Respected film festival executive Noah Cowan, who formerly headed the San Francisco Film Fest and served as co-director of the Toronto Film Festival and executive director of the TIFF Bell Lightbox, died Wednesday of glioblastoma multiforme after being diagnosed in December 2021. He was 55.
Former Toronto Film Fest executive director Piers Handling remembered Cowan, saying “It was a privilege to work with Noah for as long as I did. His contribution not just to TIFF but to Sffilm, the Global Film Initiative, and the entire independent film community around the world was matchless. He was a tireless advocate, had a large appetite for life, films, friendship, travel and fine dining! His artistic leadership of both the festival and TIFF Bell Lightbox was exemplary. He put some ground breaking programs together on China, Japan, and David Cronenberg and lit up every room he entered. His passing leaves a huge hole – both personally...
Former Toronto Film Fest executive director Piers Handling remembered Cowan, saying “It was a privilege to work with Noah for as long as I did. His contribution not just to TIFF but to Sffilm, the Global Film Initiative, and the entire independent film community around the world was matchless. He was a tireless advocate, had a large appetite for life, films, friendship, travel and fine dining! His artistic leadership of both the festival and TIFF Bell Lightbox was exemplary. He put some ground breaking programs together on China, Japan, and David Cronenberg and lit up every room he entered. His passing leaves a huge hole – both personally...
- 1/26/2023
- by Julia MacCary
- Variety Film + TV
The film community is mourning the loss of film festival executive Noah Cowan, who died January 25 at his home in Los Angeles after a year-long battle with Glioblastoma multiforme. He was 55.
Cowan was an enthusiastic booster of independent film, a celebrated film programmer who rose from 14-year-old volunteer to co-director at the Toronto International Film Festival, cofounder of the non-profit Global Film Initiative in partnership with the Museum of Modern Art (2002-2004), Artistic Director at TIFF Bell Lightbox (2009-2014), and executive director at Sffilm (2014-2019).
In recent years he consulted for film, media, and visual arts organizations including IFC, the Telluride Film Festival, and Centre for the Moving Image in Edinburgh.
Born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1967, Cowan earned a degree in philosophy at McGill University that informed the way he looked at the world. He was that rare cinephile who not only was a festival programmer who loved to discover new talent,...
Cowan was an enthusiastic booster of independent film, a celebrated film programmer who rose from 14-year-old volunteer to co-director at the Toronto International Film Festival, cofounder of the non-profit Global Film Initiative in partnership with the Museum of Modern Art (2002-2004), Artistic Director at TIFF Bell Lightbox (2009-2014), and executive director at Sffilm (2014-2019).
In recent years he consulted for film, media, and visual arts organizations including IFC, the Telluride Film Festival, and Centre for the Moving Image in Edinburgh.
Born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1967, Cowan earned a degree in philosophy at McGill University that informed the way he looked at the world. He was that rare cinephile who not only was a festival programmer who loved to discover new talent,...
- 1/26/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Critic and writer led San Francisco Film Society; launched film consultancy.
Noah Cowan, the charismatic and widely influential former director of the Toronto International Film Festival, has died aged 55 after an illness.
Cowan, identified for so long with TIFF – he took a summer job there while still at high school before rising to become co-director of the festival and founding artistic director of TIFF Lightbox –was a popular and much-loved figure on the international film circuit. A former critic and writer, he went on to head up the San Francisco Film Society after leaving TIFF in 2014 before founding his own...
Noah Cowan, the charismatic and widely influential former director of the Toronto International Film Festival, has died aged 55 after an illness.
Cowan, identified for so long with TIFF – he took a summer job there while still at high school before rising to become co-director of the festival and founding artistic director of TIFF Lightbox –was a popular and much-loved figure on the international film circuit. A former critic and writer, he went on to head up the San Francisco Film Society after leaving TIFF in 2014 before founding his own...
- 1/26/2023
- by Fionnuala Halligan
- ScreenDaily
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