Board of Directors & Staff

Paul Metchik - President
Paul Metchik is an attorney in San Luis Obispo, specializing in real estate and business transactions and tax planning. He loves film and has supported the performing arts in SLO County for many years, through his family's involvement. Sons Aaron and Asher have performed in numerous plays, and his wife Robyn is the drama teacher at Paulding and Mesa Middle Schools and Nipomo High School in south county. Paul has done everything from promoting the shows, to loading scenery, to buying pizza for the cast. Paul also recently experienced the ‘art of filmmaking’ as the Executive Producer of TEN YEARS LATER, an independent feature film, written and directed by Aaron, which was shot entirely on the Central Coast of California. This is Paul’s fifth year with the SLO International Film Festiva and his fourth year as President.

Rick Totah - Vice President
Rick has loved movies ever since he was young. He says he became a true film afficianado when he saw CASABLANCA on the big screen in college. After the first time he saw it, he went back the next night and watched it again. He enjoys all genres of film, from guilty pleasures to foreign films to independents. His fondness for film drew him to the festival Board. Rick has been a resident of San Luis Obispo for 14 years and is in his second term as a Board member. He just finished serving two years as Treasurer.

Joette Eisengart - Treasurer
Originally from Santa Monica, Joette Eisengart has lived in San Luis Obispo County, and been an active community member, since 1973. For more than 20 years, she and her husband owned and operated several garden center businesses throughout the County, during which time Joette had the honor of becoming personally acquainted with legendary filmmaker King Vidor, who had been a frequent customer of their Paso Robles business.  Because of her love of the movies and filmmaking, getting to know Mr. Vidor during this time was nothing short of nirvana to her. 
For the past 20 years, Joette has worked at Cal Poly State University, currently serving as executive assistant to the vice president and analyst/specialist for the Division of Student Affairs.  In 2006, she received the Division?s prestigious Chandler Award for outstanding service to students and the profession.  Naturally drawn to the SLOIFF because of her passion for film, she served as a 2008 Festival volunteer, helping to coordinate the King Vidor Retrospective, The Man Who Was King. This year will be Joette's third year as a member of the Board.

Susan Minker - Secretary
Susan hails from the east (born in Manhattan, raised in Queens) but has gradually and gratefully worked her way to California. After graduating from Brown as an English major she spent a year in India on a Fulbright and a year in Amsterdam teaching at an international school. She returned to New York and was assistant editor of Evergreen Review (Grove Press) until moving to Boston to attend medical school. After completing her training in diagnostic radiology she moved to Tucson where she was the only female partner in a 30-“man” group. She and (her now late) husband Allen moved to the Central Coast at the end of the last millennium. She has served on the county Health Commission and on the boards of the SLO Symphony and Hearst Cancer Resource Center, but says THIS (SLOIFF) is the BEST! She lives with her two standard poodles in Los Osos.

Denise Dudley - Board Member
After earning a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, Denise Dudley worked as a field therapist, psychiatric hospital administrator and AIDS educator. Her focus on adult education led her to public speaking in the areas of mental health, assertiveness training, communication, self-esteem, leadership and managerial skills and women's issues. She is the author of several books, including Every Woman's Guide to Career Success, now in its fifth printing, and Simon and Shuster's best-selling audio tape, entitled Making Relationships Last. In 1989, Denise formed a partnership with Jerry Brown and founded SkillPath Seminars that quickly grew to become the world's largest public seminar company. In 1993, they decided to sell the company to Graceland University and Denise is still a board member of both organizations. She resides on the Central Coast with her two children and makes her living as a rancher, writer and business consultant. A long-time film devotee, she is delighted to get involved in the SLOIFF and share her passion for the arts and professional skills.

Bruce Ekmanian - Board Member
Bio coming...

Scott Laycock - Board Member
Scott was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Bay Area.  He was introduced to the Central Coast while attending UCSB. He holds a degree in Business Economics from Santa Barbara and a graduate degree in Banking from The Pacific Coast Banking School at The University of Washington. He now works as a Regional Manager for Rabobank here in San Luis Obispo County. While not working at the Bank, Scott is an active musician in the area. He has played in several orchestras for musicals including SOUTH PACIFIC and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, additionally he has been involved with The San Luis Obispo Little Theatre, again as a musician for their productions of “Ring of Fire, a Musical Tribute to Johnny Cash” and “Only the Lonely, a Musical Tribute to Roy Orbison”. He’s also played with several local Bands and is currently a member of “The Route 66 Band”. In addition to being a fan of musicals, Scott counts as his favorite movies, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT ,THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING and anything with Clint Eastwood in it.

