The Coolidge Corner Theatre

Denise Kasell
(dkasell [at] coolidge [dot] org)
Executive Director

Help us welcome Denise to a new prosperous era of the Coolidge!
Denise has served as Executive Director of the Hamptons International Film Festival, Director of The Hudson Valley Film Commissioner (a seven-county district of New York State) Film Producer, TV Producer, Tour Manager, Road Manager, Agent and President of a Film Festival consulting & staffing co. She began her career as a Stage Manager in New York Theater and can’t seem to give up showbiz.

Elizabeth Taylor-Mead
(elizabeth [at] coolidge [dot] org)
Associate Director

Elizabeth Taylor-Mead grew up in New York, watching Million Dollar Movie and Soupy Sales. At 20, her love of Ealing Comedies and Thomas Hardy compelled her to move to London, where unqualified for any sensible career, she founded an independent film company and for fifteen years produced documentaries with British accents. After moving to Boston in 1990 Elizabeth freelanced on PBS films while raising her daughters to achieve satisfactory knowledge of all things cinematic, worshiping at the Coolidge shrine. In 2003 she joined the theater's board of directors, volunteering until a staff position was created for her. It is her mission to ensure that all Commonwealth citizens become card-carrying Coolidge members.

Andrew Thompson
(andy [at] coolidge [dot] org)
Theatre Operations Director

Andrew Thompson never thought he'd "manage" anything, much less a movie theater. Over the years he's seen many changes to the Coolidge itself and the staff, and for the most part thinks it's all gone pretty well. Andrew is a collector of martial arts & fantasy movies, and other things even more trivial. He has a degree in Fine Arts, and occasionally draws pictures, usually on scrap paper while on the phone. Ticket, the theater cat, currently resides at Andrew's place, where she is spoiled rotten.

Matt Gabor
(mgabor [at] coolidge [dot] org)
New Media Director

Beth Gilligan
(beth [at] coolidge [dot] org)
Associate Director of Development, Marketing & Outreach
Beth grew up in Connecticut, and spent her youth crisscrossing the state looking for VHS copies of Bergman, Preminger, Rohmer and Sturges films. She received a M.A. in film studies from the University of East Anglia (UK) in 2004 and comes to The Coolidge after four years of working at The Hamptons International Film Festival, where she most recently served as Director of Marketing & Outreach.

Jesse Hassinger
(jesse [at] coolidge [dot] org)
Programming Manager

Having spent six years in the disastrously bright climate of Los Angeles, Jesse has fled back to the rain and snow of beautiful Boston and proud to have done so. The Coolidge has welcomed him into the fold with open arms to become your mildly deranged new Programming Manager. Midnites are back with a vengeance! Rentals are booking up and the season is great!

Chris Kriofske
(chris [at] coolidge [dot] org)
Office Manager

A Milwaukee native, Chris Kriofske moved out East in 1997 to pursue a Masters in Film Studies at Boston University. After completing that program, he drifted for a few years in boring, non-film related work before coming to the Coolidge in April 2004. In the past, he has volunteered for the Brattle Film Foundation, the Independent Film Festival of Boston, and has written for Splendid!, a now defunct music website. He is also on the board of directors for the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film.

Mark Anastasio
(mark [at] coolidge [dot] org)
Assistant to the Program Manager

Anne Continelli
(anne [at] coolidge [dot] org)
In-house Video Editor

Nancy Campbell
(nancy [at] coolidge [dot] org)
Assistant Theatre Manager

Matt Gress
(matt [at] coolidge [dot] org)
Head Projectionist

Theater Staff

Courtney Allen, Mark Anastasio, Adam Bach, Dan Barnum-Swett, Becky Borlan, Sean Heming, Sarah Kershaw, Nick Lazzarro, Wren Leader, Ian Lippicott, Jonah Livingston, Sarah Manoli, Sara Myers, Kyle Parrish, Corie Scibelli, Sean Sprecher, Rachel Rizzo, Amber Vistein, Jake Williams

Film Programming and Booking

Connie White, Balcony Booking
(connie [at] balconyfilm [dot] com)
Connie White has been active in the independent film business since 1986, when she started to program films for the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. There, she served as co-owner, operator and film programmer/booker from 1987-2001. Since 1996, she has also been programming and booking art and independent films for the Coolidge Corner Theatre, and, more recently, for the Pleasant Street Theater in Northampton, Mass, the New Art Cinemas in Provincetown, Mass, the Amherst Cinema Arts Center in Amherst, Mass., and the Broadway Centre Cinemas in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In 1992, she co-founded the critically acclaimed Boston International Festival of Women's Cinema, which ran for 11 years. From 1999 - 2005, Ms. White served as the Artistic Director of the Provincetown International Film Festival in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Taking what she has learned first-hand about specialty and art-film exhibition, in 2002 Ms. White created Balcony Releasing, which designs and implements theatrical distribution strategies for independently produced documentary features. Her first release, Daughter From Danang, went on to win an Academy Award Nomination for Best Feature Documentary, alongside Bowling for Columbine, Spellbound and Winged Migration. Other Balcony Releasing films include the acclaimed documentaries The Same River Twice, Love and Diane, Al Franken: God Spoke, So Much So Fast, and Wrestling with Angels:Playwright Tony Kushner.

Ms. White was awarded The 2000 "Image Award for Vision and Excellence" from Women in Film and Video, New England. She served on the jury for the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Publicity

Marianne Lampke
(marianne [at] beaconcinema [dot] com)
Marianne has over two decades of professional experience in promoting and showcasing independent cinema and has worked with the Coolidge team since 1996. From 1986 to 2001 she co-owned the landmark Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts and developed a national reputation for high quality and distinctive film programming, marketing and publicity. The Brattle won over 50 awards during this period and became one of the highest grossing and most respected repertory movie screens in the world. >From 1993 through 2003 Marianne co-founded and produced the Boston International Festival of Women's Cinema, which emerged as a leading showcase of commercial and independent works by women. She helped to launch the Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) in 1999 and became the festival's Director of Publicity through 2005, garnering major media coverage in numerous regional and national outlets. Marianne was a recipient of the prestigious Image Award for Vision and Excellence (2000) from Women in Film and Video/New England. She continues to offer marketing and publicity services with a specialty in promoting independent cinema, the arts, and the preservation of theaters as cultural flagships of the community. She currently divides her year between the Boston area and Cape Cod, where she enjoys a balanced life of gardening, renovating Cape Cod cottages, and spending time with her partner, family and friends.