Our Team

Rachel Caplan
Founder & CEO

Rachel Caplan is passionate about film as the catalyst for environmental ideas and actions. In 2011, she launched the San Francisco Green Film Festival to build community and resilience to the climate crisis.

Rachel has over 20 years of experience working in film curation and exhibition, including the Edinburgh, London and San Francisco International Film Festivals and as a publicist at UIP handling international theatrical campaigns for Paramount, Universal, and DreamWorks. From 2007-09, she was Festival Director for the International Ocean Film Festival, the first and largest showcase for marine films in North America. The vision for the SF Green Film Festival grew out of this work: to fill the need to bring communities together to share urgent environmental stories in the city that's at the forefront of both independent film and the global green movement. In 2011, she launched the SF Green Film Festival as the SF Bay Area's only environmental Arts event and with the goal of sparking green ideas and actions.

In 9 years, SFGFF has grown to a year-round organization with a small full-time staff, and has presented over 600 films with 800 guests reaching audiences across the region. The Festival is now a leading force for environmental films & discussions and recognized internationally through official partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as well as membership of the Green Film Network, an association of 40 environmental film festivals worldwide.

Rachel's vision is for everywhere to have inspiring environmental events! In 2019, she was part of the team to launch the 1st London Green Film Festival at Regent's Place, a 10-day outdoor event that was free to all in the heart of London.

Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, Rachel has a M.A. in Cinema & Television Studies from the British Film Institute (BFI) and has been a voting member of BAFTA since 2001. She has lived in the SF Bay Area since 2003 and adores its many excellent cinemas and parks.

For the 2020 Festival

Office Team
Mike Abate ~ Volunteer Coordinator
Nicolle Gudino ~ Festival Assistant
Nan Su ~ Submissions Coordinator

Publicity
Larsen Associates: Karen Larsen · Nikolaj Leszczynski · Joel Shepard · Will Zang

Box Office
Box Cubed: Ben Armington · Mitchell Vaughn

Film Submissions Screening Team
Lauren Barnum · Gemma Bradshaw · Lyndal Cairns · Rachel Caplan · John Duvall · Stephanie Hilborn · Ria Howell · Jonas iaffaldano di gregorio · Heather Jackson · Jason Kaminsky · Heather Louie · Francesca Prada · Nuria Seriñá Gutiérrez · Nan Su · Karen Topakian · Mark Valentine

Marketing Committee
Lauren Barnum · Emily Boleware · Mark Decena · Carolyn McMaster · Nicole Scott · Karen Topakian · Ron Walter

Photography
Gary Bridges · Jonathan Fong · Tommy Lau

House Managers
Anna Castleton · Joanna Chin · Candace Roberts · Jacob Rodriguez

Finance
Alicia Utley - CPA

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

JOIN OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

We are seeking interested individuals from diverse backgrounds who have expertise in fundraising, event planning, environmental causes, film and film festival programming, and marketing.

If you’re interested in joining us, please send a resume and a short statement of intent that explains why you’d like to join our Board to ambika[at]greenfilmfest.org

VOLUNTEER TEAMS

A huge thank you to the many hundreds of passionate and dedicated volunteers who, since the first festival in 2011, have taken tickets, ushered audiences, set-up events (and cleaned up afterwards), and created a warm welcome for all our guests. We couldn’t do it without you! Find out how to get involved as a Volunteer.