OUT OF THE ASHES

Hello to Our Fellow Film Lovers:

In December, we shared news about the dire state of the Ashland Independent Film Festival (AIFF), mired in debt and with no staff.  We shared that a new group of volunteers had banded together to resurrect the Festival. Rather than declare bankruptcy and try to start something new, which would have hurt local businesses and individuals in our community, we launched a fundraising campaign, challenging our supporters to help us raise $150,000 so that we could begin to pay off our creditors and lay the foundation for the Film Festival to return in 2024. 

To date we’ve raised approximately $125,000 of the $150,000 we immediately need. (We are endlessly grateful to the many donors who put their faith in us!)  While we didn’t meet our stated goal, the breadth of support and comments we received along the way made it very clear that AIFF is an arts institution that is truly valued and supported in Ashland and beyond. You want the Film Festival back. And so do we. 

Here’s the good news. Despite falling short of our initial goal, we have begun planning for a Film Festival in 2024. This will require creativity, continued financial support, and the help of our most valuable resource, our volunteers. In the recent past we’ve had as many as 350 volunteers in any given year, and we’re going to need our volunteers this year more than ever. We’ve already conducted meetings with some key individuals, and we will continue to do so, learning from them, sharing our plans, and working together to rebuild. With limited budget for staff, we’ll need volunteers to help in a myriad of ways, beyond even what we’ve required in the past. If you have been a volunteer before or are willing to invest your time with us now, please reach out.  

We are planning for the Festival to be held October 3rd to 6th, 2024. Moving the Festival to the Fall will give us time to build back our capacity, reconnect with volunteers and the local business community, and raise additional funds through memberships, donations, corporate sponsorships and grants. Fall is also a wonderful time to showcase Ashland and the Rogue Valley in all its beauty—and filmmakers equally love the Fall festival season.

If you haven’t yet made a financial contribution, please consider helping us cross the finish line on our $150,000 goal. We still need your help!  Click here to donate now!

We have a lot of work to do between now and October, and we’re going to need all the help we can get. Here’s a snapshot of the steps we’re taking to revitalize AIFF:

  • We’ve reached an agreement with some of our creditors to pay our debt back over time.   We can afford limited paid staff (far less than in years past), so we are building a lean organization that includes both part-time help and volunteers (along with our volunteer board of directors). The new AIFF will be nimble and built for long term financial stability. Next month we will launch our membership drive and announce a call for corporate sponsors to support a year-round slate of screenings and events. In March, we will also re-engage our awesome screening and programming teams and begin our outreach to key partners including hospitality vendors, restaurants, film venues, wineries and Southern Oregon businesses. In April we will announce a call for submissions from filmmakers. Finally, it is our intention to make the AIFF office on East Main into a vibrant community meeting place. Expect art installations, regular film showings, and panel discussions.

    It’s going to be a busy year. Along the way we will continue to be transparent about where we are and what we need, so that you know what to expect and how you can help. This is a cooperative effort. Our plans for the 2024 Festival are just getting underway, and we hope you will join us on the journey. The first week of October promises to be an exciting time to be in Ashland. We hope to share with you and the film community all the bounty Ashland has to offer: food, wine, music, community spirit, and independent film!

    Thanks for your (continued) support. Stay tuned!
     
    Jim Fredericks, Executive Director

Meet the TEAM

  • Jim Fredericks, Executive Director

    Jim is a seasoned business executive, having run Human Resources and Administration for Nike, Coors, and RadioShack. He also helped establish a company to ensure the safe and ethical reuse, recycling and reclamation of wireless devices and the materials they made of. Prior to his corporate work he had been a consultant to Boards of Directors and Senior Management in the areas of leadership development, executive compensation, and Mergers and Acquisitions. Since leaving the business world, Jim has been heavily involved in the nonprofit arts world, leading turnaround efforts at the Van Cliburn Foundation, Britt Festivals, and the Camelot Theatre in Talent. He and his wife and youngest son live in Ashland.

  • Lisa Greene, Director of Operations

    Lisa has returned to her position as Director of Operations after leaving the AIFF staff in early 2022. During her hiatus, Lisa continued to work with the organization as a Volunteer checking email accounts and helping with several events.

    She brings a wide variety of experience and skills to AIFF, including customer service, database management, design, IT trouble-shooting, and more. Lisa comes from a long career in retail management and has worked with several Rogue Valley non-profits. She’s happy to be back with the AIFF Team! Lisa and her husband Aaron have lived in Ashland since meeting in college in Ashland. They have an adult daughter in the area wine business.

