New Co-Director
Tilke Hill - Prior to stepping up as co-director, Tilke operated as Buffalo International Film Festival's first Diversity Development Director. She is also the CEO of The New Hotness, Inc. (TNH) a new media company with a social mission - inclusion of underrepresented voices on and of screen. She is also the show runner (creator/writer/ep) of her company's first in-house production - Why I Murdered My Roommate - a new television series in which Buffalo plays a significant role. With 15 years of working in the entertainment industry under her belt, she has won multiple awards for her work as an actress, director and producer in over 100 productions. She holds three degrees in performance including a graduate degree in Theatre and Performance from the University of Buffalo, the State University of New York (2015) where she was selected to participate in their inaugural class. She has received grants to the Taliesin Nexus Filmmaker's Workshop, fellowships from the Robert G. and Carol L. Morris Art Scholarship Foundation, a Steig Olson Scholarship and was selected to perform for stage luminary Robert Wilson within the last two years.
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New Board Member
Anna Scime is an interdisciplinary artist currently based in Buffalo, NY. Her work has been exhibited at film and art festivals, galleries and museums, including Burchfield Penney Art Center (Buffalo), Detroit Independent Film Festival, Berlin International Directors Lounge, PS1 MoMA (NYC), FLORA ars+natura (Bogota), Centro Cultural Borges (Buenos Aires) and Buffalo International Film Festival. She has received awards for her work including fellowships from the Liberace Foundation, the Center for the Moving Image, the Robert and Carol Morris Fund for Artistic Expression and Performing Arts, the ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes and the New York State Council on the Arts. She runs a small, full service production company, Lumiflux Media.
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New Board Member
Sam Toles is the Head of Global Content and Distribution at Vimeo. A 20-year veteran of the entertainment industry, Toles began his career in theatrical marketing with New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers, followed by home entertainment marketing roles at Paramount Pictures and Rhino. In 2005, Sam joined FremantleMedia as vice president of business development overseeing media licensing for their extensive stable of brands.
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New Board Member
Renee Saracki was born and remains a lifelong resident of the City of Buffalo. She attended Calasanctius Preparatory School in Buffalo and graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with honors in English. She has lived in the Elmwood Village for over 25 years. In 2003 she began working for the Seneca Nation of Indians as an enrolled Seneca as a Licensing Manager for the Seneca Niagara Casino and the Seneca Allegany Casino. In 2012 she began working as a Licensing Paralegal for one of the area's largest employers, Delaware North and loves her view of Lake Erie in their brand new environmentally friendly state of the art office building on the corner of Delaware and Chippewa.
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New Board Member
Patrick Kaler is the President and CEO of Visit Buffalo Niagara (VBN). Prior to coming to Buffalo, Kaler was the President and CEO of Visit Loudoun, the tourism agency for Loudon County, located outside of Washington, D.C. Kaler has also served as the Senior Director of Travel Industry and Tourism Development for the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board, the Executive Director of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, and as the Executive Director for the Great Lakes of North America.
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