10 Questions With Ephi Stempler
SebArts’ new Film Program Director goes on the record with the Sebastopol Times
As of Jan. 2, 2024, Ephi Stempler is the new Film Program Director at Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Per the Center’s website, he “is responsible for creating the year-round film programming and education at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. He also serves as the primary contact for SebArts’s vibrant Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival which resumes in 2025.” The following interview, conducted by the Sebastopol Times, is edited for clarity and length.
Where do you hail from, Ephi?
I’m having a harder time answering that question as I get older.
I’m originally from Connecticut, but I left when I was 17 to go to Los Angeles to be an actor. And then I lived in Los Angeles and New York City. I was an actor until I was about 26. And then I went back to school in New York City to become a high school teacher, and then I moved from New York City to Thailand about 11 years ago, and then from Thailand to California.
I’m actually relatively new to the area. I moved to Guerneville last July, and it all worked out in this kind of magical way. I was looking for a job in the area, and I found this [job] online, I think in August, and it took about four or five months until they made a decision. But, I got the job. It’s been two months.
What unique qualifications do you bring to your new role as Film Program Director at SebArts?
That is a very good interview question. Not just from your journalist perspective, but also that was definitely one of the questions they asked me when I interviewed for the job. And I have an answer. I would say that in my 30 years of employment I have had so many different experiences that they kind of all converge in this one way. Because I was an actor. And then I became a high school English teacher, and also taught theater and film. And then I became a program manager.
When I moved to the Bay Area in 2013, I was the manager and then the director of a program called the Community Works Youth Theater Ensemble. And that was an amazing job. That was a job in which I got to work with kids in the Bay Area who had been directly impacted by incarceration, which is to say that their parents had been incarcerated. Every year I would be responsible for coming up with a live performance at a professional venue somewhere in San Francisco with these kids, who had never had experience in theater and ended up blowing everyone away with their courage and their stories.
That job really inspired me. Those kids really inspired me to tell my story and start to write. I was a late bloomer; I started to write in my 30s. And then, by the time I was midway through that job, I was 40 [and] I was like, oh my God, I think I want to do this professionally. It was a really scary thing, but I applied to film schools. I ended up getting into the American Film Institute twice. The first time I was too scared to go. And then I applied again two years later and they said, “We’ll accept you, but you better go this time!” And so I did.
And film school was kind of the last piece. I ended up making a documentary film, which was so surprising. I didn’t expect to do that. I knew that I wanted to direct at some point. But this story was one that needed to be told. And so I ended up working on that for, I think a total of five years, just to make a 14-minute documentary.
In your words, what does your role as SebArts Film Program Director consist of?
I was hired to do basically two things. One was to be the lead person on the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival. And then the second role is to spearhead a new SebArts film program, which is really kind of up to me. There’s one piece, which is creating film events that complement the ongoing program series that they have there, which is extremely strong. But then there’s creating the film events — creating an education program — and lastly, [creating a] collective for the local filmmakers here.
Is this a job you work remotely or do you show up at the office? Or is it a combo?
It’s a combo. There’s definitely a lot of office time [during] meetings. But also, one of the greatest parts of the job is that so many of these meetings involve people in the community that I’ve reached out to or who have reached out to me, to get some feedback about the festival and also some ideas about where to go from here—not just with the festival, but at SebArts.
I should tell you that this is aspirational. So as of right now, I’m building the program. I’m not going to say from the bottom up, because of the film festival, which is a huge piece of the program. But because we’ve taken the year off from the festival, it’s giving me time to look at the festival and find ways that we can make it more sustainable. And also to really focus on this SebArts year-round film program of events and classes and such.
Will the 2025 Documentary Film Festival differ from past years?
The answer is yes and no. I think that what attracts people and filmmakers to this festival is the intimacy of the festival and the way that it mirrors the personality of Sebastopol. And that is not going to change. It’s still going to be small and vibrant and quirky and earthy, but also sophisticated. That part is definitely going to stay the same.
There are a lot of documentary film festivals right now, and I think the way that we historically have differentiated ourselves is the attention that we give the filmmakers. What I’ve heard is it’s a really special place for filmmakers to feel that they are not just showing their movies, but are an integral part of the festival and are connecting to other people in our community and other filmmakers in the festival. So that part we definitely want to keep.
What I plan to change is really just anything that has to do with keeping this festival diverse and inclusive and, on a practical level, sustainable. So I’m definitely looking at what makes sense in terms of how many films we’re going to show and also potentially bringing in other pieces to really attract more fundraising and publicity. Because I have heard that so many people — oddly — live in Sebastopol and have never heard of the festival. So we want to change that.
Can you tell us about your 2023 short film, ‘The Girl That Got Away’?
