Chatham Film Club hires its first director

The Chatham Film Club has an executive director for the first time in its 14-year history. The film club’s board of directors recently hired Annie Brody, an administrator and consultant with experience in nonprofit and small- business program management, marketing, and community service.

She lives in Canaan, N,Y.

” The board is very pleased that Annie will be joining us,” says Sandi Knakal, president of the film club. “We were fortunate to have many strong candidates in the community, and she was chosen after an extensive search. We look forward to working with her as we continue to improve and renovate the Crandell Theatre.”

Brody brings with her a diverse background. She was vice president of national programs for Earth Force, a nonprofit youth environmental organization, for five years in the 1990s and has most recently served as a consultant to foundations in areas of strategic planning, grant writing, and marketing.

She founded and manages Camp Unleashed, a seasonal weekend program for dogs and their people in the Berkshires.

” When I first moved to Columbia County in 1999, I fell in love with the idea of this wonderful theater in a small town,” said Brody.

Joining the first media committee when the film club was created, she has been a longtime member and a volunteer with the film festival, Film Columbia.

She said her aim as executive director is to help enhance the value of the Crandell, collaborate with other businesses on Main Street, bring in new constituencies, and work toward sustainability.

“The movement toward digital cinema, a critical benchmark for the Crandell and all independent movie theaters, is both a fundraising and educational challenge for the coming year,” she said.

The position is part-time and begins immediately. Brody will be based in the office above the Crandell Theatre.

The Chatham Film Club is a nonprofit organization that owns and operates the Crandell and produces Film-Columbia, an annual five-day film festival to be held Oct, 17-21 this year.