Melanie Lemons - Board Member
Melanie joined the SLOIFF Board in October, 2008. She has been an avid fan of science fiction, independent and foreign films for many years but enjoys any genre if it means being able to go to the movies. Melanie graduated from Cal Poly with a BS in Industrial Engineering as well as a MBA. She has worked with several non-profits concentrating on fundraising and event planning. Melanie happily escaped back to San Luis Obispo in 1997 after working in the Bay Area after 10 years.

Sandra Sansoni - Board Member
Sandra Sansoni is a Mortgage Banker in San Luis Obispo, specializing in residential real estate loans, and an active, Central Coast community member.  She is the Assistant Executive Director of AmpSurf – Association of Amputee Surfers, a Board member of the Rotary Club of Grover Beach and is a seven year member of Strategic Alliance – Five Cities, a business networking group she helped launch. She enjoys all genres of film, loves the whole movie experience and is thrilled to get involved with the SLOIFF. She believes that the SLOIFF is another stellar example of why the Central Coast is such a diverse and great place to live.

Neil Travis - Board Member
Neil Travis, a Film Editor, won an Academy Award and an Eddie Award in 1990 for his work on Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning Best Picture, DANCES WITH WOLVES. He more recently edited Tom Clancy’s contemporary suspense dramas THE SUM OF ALL FEARS, CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER, and PATRIOT'S GAME, as well as THE EDGE, STEPMOM, ALONG CAME A SPIDER, TERMINATOR 3 and I ROBOT. His first feature film editing assignment came with Mark Rydell’s THE REIVERS, followed by THE COWBOYS starring John Wayne. He was soon one of the busiest editors in the industry, with credits including MOL FLANDERS, NO WAY OUT, COCKTAIL, CUJO, JAWS 2 and many more. In addition to his extensive feature film work, Neil served as editor on a large number of television features including THE ATLANTA CHILD MURDERS and the acclaimed mini-series ROOTS for which he won an Emmy Award. Neil was born in Los Angeles and received a Bachelor of Arts and Theatre Arts from UCLA.

Elizabeth White - Board Member
Elizabeth attended the SLOIFF for the first time in 2007. The following year she decided to volunteer and served as the “Wine Wrangler” for the next three years before ultimately joining the board. She loves to write, cook, wine taste, travel, watch movies, and occasionally run endurance events. Elizabeth has a background in dance, holds a B.A. in Anthropology from CSUS, and lived in rural Japan for three years while teaching English with the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. Upon moving to San Luis Obispo several years ago, she obtained a Paralegal Certificate from Cal Poly’s Extended Education Program and currently works in real estate development. She served as the volunteer Media Coordinator for the Southern California JET Alumni Association for almost two years, and some of her adventures in Japan have been published in Sushi and Sake Magazine. She is also the author of the SLO County food and wine blog, Elizabeth in SLO. She appreciates many film genres but is drawn to documentaries, as she truly believes that truth is stranger than fiction.

Advisory Board

Josh Brolin
The SLOIFF is delighted to welcome actor/director, Josh Brolin, to the SLOIFF Advisory Board. Josh has roots in the Central Coast area, having grown up in Templeton, CA before moving to Los Angeles as a teenager. In a high school production there he caught the acting bug, which led him to his feature film debut in Steven Spielberg's GOONIES. That role led to many more in movies and television, including a long-lasting TV series, "The Young Riders". While on hiatus from that show he co-founded the Reflections Festival at the GeVa Theatre in Rochester, NY, giving him the opportunity to act and direct. More movie roles came his way and he honed his craft in film, TV and theatre. In 2000, Brolin made his Broadway debut in Sam Shepard's TRUE WEST (some of the cast wore caps from Templeton Grain and Feed in the show.)

