After an international search, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival had only to look in its own backyard for a new executive director. Bay Area filmmaker and film educator Lexi Leban has been chosen to run the venerable Bay Area Jewish cultural institution.
Leban replaces Peter Stein, who stepped down last month after an eight-year tenure. She takes over the job on Nov. 7.
“We are so excited to have Lexi join us,” said Dana Doron, president of the film festival board. “She’s got a wonderful mix of leadership experience, film knowledge, and a passion for bringing the best of Jewish culture from around the world to our community.”
Leban, who lives in Oakland, is academic director of the digital filmmaking and video production program at the Art Institute of California in San Francisco. She is a graduate of Barnard College and has a fine arts master’s degree in cinema from San Francisco State University.
Her feature documentary “Girl Trouble,” about three teenagers in the juvenile justice system, won best Bay Area documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2004 and aired on the PBS series “Independent Lens.” She is currently working on a film about marriage equality.
Since 2005, Leban has been a member of New Day Films, a filmmaker-run educational distribution company. She also worked at the Mill Valley and San Francisco international film festivals and was a board member of the Film Arts Foundation.
Leban is also a longtime S.F. Jewish Film Festival fan. “She discovered the festival right after she moved [to the Bay Area] in 1990,” Doron said. “She felt that she really connected to her Jewish roots through a lot of what she learned, saw and discussed at the festival.”