Dan Hudson is a graduate of Seattle University’s MFA in Arts Leadership program and the outgoing Executive Director of the National Film Festival for Talented Youth. Next month, he’ll take over as Executive Director of Images Cinema in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
“I actually started out as a volunteer at a local nonprofit art house theater, just tearing tickets and popping popcorn and that sort of thing," Hudson told WAMC. "And, one thing led to another, I started working in some local film festivals and started getting into managing some local theaters and eventually went on to get a master's degree specifically in sort of how to be an administrator or a leader in arts nonprofits just because I- My first love was film, but then I was so in love with working for nonprofits that curated and exhibited film, whether that be film festivals or art house theaters.”
He'll replace Doug Jones, who’s wrapping up an eight-year stint running Images and moving to the West Coast. Hudson says he has a community-oriented approach to programming.
“One thing that I would want to do is be looking to see how programming at Images could reflect or interact or respond to different arts and cultural programming at the [Williamstown] Theatre Festival or at the Clark or MASS MoCA or other arts organizations, also maybe be integrative and reflective of maybe film studies courses that are being taught at Williams [College]," he explained. "So just trying to be, just a really a community player that is really focused on drawing connective tissue to community. And that also trickles down to things like possibly screening more issues-based or cause-based documentaries, and that thing, too, because I also believe that art house theaters can be an important forum for civic discussion.”
He cited 2021’s “On The Divide” by filmmakers Maya Cueva and Leah Galant as an example.
“It's about abortion providers in the state of Texas," said Hudson. "And at the time, it just felt in the air that Roe versus Wade was going to be coming under attack in a huge way just around the corner. That's just a really powerful film.”
In the age of streaming giants, Hudson would also like to cast a wider net for the films coming into Images.
“I've been working a lot of times with maybe more micro-distributors," he said. 'The theater that I've been programming in Seattle for over five years now, some of the films might not come to a market like Williamstown typically, so, looking to see possible interesting ways to bring some emerging voices, some up and coming filmmakers.”
Hudson, who describes himself as an avid cinephile, says he’s comfortable in both highbrow and lowbrow curation.
“I'm just as comfortable curating and presenting some like B horror movies for some sort of Halloween get together type of thing and then switching to some restored classics from the Czech New Wave or something like that," he told WAMC.
Hudson already has plans for what he’d like to bring to both Images and the Berkshire community at large.
“I will say that I have heard from a bunch of people that there is really strong interest in some type of film festival returning to the area," he told WAMC. "And that there used to be a Williamstown Film Festival and that there's not a current version of such thing. And so, that would be one possible way in which bringing in my film festival experience in addition to my art house theater experience would possibly be looking to become more involved in. Now whether that's directly through Images or whether that's some other some other kind of community collaboration between other arts organizations or community leaders, time will tell. I'm really looking forward to meeting with people that would be really passionate about having a film festival in the area again.”
Hudson takes over as Executive Director of Images Cinema in Williamstown on October 1st.
