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Sonoma Film Festival close to grant match, adds new chairman, six new board members

Sonoma International Film Festival recently announced that it has raised 85 percent of a $100,000 matching challenge grant and added six new board members, selecting Scott Ware as new board chairman.

The festival's 15th anniversary is set for April 11-15.

The new funding will be used to help the festival attract higher quality films for both its April festival and year-round cinema programming. It will allow the festival to increase its staff and hire a marketing director to continue building membership in the film society and help the festival attract more non-local visitors.

The 2012 festival will include a tribute to the Latino community with a special "festival within a festival" La Quinceañera Film Festival, featuring Spanish language films staged at the Boys and Girls Club. Claudia Mendoza-Caruth is in charge of that portion of the festival.

McNeely said the festival is also hoping to broaden its 2012 lineup of films made by women for women. In addition, film industry leaders will be invited to participate in two new panels -- a screenwriters “Script-to-Screen” panel and another panel on “How to Finance and Distribute Your Film.”

Behind the scenes of it all is the work of the 14-member film society board, which provides direction, oversight and fund-raising support, and now includes six new members: Adam Boucher, Diana Bugg, Roark Hoffman, Ted Judson, Allen ‘Skip’ Olinger, and Scott Ware, who was recently elected to serve as chairman.

"I am honored to lead an incredibly distinguished board and help it guide and support the film festival at this exciting time," said Ware.  "During my involvement with the festival this past spring, it didn't take long for me to see just how much of an asset it is to the Sonoma Valley. I am happy to be part of an organization that provides opportunity for young people and improves the quality of life in its community."

The new members include: Adam Boucher, CEO of Adam Capital, Inc., of Sonoma, which provides investment opportunities in clean energy and other environmentally-conscious business ventures; Diana Bugg, corporate account executive at Hewlett Packard for Wells Fargo Bank. Ted Judson, marketing/brand development executive at Electronic Arts, one of the world's largest publishers of video games. Roark Hoffman, manager of the First Republic Bank branch in Napa. Allen ‘Skip’ Olinger, an investment manager for individual, trust and foundation portfolios and president of the Geraldine and Emory Ford Foundation, which funds projects in secondary education and the arts; Scott Ware, a communications and special projects consultant who moved to Sonoma from the Seattle area after a long career in the newspaper business. He served as a media consultant to the 2011 film festival and now lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children.

The new board members join McNeely and seven others who remain on the board: Alex Archbold, Nancy Bundschu, Leslie Carlson, Beth Fox, Kimberly Hughes, Jesse Levine and Lee Jay Olness, as well as board treasurer, Bill Jasper.

For more information call 933-2600 or go to www.sonomafilmfest.org.