Kate Barr, President/Treasurer, obtained a degree in Film Management from Columbia College, Chicago, back in the early 1990s. She delved briefly into Chicago’s commercial film production industry doing on-set production work before setting off to explore other industries and do some world traveling. She returned to the film industry in the early 2000s, this time in LA, working as a Controller for commercial productions. Kate moved to Seattle in 2009 where she joined the volunteers at The Grand Illusion Cinema and helped bring it back from the brink of closing. Today she works as the Business Manager for Scarecrow Video and is one of the founding members of The Scarecrow Project.

Currently recommending: MINUSCULE, Season 1. A French show, each episode five minutes in length, that blends animation, live action and incredible sound design. A veritable master class in how to use sound creatively and effectively.

Bucket list movie:  GREED – The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Brian Alter, Secretary, is a video editor at a Seattle advertising agency that isn’t evil. Since 2003 he has volunteered at Seattle arthouse cinema, The Grand Illusion. After a stint selling tickets and popcorn, he “volunteered” his way to the top, becoming a projectionist and, eventually, manager and lead programmer. He doesn’t think there will ever be a better exhibition format than 35mm film.

Currently recommending: MANAKAMANA

Bucket list movie: CRIME WAVE (John Paizs’ film, not Sam Raimi’s)

Zack Carlson is a writer/producer living in Austin, TX. His previous work includes THE AMERICAN SCREAM (named one of 2012’s best documentaries by Roger Ebert), where he was producer for director Michael Stephenson, as well as international horror anthology THE ABCs OF DEATH and independent comedy ZERO CHARISMA. He was a lead film programmer for the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, the Grand Illusion Cinema and Fantastic Fest for many years, and co-authored the book Destroy All Movies!!! He’s currently at work on multiple other features, including collaborations with Elijah Wood, Todd Rohal (THE CATECHISM CATACLYSM), Jim Hosking (RENEGADES), Jason Eisener (HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN), novelist Sam McPheeters (author of The Loom of Ruin) and the Zellner Brothers (KUMIKO THE TREASURE HUNTER). He owns over 4000 VHS tapes and doesn’t eat fruits or vegetables.

Currently recommending:  THE NEW CENTURIONS (Dir. Richard Fleischer; 1972) – One of the most honest, unflinching and deeply human portrayals of police (or people in general) captured on film. George C. Scott should have been beaten in the face with Oscars for what he accomplished here, and Stacy Keach and Scott Wilson are every bit as impressive. Really so good that it makes me angry. I’m gonna go kill somebody.

Bucket list movie: NOTHING LASTS FOREVER (Dir. Tom Schiller; 1984) – This is — without a doubt — one of the greatest and most unique movies I’ve ever seen. A hilarious, society-condemning, hobo-empowering, grandparent-respecting, space-traveling ode to living life properly. Innocently optimistic and beautifully misanthropic at the same time. Completed in 1984, it was never distributed and has never even been released on video. Write a letter to Warner Bros and demand that they release this so you can go rent it at Scarecrow.

Woods Fairbanks is a film archivist and investor who has hunted in the aisles of Scarecrow throughout the 21^st century. He works at UW Special Collections helping to preserve film & video, and is a director of Layalina Productions, which produces award-winning films and television series that bridge the divide between the Arab world and the United States.

Currently recommending:  BEN-HUR (1925)

Bucket list movie: THE STUNT MAN

Daniel Herbert is an associate professor in Screen Arts and Cultures at the University of Michigan.  His research is devoted to understanding relationships between the media industries, geography, and cultural identities.  He is the author of Videoland: Movie Culture at the American Video Store (UC Press, 2014). His essays appear in Canadian Journal of Film Studies, Creative Industries Journal, Film Quarterly, Millennium Film Journal, and Quarterly Review of Film and Video.

Currently recommending: BLACKHAT by Michael Mann.

Bucket list movie:  LA JETEE

Robert Horton is a member of the National Society of Film Critics and “Historian-Programmer in Residence” at Scarecrow. For many years he was film critic for Seattle Weekly and the Everett Herald, and a longtime contributor to Film Comment. In 2014 he ended a 10-year run as the curator of the Magic Lantern film-discussion program at the Frye Art Museum. He teaches film at the Seattle Film Institute, enjoyed a Fulbright Specialist visit to Romania, and has recently served on film festival juries in Odessa, Ukraine; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Mannheim-Heidelberg, Germany; and Brooklyn. His books include Frankenstein (Columbia University Press) and Billy Wilder: Interviews (University Press of Mississippi) as well as the zombie-Western graphic novel Rotten (Moonstone Books), and he blogs on movies at The Crop Duster (roberthorton.wordpress.com); his Twitter handle is @citizenhorton. In 2012 he curated the Museum of History & Industry’s “Celluloid Seattle: A City at the Movies” exhibit.

Currently recommending: LA SAPIENZA and A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE

Bucket list movie:  JULES AND JIM

Karl Woelfer developed his eclectic taste in film going to the original Art Deco Tower Theater in Sacramento, CA. He has been a loyal Scarecrow customer for 20 years, and intends to watch every movie in the France section. Film appearances include: live-audience member in THE DUB ROOM SPECIAL, a small walk-on part in SINGLES, and an uncredited extra in the bonfire scene of 21 AND OVER. He has worked as a guest-relations and special events volunteer for the Seattle International Film Festival over the last 10 years.

Currently recommending: EL CAMINO; THE IRISHMAN; WHERE’S MY ROY COHN?; MIDDLE MAN; BALLOON; THE SUNSHINE MAKERS; COLD WAR; DAVID CROSBY: REMEMBER MY NAME; WHATEVER HAPPENED TO MY REVOLUTION?; THE JOKER

Bucket List Movie: LIQUID SKY

Advisory Board Members:

Jennifer Roth is a 20+ year veteran of the film business. She has served as the executive/line producer on a number of films including THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, THE WRESTLER, YOUR SISTER’S SISTER, and BLACK SWAN. She currently curates a complicated life between her family in Seattle, career in NYC, and Abu Dhabi where she supposedly teaches film.

Currently recommending: THEEB

Bucket list movie: HIGH AND LOW. Maybe it’s all those years in production, but a movie made almost entirely in one location is a masterpiece.

Ryan & Brandy Fons. Fons PR, Inc is a boutique public relations firm specializing in film and entertainment clients with a focus on publicity, digital content strategy and event production. Clients include Alamo Drafthouse, ATX Television Festival, El Rey Network, Fantastic Fest, Lionsgate, Mondo, Rooster Teeth, STX Entertainment and The Weinstein Company. Fons PR was founded in 2010 by Brandy and Ryan Fons, who met while working at Walt Disney Studios in Los Angeles and collectively have over two decades of experience in film and entertainment PR.

Currently recommending: INSIDE OUT (Brandy), THE EDGE (Ryan)

Bucket list movie: ALMOST FAMOUS (Brandy), WAGES OF FEAR (Ryan)

Tim League graduated from Rice University in 1992 with degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Art/Art History. After a two-year stint at Shell Oil in Bakersfield, California, Tim turned his back on the engineering profession and opened up his first movie theater. In 1995 he headed to Austin to start the Alamo Drafthouse, where he remains as CEO today. League also co-founded Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the United States and has recently started a Drafthouse branded distribution label which released the critically acclaimed Jihadi-comedy FOUR LIONS in 2010. When asked about his early qualifications for opening a movie theater in the first place, “none, other than really liking movies, which I guess is the most important part.”

Currently recommending: Yorgos Lanthimos’ THE LOBSTER

Bucket list movie: Buster Keaton’s THE GENERAL