SFiFF Announces Two New Advisory Board Members

The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival (SFiFF) announces Alexandria Bombach, and David Sontag, will be the festival Advisory Board’s newest members.

Having worked in cinema for just over a decade, Alexandria Bombach has earned much acclaim for her filmmaking skills. Her first feature-length film, Frame by Frame (2015) premiered at SXSW and went on to win over 25 awards, including a Special Jury Prize at SFiFF. In 2019, Bombach was named a Sundance Institute Momentum Fellow and a SXSW Chicken & Egg Award Fellow, and she also signed on with the United Talent Agency.

Bombach’s most recent documentary feature, On Her Shoulders (2018), won Best Directing in the US Documentary Competition at Sundance Film Festival where it premiered, and it was nominated for two Film Independent Spirit Awards and shortlisted for the Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature. The film centers on Nadia Murad, an Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist who earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018. On Her Shoulders also screened at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival in 2018.

"The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival has been such an incredible supporter of my own work and of many filmmakers who have dedicated their lives to tell powerful stories,” Bombach said. “As a filmmaker who holds this festival near and dear to my heart, and as a local who cares deeply about New Mexico's access to these films, it is a true honor and joy to join the advisory board of the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival.”

Throughout his more-than 50 years experience as a leader in the entertainment industry, David Sontag has written for Columbia Pictures, Universal, MGM, and Hollywood Pictures, among others, as well as CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox. Known for his work as a writer and producer, Sontag also held important creative and executive positions at 20th Century Fox, NBC, CBS Films, and ABC. Starting as a program executive at NBC (1955-1959), Sontag then worked in director development at CBS Films (1959-1961). He acted as executive producer and head of specialists at ABC (1963-1967) and also served as senior vice president of creative affairs at 20th Century Fox (1976-1982).

Sontag was, until 2011, the Wesley Wallace Distinguished Professor of Communication Studies and the Director of the Writing for the Screen and Stage Program in the College of Arts, a degree program that he created for the University of North Carolina. He is on the National Advisory Board of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and has acted as President of the Board of the Festival. A philanthropist with a passion for symphony, cinema, and higher education, Mr. Sontag also founded the Native Americas International Film Exposition.

SFiFF Artistic Director Jacques Paisner emphasizes that these two professionals joining the board will encourage filmmakers to keep creating projects and submitting to our festival. “These two extremely talented new members demonstrate that the festival is comprised of both industry veterans and up-and-coming artists in film.”