Sam Whiting January 19, 2021Updated: January 20, 2021, 11:40 am
Jessie Fairbanks is the new director of programming for SFFilm, the nonprofit located in the Presidio that produces the San Francisco International Film Festival. Photo: SFFilm
When Anne Lai was hired as executive director of SFFilm last January, the first task she set out for herself was to find a director of programming to replace Rachel Rosen, who for 11 years curated the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Unforeseen events got in the way of that hire, mainly last year’s cancellation of the festival for the first time in its 63-year history. Now one day shy of a year Jessie Fairbanks has been named the new director of programming, SFFilm officials announced Tuesday, Jan. 19. Selected from a pool of 100 candidates, Fairbanks, 37, brings an extensive resume as a freelance programmer in Chicago, New York and about everywhere else in between.