Editor

The President, Board of Directors of the Arab Film Festival in the USA! :

"Dear Friends and Supporters of the Arab Film Festival,

I am delighted to announce the hiring of our new executive director, Mr. David Andrusia. This was a very competitive process as we had over 50 talented applicants and a very intensive review process. After careful consideration and many interviews, David overwhelming emerged as the best candidate. I am pleased to say that David has accepted the position and will officially start on March 1st, 2012. Until then David will work part-time as he becomes acquainted with our staff and community.

David was bitten by the film festival bug while in graduate school in Philadelphia, where he worked at the city's only experimental film/video center.  Sidelined by student loans, he spent ten years in the corporate world, where he developed and managed international brands at Revlon, Sanrio, and Swatch.  Mission accomplished, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film programming and marketing.

After serving as head of marketing for New Line's home entertainment division, he plunged into the film festival world.  David spent seven years with the Silver Lake Film Festival, where he served as marketing and programming chief and developed the annual Sustainable L.A. event commended by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council President Eric Garcetti.  He has also held management roles at the Beverly Hills Film Festival, where he was managing director, and Artivist Film Festival, of which he was festival director.  David earned his bachelor's at Columbia and the Sorbonne, followed by a master's in communications and marketing at Penn's Annenberg and Wharton Schools. He is fluent in French, German, Spanish, and Italian, and tries his best at Portuguese.

David is also the author of 12 books, including Brand Yourself and The Perfect Pitch; his work has been profiled by The New York Times, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and CBS' The Early Show. As a journalist, he has contributed to Interview, Details, New York Daily News, and many other print and online media.  He is presently at work on a book on the American expatriate experience.

With his extensive background in film, film festivals, and marketing the Arab Film Festival is poised to reach even greater levels of exposure and success. AFF is generally recognized as North America's leading presenter of films by Arab filmmakers and the Arab experience.  Our goal, as we move forward, is to provide additional showcases for filmmakers throughout North America, and to solidify our place as a major source of screening, distribution, and discussion for Arab-directed and -related films. With David's arrival, we are one step closer to reaching this goal. I want to thank the AFF Board-Jumana Muwafi, Emily Katz-Kishawi, Mathilda Khabbaz, Shadi Elkarra and our search committee chairwoman, Zeena Fakoury -for their tireless work and dedication to this process.

I am confident that David's selection positions the AFF for future greatness and success as we move forward and build on our history. Please join me in welcoming David to the AFF and to a fantastic year of film.

Sincerely,"

Jess Ghannam

President, Board of Directors

Arab Film Festival

David Andrusia