Essential SF

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Shaun Farley attended Binghamton University in New York, where he doubled in History and Anthropology before realizing sound was where his interests really lay. He then attended Emerson College in Boston, where he earned a Master’s in Visual and Media Arts and was drawn to sound for film and television. His audio post career began in 2004 at WGBH in Boston, carried him to the Washington, DC area, and ultimately led to Skywalker Sound in 2014. Throughout his career, he has been a passionate advocate for the impact sound can have in storytelling. This has led to speaking engagements at AES conventions and The Smithsonian, as well as editorial leadership with the website DesigningSound.org. Shaun continues to work with Skywalker, and regularly advises emerging filmmakers on ways they can take advantage of sound in their films.

Allegra Madsen is the Executive Director of Frameline, the world’s largest and longest-running LGBTQ+ film festival and the only nonprofit LGBTQ+ film distributor globally. She holds an MA in Curating from California College of the Arts and rose through Frameline’s own curatorial ranks, serving as Director of Programming before becoming Executive Director. Earlier in her career, she was a founding programmer of PROXY, an outdoor cinema in San Francisco, and later Director of Programming at The Bayview Opera House, where she focused on creating cultural programming with and in San Francisco’s last Black neighborhood, including the Black Light Cinema screening series. Under her leadership, Frameline has built industry initiatives connecting LGBTQ+ filmmakers, programmers, and distributors to the resources essential for sustainable careers in film. She approaches this work with a clear conviction: Queer cinema functions as infrastructure and generative friction, not cultural amenity. That thesis shapes both her programming and public voice alike. Her leadership beyond Frameline includes seven-figure foundation relations, strategic venue partnerships, and service on international festival panels and juries, including the Teddy Award at Berlinale.

The Lee Neighborhood Theatres started in 1992 with the opening of the 4 Star Theatre in the Richmond District in San Francisco. The Presidio Theatre followed in 2004 and Marina Theatre opened in 2008. Frank Lee and his wife Lida have specialized in first-run bookings featuring Asian films during the early ‘90s with an emphasis in films from Hong Kong and Mainland China.

Bay Area audiences were introduced to these films on a traditional open-ended run at the 4 Star. Additionally, an annual New Asian Film Series was organized and continued for eight years featuring hard-to-find Asian films from the Far East. Currently, the Presidio and Marina Theatres on Chestnut Street primarily screen current Hollywood film releases and independent films.

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