Mary Kerr of Docuclub , who I had the pleasure of meeting at the closing night party of this year’s Full Frame Festival, is taking over the position of Executive Director of the Flaherty Seminar/IFS , one of the most respected documentary organizations in the country. The IFS is a non-profit that was formed in 1960 as a means of presenting the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar (to insiders, “the Flaherty,”) an annual 5-day intense exploration of documentary films. A mixture of intellectual boot camp, film festival, and graduate school, the Flaherty has a cult-like effect on most people who attend. I had the opportunity of recieving a full fellowship to attend last June. The experience was simply life-changing, as I got to meet one of my filmmaking heroes, Hungarian artist-archivist Peter Forgacs . I have since written a Master’s thesis on him, as well as presented on two academic conferences about his work. At the Seminar, I was able to talk to him for hour’s on end. Basically, the Seminar is structured like this: wake up, coffee/breakfast, film screening, post-screening discussion, lunch, screening, post-screening discussion, Happy Hour, dinner, screening, post-screening discussion, BILL’S BAR. Just eating, drinking, watching, and throwing around ideas about documentary for 5 days. What docuhead could ask for anything more? I made some lasting friendships and connections at the Flaherty with some amazing people, including some academic heroes of mine, such as Ithaca College professor Patty Zimmerman , whose work I follow closely. Other friends included the great comic writer/performance artist filmmaker Kiki Allegier, Jeremy Rossen, a co-founder of Portland’s microcinema Cinema Project , Berkeley Ph.D. student Erica Levin, who I admired during my undergrad years at Wesleyan University, and NY video artist Birgit Rathsmann . Many folks go back year after year, and I don’t blame them. Knowing Mary and what she has done with Docuclub, I am sure that the Flaherty and its other year-round events will only get more stellar and dynamic! Congrats Mary!