Hot Springs Documentary Film Fest names Jennifer Gerber interim executive director
by June 28, 2017 11:58 am 1,109 views
The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Board of Directors has hired Jennifer Gerber to serve as interim executive director for the annual festival.
Director Courtney Pledger left earlier this year after being selected by Gov. Asa Hutchinson to lead the Arkansas Educational Television Network. She will stay on at the festival in a consulting role, according to a press release from the festival.
Gerber joined the film festival staff five years ago as a projectionist. She served as media team director from 2014 to 2015 and tech director in 2016.
She will lead the search for a permanent executive director, according to the release.
“We are so grateful that Jen is willing to take the lead on the 2017 HSDFF and keep this transition as smooth as possible,” HSDFF Board Chairman Don Gooch said in the release. “Her experience will help us continue to stage the well-regarded festival that our patrons have come to expect.”
The 2017 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival is scheduled for Oct. 6-15.
Gerber is also a curator for the Arkansas Shorts film festival and director of the University of Central Arkansas Film Festival.
She served in 2015 as print traffic manager and tech director for the Eureka Springs Indie Film Festival and as media team director for the Little Rock Film Festival that same year.
Gerber received her bachelor’s degree in arts, film and video from Columbia College Chicago and her master’s in fine arts, film writing and directing, from Columbia University.
At Columbia, she served as interim festival director for the Columbia University Film Festival in 2013, assistant director 2011 to 2012 and media director in 2010, according to her resume.
Gerber also serves as assistant professor and undergraduate coordinator at the University of Central Arkansas and creative mentor for Sundance Film Festival and Native Filmmaking Lab.
She served as creative director for the School of Creative and Performing Arts in Los Angeles and New York City from 2010 to 2016, according to her resume.