iPods didn’t exist when he learned HTML

Peter Jacobson has been programming film series and festivals since 1992. He jumped onto the information superhighway in 1996, when he started creating sophisticated, effective, usable, ahead-of-the-curve sites for narrative and documentary film, business and non-profits – enabling millions of dollars in online sales and donations. As Operations and IT Director from 1998-2004, he guided the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, a.k.a. SFJFF (the original and world’s largest Jewish cinema event, with audiences of over 35,000 annually and a budget of over $2 million), into the 21st century. Peter provided organizational vision, designing systems and tools for their operations, management, film distribution and administration. While there he co-edited and managed production of the Online Guide to Independent Jewish Film… a $250,000 archive funded by Stephen Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Fund, the NEA, and Koret Foundation. He left the festival in 2004 to found Linking Arts Web Design & Development, and has since consulted for national and international clientele in virtually every sector (entertainment, commerce, advocacy, law, security, etc.).

Community Connections

In his various capacities at the SFJFF, he built deep relationships with dozens of film organizations and businesses worldwide, working directly with

• San Francisco Film Society and International Festival
• Frameline
• SF International Asian Film Festival
• Mill Valley Film Festival
• Film Arts Film Festival
• Berlin and Beyond
• Cinemayaat/Arab Film Festival
• SF Black Film Festival
• Silent Film Festival
• SXSW Film & Interactive
• numerous distributors and filmmakers, and many others.

Because the SFJFF is the leading Jewish Film Festival worldwide, he advised dozens of JFF’s around the globe, from New York and Atlanta to London and Hong Kong, in all aspects of festival production.

Organizational Insight

Peter brilliantly assessed the operations and needs of all San Francisco’s 9th Street Consortium film organizations, recommending Consortium-wide technology solutions that no single organization, without his input, ever dreamt of. His idea resulted in an award of $250,000 (a quarter-million-dollars!) in joint SBC and Irvine Foundation grant money for the Consortium. He oversaw the grant’s fulfillment, which involved providing software solutions that served staff (of all organizations); he also, together with his colleague at Film Arts Foundation, architected and deployed the entire network infrastructure for their move into a common building – an embryonic event which inspired media arts organizations nationwide.

Ye Olde Days

Prior to his work developing for the internet, Mr. Jacobson spent five years working in various aspects of film production and publicity. Peter attended the College of Santa Fe’s Moving Image Arts Conservatory and Wesleyan University (CT).