets lost in marketing mayhem. It's about that special storyteller who seamlessly weaves you into the world as he/she sees it. We create an insular universe for 10 days where you can live and breathe film, and meet people from all over the world. All are invited -- come and indulge. (And PS...discover the docs!)

What's your favorite thing about the fest? Closing Night : ) No seriously, it's different things on different days. Since I wear two hats, it's fun to see everything running smoothly in the Festival Village and enjoy a beautiful sunset on one of the decks. In the theaters, it's great to see an impassioned crowd turn out for a documentary and the Q&A to be so spirited that we run overtime and have to take it out into the hall. And music documentary screenings are an absolute favorite, because the sound system is so incredible in the ArcLight, that you can feel the music in your chest and through your seat.

What's one movie you're really looking forward to? All the docs of course -- I want to see packed screenings for all of them! It's all here...comedians, revolutions in Ukraine, Mexico and Hungary, grade-school class elections and contagious crying, Public Enemy, Austin and Barton Springs, Afghani body building, 1000 journals sent all over the world, the Iraq war, big rigs, Sigur Ros, the comic icon Don Rickles, an Iraqi filmmaker/ his American mentor and mayhem, superheroes, the history of the horror genre, extreme skiing, David Lynch, and one of the sweetest love stories you'll ever see with an animated horse and kitty.

After this is all over, what's the first thing you're going to do? Go to a spa and forget my name.