Jesse Hawthorne Ficks

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks programs the highly popular MiDNiTES FOR MANiACS extravaganzas at the legendary Castro Theater. He specializes in revivals of the cinema of the 1970s and 1980s, with a particular focus on underrated gems, disreputable and overlooked genres, and dubiously talented movie stars. In 2008, he organized a three-day tribute to director Peter Bogdanovich. Other recent programs have included a latchkey-kids quadruple feature, a vertically-challenged-monsters triple bill, and an all-day animals-attacking-humans five film feast.

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. He graduated from Portland State University with a BS in Theatre and Film in 1998, and moved to San Francisco to work with punk auteur Jon Moritsugu. Ficks has worked for many of the Bay Area’s major film festivals, including San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Frameline, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, and others. He currently teaches film history at Academy of Art University, San Francisco.