I don’t know how to do this in a short way. Actually, let me find the logline for that because that is really the best way. So yeah, the logline is this: “At 64 years old, an HIV-positive Mexican American actor in San Francisco must decide whether to continue playing male roles on and off screen, after finally accepting that he identifies as female.”
So basically what happened was this: A friend and I were working together on a video tutorial back in 2016, to create more safety and visibility for LGBT seniors. Specifically, residents in care facilities. And we were hired to make this video that involved these dramatizations. And they were really specific about what they were looking for. We didn’t have a big budget, and I went online and looked for actors on Craigslist, specifically trans actors. And I ended up only getting one response, and it was from this person named Jose. And it was odd because I remember the head shot was definitely like somebody who presented as male, and we were looking for somebody who was trans female.
I was, of course, willing to meet this person and just see if there was some way we could maybe have them participate in the film in some way. And what happened was amazing. This person showed up for a quick interview and started to cry, and I was so unsure what to do, of course. But after a few minutes this person, who introduced themselves to me as Angel, basically came out to me and we ended up having this friendship and this was the first role that she ended up taking in which she was playing herself as a woman, but no one knew.
At the time, I think she was 63. And so it was this really big decision, and she wanted to come out this way. And then we asked her if she wanted us to document her process of coming out after this experience. And she said she really would be excited by that. And so we did, but it was a really difficult process for her. Much more difficult than she could have imagined.
And part of that, I'm sure, was that it was on film, but I think it was also just that she was in her 60s and did not have much of a support system. And we started to realize that this was not the movie we thought it was going to be, it was going to be more about somebody struggling with coming out. And so the title really refers to the person that she feels that she could have been.
It was a heartbreaking process and it’s a really difficult film, but I think it’s an important one to show that there are a lot of people, and specifically elders of color, who are really, really struggling with coming out and finding a sense of peace around their gender, especially in light of everything happening right now. You know, they see what’s going on, and so many people are coming out and are leading these really rich, fulfilling lives, and they’re just kind of terrified and isolated. So, that’s what the film is about.
From what people have told me, it’s a powerful film. We ended up winning an Audience Award at the SF IndieFest, and we got accepted into last year’s Frameline Film Festival and Outfest, in Los Angeles, and a few others.
I should mention that it was co-directed with Lauren Veen. So I didn’t do that by myself, [she] was my co-producer and co-director.
What is your favorite film? And why?
Oh man, I get asked that so much. And it’s such an unfair question. But I’d say one of my favorite films I loved recently was Poor Things. Of course, I love both narrative and documentary, but Poor Things, yeah, I just loved it. I love anything that’s really bold and daring and imaginative, and for me it was really the boldest film of the year.
What is your favorite thing about Sebastopol?
There’s a lot about Sebastopol that is kind of amazing to me. I feel like Sebastopol has this really beautiful blend of artists and nature lovers. And so it has this vibe that feels very Californian, but also slightly off-beat, that’s really not like any other towns, certainly in Sonoma County. It has a little bit of magic, and I feel like the people who are attracted to that town are all in on this secret.
My first thing I did when I got the job is I ended up going to have a meal by myself at Americana, this restaurant on Main Street. And I remember it was such a different feeling than I felt from any place I’ve ever lived in California. Everyone was, physically, just really colorful. There was this kind of celebration of color that I could see immediately, and then also there was a warmth. People just felt warmer, and it really was such a great impression.
And when I got the job, there was this event called The Bowl that happened in December, where the Ceramics Department makes these bowls and sells the bowls and then people can eat chili out of the bowls while watching documentaries. And I remember thinking, OK, there’ll be like 30-40 people. It’ll be in a small room. It was my first time going to anything at the center. And I was just completely blown away. I don’t know how many people there were, probably 100, 150 people. I don’t know for a fact, but it was just so alive. Everyone was so warm and inviting, but also smart and engaging. And that’s pretty much why I really dig it.
If you could change the world in one way, what would you wish for?
At this point, I would want people to find more strength in compassion and creativity and community. I think those are kind of the three values that have guided me and continue to guide me. That’s really [what] I think that this job is all about.
Is there anything you would like to say that we didn’t touch on or that you want to say to the community?
Thank you for the opportunity. I will say that the lifeblood of any arts organization are the volunteers. And we have an amazing group of volunteers at SebArts for all of the programs, including the film festival, of course. And I am always looking to build that community. And specifically, I really want to encourage people of color [and] younger people to get in touch with me or anyone at the center if they want to volunteer.
And also, for filmmakers: We start submissions for next year’s festival in June. So we’ll have that new website out in the next few weeks. And if anyone has any questions at all about the festival, the film program, anything film related, my door is completely open. I’d love to meet with anyone and everyone who is interested in film.
Contact Ephi Stempler at estempler@sebarts.org.
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