Genevieve Villaflor Named Sag Harbor Cinema’s New Executive Director

The Sag Harbor Cinema Arts Center and its executive committee have approved the appointment of Genevieve Villaflor as its new executive director.

Throughout her career, Villaflor has been involved with film festivals, non-profit organizations, and specialty publicity firms, working in programming, PR, fundraising, special events, and artist support. After college at the University of Virginia, she worked on early editions of the Virginia Film Festival before moving to New York City to start a 15-year tenure at Film at Lincoln Center (then The Film Society of Lincoln Center) during the opening of the Walter Reade Theater. While there, she held positions in PR, programming, and development, starting programs like Independents Night, the Grand Marnier Film Fellowships, and selecting shorts for the New York Film Festival.

Over the years, she served on juries, lectured on film festivals, and attended Rotterdam, Cannes, Toronto, San Francisco, and Sundance — where she was on the advisory committee for features and documentaries from 1995-1998. In addition to working at The Hamptons International Film Festival, Film Movement, and Sundance Channel, Villaflor most recently worked at The Gotham, where she managed the IFP/HBO New True Stories Funding Initiative, supporting non-fiction projects in the early development stage.

“I am deeply honored to have been selected as SHCAC’s executive director,” said Villaflor. “Having worked with this incredible team for the past five months in an unofficial capacity, I can’t wait to continue supporting the East End community with the efforts put on by The Sag Harbor Cinema.”

Sag Harbor Cinema Board President John Alschuler added, “Genevieve has been working tirelessly alongside the rest of the team at the cinema through the early days of our reopening and we couldn’t be more grateful for her support. I look forward to her continued interactions with the board as well as with our community. Genevieve’s experience and expertise have been a great asset to the team, and we are thrilled to celebrate her official appointment.”

During the few months she has been acting executive director, Villaflor has hired a new CFO, Ana Dezso, and a new technical director, Sara Meyers, to support the programming of Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, the founding artistic director of SHCAC, as well as the many and varied projects and initiatives in development at the cinema. She has also steered the organization through its first major fundraising event, The Great Un-Gala in collaboration with The Church, and hosting Hamptons International Film Festival screenings at the cinema earlier this month. Next month, SHCAC will be presenting an ambitious first annual preservation weekend called “Martin Scorsese presents The Sag Harbor Cinema Festival of Preservation” from November 19-22.