FOUNDER ∙ DIRECTOR∙
PROGRAMMER
Work With Me
FESTIVAL LAB
Organizers from different festivals bring their own experience to brainstorm new solutions to one shared problem.
60 minutes · Zoom
WHAT I’VE BUILT
“In his seven-year stint as the festival’s first full time executive director, Jambor has overseen the expansion of the festival from its roots as a locally focused, all-volunteer affair into an internationally renown event, screening more than 100 films annually, with year-round programming.”
“Alabama filmmaker Chance Shirley met Jambor the second year of the Sidewalk festival and calls him nothing less than Birmingham’s ‘godfather of the (film) scene.’”
Co-founder of Birmingham, Alabama’s Sidewalk Film Festival and director for its first eight years, former executive director of Indie Memphis and Head of Festival Programming at BendFilm in Bend, Oregon. 20+ years of growing independent film festivals that build community and create connections, that both filmmakers and audiences return to year after year.
Red carpet premieres, celebrity guests and bigger lineups each year are how many festivals measure success. I’m more interested in whether a festival has community at its core: whether it’s part of its city and gives filmmakers, audience members and supporters a place to meet and make friends. If you run a festival like that, I can help with how it runs and how it feels to the people who attend: how they arrive, how they find each other, and whether it lives up to what you intended once the doors are open. Even a festival that’s working well is hard to see from the inside. I look at it the way a first-time filmgoer or a visiting filmmaker would, and we figure out what could work better before your next edition.
INTRO CALL
Tell me about your festival, what you're working on, and what issues you’re dealing with. If I can help, we'll figure out how.
30 minutes · Zoom
BendFilm
Head of Festival Programming · Bend, OR · 2016-2020
Directed artistic and programming activities for the BendFilm Festival, contributing to it receiving Academy Award-qualifying status in 2021. Programmed the Tin Pan Theatre, BendFilm’s year-round Art House Cinema.
Led key festival operations including jury and special guest management, screening committee and selection processes, program scheduling, and artist conversations and panel discussions.
Managed panel discussions, mentor sessions, and special guest engagements with artists including Daniel Scheinert, Debra Granik, Ron Shelton, and Christine Vachon.
Innovated virtual programming during the 2020 festival, including online mentor sessions to connect emerging filmmakers with industry professionals.
Developed foundational concepts for a filmmaker retreat program that secured major grant funding and launched as BendFilm:Basecamp.
LET’S TALK
Indie Memphis
Executive Director · Memphis, TN · 2008-2014
Transformed Indie Memphis into a nationally acclaimed festival, recognized for tapping into the creative soul of the city’s cultural history to create a connecting point for filmmakers, musicians, artists, and audiences. MovieMaker named it one of the "25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World" (2009, 2014) and one of the "50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee" (2011, 2013, 2014).
Built partnerships with performing arts venues in the Overton Square theater district, expanding the festival from one theater to four venues and seven screens.
Created filmmaker development programs, including networking events, one-on-one mentor sessions, and a pitch program where emerging filmmakers practiced with established industry professionals.
Made live music part of the festival, with performances before screenings and dedicated concerts featuring Valerie June, North Mississippi Allstars, and Robyn Hitchcock, who wrote and recorded an original song at Ardent Studios during his visit.
Built year-round programming, including a three-season Concert Film Series at the historic Levitt Shell and Shoot & Splice, a monthly filmmaker forum with Crosstown Arts.
Received the festival's inaugural Vision Award (2015).
Sidewalk Film Festival
Co-Founder / Director · Birmingham, AL · 1999-2006
Co-founded Sidewalk to bring “new films to a new audience” in a region then lacking access to independent cinema. The festival’s community-focused model offered a single, low-cost ticket to provide admission to multiple walkable downtown venues.
Developed the festival into a filmmaker favorite and helped to grow the city's independent film scene, earning Sidewalk recognition from TIME Magazine as one of ten “Film Festivals for the Rest of Us” (2006).
Served as director while also leading artistic direction and programming, creating the festival's distinctive identity and designing a discovery-focused program that encouraged attendees to “find their next favorite film” while cultivating connections among filmmakers through innovative programs including filmmaker retreats and networking events.
Sidewalk premiered the first “Mumblecore” feature, Andrew Bujalski’s FUNNY HA HA, and championed the early work of filmmakers such as Daniel Scheinert (EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE), Barry Jenkins (MOONLIGHT), and Adam Wingard (GODZILLA VS. KONG).
Developed comprehensive year-round programming and filmmaker development initiatives, including monthly networking meetups (Sidewalk Salon), a screening series (Sidewalk Cinematheque), and filmmaking challenges (Sidewalk Scramble), and also co-founded and produced the organization’s inaugural Birmingham SHOUT, Alabama’s first LGBTQ film festival (2006).
“Never before had I experienced such genuine enthusiasm, true grass roots participation and all around good will. . . Producers and writers and filmmakers and actors came to Sidewalk, fell in love. And made the little festival that could into an annual stop on the festival circuit.”