  • Colin Bishopp, Board Chair

    Colin Bishopp is the CEO of Allectrify, a climate tech company. Previously, Colin led the national trade association PACENation and was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve at the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2016, Colin received a Fulbright to lead a seminar on clean energy finance at the University of Cape Town. Colin earned his master's degree from the University of Chicago and his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

  • Gary Kout, Board Vice President

    A graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Gary is a professional filmmaker, working on everything from commercials and corporate to narratives and documentaries over his 30+ year career. He has filmed all over the country in dozens of states and around the globe in over 15 countries. His work has premiered at SXSW, Telluride, and AIFF, and screened at festivals worldwide. A 20 year resident of Ashland, he is the founder of Film Southern Oregon, a non-profit that serves to connect and strengthen the Southern Oregon film and media community.

  • Carol Davis, Board Treasurer

    Carol is a business executive and architect specializing in retail architecture. With over 30+ years in the profession, she has led store design and construction teams at Gap, Gymboree, Harry and David and recently Pet Food Express.

    With her husband, she ran Davis and Cline Galleries here in Ashland and has been active in the local visual art scene since 1997, serving on the Public Arts Commission and on the Ashland

    Gallery Association board as Treasurer. She also has been active serving Ashland schools over the years; serving on the School Board and multiple district committees including the budget committee.

  • Andy Bertell, Board Secretary

    Andrew Bertell is a psychotherapist in private practice in Ashland, OR. He has served as a presenter and board member for the Baltimore Psychoanalytic Film Festival and a board member of the Baltimore Society for Psychoanalytic Studies. Andrew attended graduate school at the University of Chicago and completed post-graduate training and fellowships with the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis and the Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis + Psychotherapy. He has worked as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist for 15 years and resides in the Rogue Valley with his wife and son.

  • Carina Kolodny, Board Member

    Carina Kolodny is a seasoned communications consultant, multi-modal storyteller, and ghostwriter. Kolodny was the Director of Multimedia at HuffPost. Kolodny’s reporting on sexual violence on college campuses was recognized by then Vice President Joe Biden as “pivotal in ensuring more survivors will ask for help.” Kolodny co-hosted HuffPost's chart-topping Love&Sex podcast, which received Rolling Stone's coveted "must listen" ranking. Prior to her roles at HuffPost, Kolodny worked for MTV International and Hearst Magazines. Kolodny received an Emmy nomination for Creative Direction on "The Crossing," a virtual reality film and immersive reporting series hosted by Susan Sarandon.

  • Nisha Burton, Board Member

    Nisha has been a filmmaker for over 15 years. Having grown up in Southern Oregon she has been commissioned by organizations like The Oregon Humanities Council and numerous foundations to make documentary films about Oregon’s history centering on the experiences and stories of BIPOC residents. Her films have been featured in the Ashland Independent Film Festival and one of her most recent films about the fires in Southern Oregon that destroyed 2,800 homes and affected so many lives was able to reach thousands of people during its festival run and was featured on SO PBS.

  • Mike Dempsey, Board Member

    Michael Dempsey is a veteran of the book publishing industry, having served many roles in editorial and production for a variety of prominent publishing houses on both coasts. He was most recently managing editor for Timber Press, a division of Hachette Book Group based in Portland, OR. He has a master’s degree in literature from University College London and a bachelor’s degree from Binghamton University in upstate NY. Michael is an avid organizer, and has hosted many community events, including indoor and outdoor film screenings, concerts, and road and trail races. He is an on-again, off-again ultrarunner, a lapsed musician, and a happy new dad, and lives in the woods in Ashland with his wife and daughter.

  • Aubry Hollingshead, Board Member

    New AIFF Board Member - bio coming soon.

ABOUT US

Our Mission

Celebrate the diversity of human experience through the art of independent film by enriching, educating, and inspiring all audiences.

Our vision

To cultivate the foremost festival experience, recognized throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond, for bringing audiences and filmmakers together through a shared appreciation of the power of independent film.

our values

Excellence, Inspiration, Sustainability, Community, Integrity, Inclusion.

our history

The non-profit Southern Oregon Film Society was founded in 2001 and produces the nationally acclaimed Ashland Independent Film Festival (AIFF), as well as educational and cultural programs for more than 10,000 patrons annually.

SOFS was founded by Steve Wood (Executive Director), D.W. Wood (Creative Director) and Pokii Roberts (Founding Board Member), with support from John C. Schweiger, Coming Attractions Theaters (Founding Advisor and Benefactor). They established what are now AIFF traditions including free forums and screenings, strong ties with Southern Oregon University, gallery exhibits, and a focus on independent film at our home base, the beautiful art-deco Varsity Theater. 

The AIFF has grown from an all-volunteer organization to one with six year-round and a dozen seasonal staff, governed by a 12-member board and supported by a 13-member advisory council. Each year, more than 370 community members donate 10,000 volunteer hours to complement the efforts of the dedicated staff.