His appearance in GRINDHOUSE marked the beginning of a career rebirth that saw Brolin landing roles worthy of his untapped talents. A small but memorable role in IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH followed and the next two films, AMERICAN GANGSTER and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN launched Josh Brolin into the spotlight. New roles in Sean Penn's MILK and Oliver Stone's, W ensure that he will be in the spotlight for many years to come. He has recently begun directing and appeared at the 2008 SLOIFF for a screening of his first short film, X, starring his daughter Eden Brolin and Vincent Riverside.

Jim Dee
Jim was born in Hackensack, NJ and lived for short stints in Nevada, New Mexico and southern California, before ending up in San Luis Obispo in 1965. During Jr. High, High School and as a journalism major at Cal Poly, Jim spent 90% of his time at Cal Poly’s radio station, KCPR. As a college student, he started an on-again off-again film club called The Cinema Zoo with artist (and current SLOIFF board member) Paul Karlen, who went on to design the Rainbow Theatre and Palm Theatre logos. Jim opened the single-screened Rainbow Theatre in 1979 in San Luis Obispo and owned and managed it until it closed in 1989. He opened The Palm Theatre in August 1988, and since them it has become the home of the SLO International Film Festival, and is now one of the only solar-operated movie theatres in the world. Jim was one of the original founders of the SLOIFF and we are delighted to have him on the Advisory Board.

Steve Leone
Raised by two film-loving parents in various California towns, Steve Leone moved to the San Luis Obispo area in 1998 from Fresno to take a job as a full-time English instructor at Cuesta College. Before then, he enjoyed work as a disc jockey, a weekly columnist, a concert promoter, a radio music director, and a facilitation trainer. Since receiving tenure at Cuesta in 2002 teaching composition, film and literature, Steve has found the time to learn surfing and travel abroad. Steve also co-edits Cuesta’s annual student literary journal TELLUS and is the co-organizer of a monthly film and discussion series for Cuesta faculty and staff called "Flex Flicks." Steve brings to the Festival a passion for independent, character-driven films, and he considers himself a life-long learner and a student of world cinema. He was on the Festival Board for six years and was President of the Board for three of those years.

Phil May
Phil May has over 35 years experience in television production, creating highly stylized programming, advertising and marketing campaigns for a long list of national and international clients. As a staff television producer, Phil received a prime time Emmy nomination for "Disney’s Wonderful World" television series. In 1986, Phil established Associated Images, a successful entertainment concern. As CEO of AI, he’s created programming and advertising campaigns for such clients as Universal/MCA, 20th Century Fox Films, Fox and F/X Networks, Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, HBO, the television networks, King World and many more. Phil is a proud member of the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America and the Publicists Guild of America.

John Sorgenfrei
John Sorgenfrei is the owner and president of Tom Jones & Associates. TJA is one of the oldest and largest full service marketing firms on the Central Coast. John graduated from the School of Journalism at the University of Southern California and has been involved in the advertising agency business for over twenty-eight years. John has served as a Branch Manager for several national and international advertising agencies in Southern California.

Cathy Henderson Martin
Bio coming

Norman Jewison
Bio coming

James Cromwell
Bio coming

Barbara George
Bio coming

Staff

Wendy Eidson, Festival Director
Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Wendy got her first job at 14 as a production assistant on a television series, and that was it…she was hooked. After graduation from college and a short stint at art school, she began working full-time as an assistant director, working on many film and TV productions, including A CHRISTMAS STORY, SUSPECT, A NEW LIFE, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS and many more. Wendy met her husband, Tim, while traveling in the South Pacific and in 1989, they moved to San Luis Obispo to start a family and a mail-order food business called Mo Hotta - Mo Betta. They successfully grew the business, selling it in 2000. From 2001-2004, Wendy was the Executive Director of the SLO Little Theatre, and a year later became the Artistic Director of the SLOIFF. In 2007, she became the festival's director. Wendy finally had the chance to write, shoot, and edit her first short documentary, "Real Men Knit" in 2007 and hopes to have time for more creative pursuits in the near future. When she's not watching movies, she's playing tennis, walking dogs or helping with local theatre productions. Her two children are active in theatre, music and sports and are also avid movie buffs.

Nancy Ross-Joynt - Assistant to the Director
Bio coming...

San Luis Obispo International Film Festival

Phone 805-546-FILM (3456) or send email

© 2008 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. View Privacy Policy
Web Hosting by Clever Concepts. Web Design by Stuart Mason Helmintoller.