Starting in October, the Cinematheque and Department of Communication Arts will welcome Jim Healy to the position of Director of Programming. Jim brings a wealth of programming experience to the Cinematheque. Since 2001, he has been Assistant Curator in charge of film exhibitions in the Motion Picture Department of George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. Overseeing hundreds of individual programs annually in Eastman House’s historic Dryden Theatre, Jim has introduced Dryden audiences to thousands of films from all eras of film history and arranged for scores of visiting artists — from Richard Fleischer (director, Tora! Tora! Tora!) to Kathryn Bigelow (director, The Hurt Locker) and Steve Buscemi (actor, Fargo) to James Benning (director, RR) — to present their work in person. He also has provided instruction to students in Eastman House’s L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation, the first established school of film preservation in the world. In 2009, Jim served as Director of Programming for the first annual 360 | 365 George Eastman House Film Festival.
A former programmer for the Chicago International Film Festival, Jim is also currently a programming consultant for the Torino Film Festival. He served as co-editor and a contributing writer to John Cassavetes, a book of essays and interviews published in conjunction with the Torino festival’s retrospective salute to Cassavetes in 2007.
“I’m quite excited to be joining the staff of such an esteemed institution. My awareness of the history and the reputation of the film studies programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madision coincides with the moment in my life when I began to take the art and history of motion pictures quite seriously. A large number of the scholars, critics, and filmmakers who have had a profound influence on the way I think about movies are alumni and faculty of UW-Madison. Needless to say, I’m quite excited to be joining the staff of such an esteemed institution, and I’m thrilled to be working with Lea Jacobs and the rest of the faculty and Cinematheque team.”
— Jim Healy, new Director of Programming, Cinematheque