Board of Directors & Staff

Paul Metchik - Board 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 and is currently in post-production. His daughter Ariana just finished a 2 1/2 year stint in the Peace Corps in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. This is Paul’s third year with the SLO International Film Festival.

Kristy Wilson - Board Vice-President
Born and raised in San Jose, Kristy moved to San Luis Obispo in 1987. She has always loved film and worked in a theatre in high school and college. Kristy has been involved with several non-profits in the community, most notably the San Luis Obispo Little Theatre where she served for 16 years. Her last assignment at The Little Theatre was as its president and she received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 for her many years of contribution. When she is not watching movies or going to the theatre, Kristy is a Credit and Collections Consultant at Glenn, Burdette, Phillips & Bryson. She is in her Second Term as a Board member and has been a regular festival attendee for 12 years.

Rick Totah - Board Treasurer
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.

Mary Walker - Board Secretary
Mary is old enough to remember going to the kiddie matinee on Saturday and watching cartoons, a serial installment and two movies.  Great stuff.  When she first attended the Film Festival in 1993, she knew she wanted to be involved and now her dream has come true.  Mary is also in love with live theatre and has been active with the San Luis Obispo Little Theatre for many years in capacities on stage, back stage and serving as Board secretary. She is the Props Mistress for Pacific Repertory Opera and works with the on-call tech crew at the Performing Arts Center. Mary has been a Central Coast resident since 1990.  Her day job is as a legal assistant for a local law firm. 

Charles Crellin - Board Member
Charles Crellin has been a Director of Marketing and Public Relations for over 20 years. He has worked for numerous non-profits and corporations, including the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the Santa Barbara Writer's Conference, Wood's Humane Society, Rancho Arroyo Grande Winery, International Aviation Network-Corporate Jet Charter, Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort and Two Bunch Palms Resort. As a journalist, he has written essays and reviews for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Westways magazine, L.A. Weekly, the Santa Barbara News-Press, the San Francisco Review of Books, and The Tribune. Charles also teaches aikido, a Japanese martial arts, on the Central Coast.

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.

Joette Eisengart - Board Member
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 first as a member of the Board.    

Paul Karlen - Board Member
Paul Karlen, B.S. Graphic Communications with a concentration in Printing Technology, oversees all design and print production at Karlen Designs. His talent for delivering creative solutions for clients has established a reputation as one of the premier design firms in San Luis Obispo. In addition to his design and graphic skills, Paul has successfully photographed products for dozens of catalogs using digital technology. Paul was chosen by Scitex Corporation to beta-test the Leaf, one of the first high resolution digital cameras to hit the market. Karlen Design has a 23-year working relationship with the mail order catalog CCS. CCS is the world’s largest retail mail-order catalog to Generation-Y boys. Paul has served two terms as Nobel Grand of the San Luis Obispo, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In this leadership role, he has helped to raise and contribute money to local charities.

Melanie Lemons - Board Member
Melanie is one of the newest members to the board having joined 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.

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.

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.

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 is finally pursuing her dream to write, shoot, and edit her own productions in her 'spare time' and completed her first documentary, "Real Men Knit" in 2007. When she's not watching or making movies, she's playing tennis, walking dogs or helping with local theatre productions. Her two children are active in theatre and sports and are also avid movie buffs.

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