Denver Film has a new CEO

Longtime staff member Kevin Smith will replace James Mejia as the nonprofit’s CEO.

The home of the Denver Film Society and Sie Film Center on East Colfax Avenue. Congress Park, Aug. 5, 2020.

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

Maggie Donahue

May. 05, 2022, 2:10 p.m.

Longtime Denver Film staff member Kevin Smith has been named the film nonprofit’s new CEO.

Smith had been named interim CEO in mid-March after the departure of James Mejia, who had been CEO since the summer of 2020.

“I’m incredibly grateful to the Denver Film board for the confidence and trust they’ve shown in me throughout this process,” Smith said in a statement. “I know that my experience working in a range of roles and being able to touch all aspects of our organization over the past several years provides a strong foundation to build on.”

Smith was raised in Detroit and founded a nonprofit dedicated to supporting economically sustainable projects and causes in his hometown. Smith also worked as a feature-film production manager for two years. He moved to Denver in 2015 and has worked at Denver Film for seven years.

Throughout his DF career, Smith has worked as staff director and chief marketing officer. He has helped oversee Denver Film’s programming and events and assisted with the nonprofit’s strategic planning, finance, sponsorships and memberships, fundraising, branding, marketing and communications operations.

Denver Film is a nonprofit that for decades has provided regular film programming in Denver. It also organizes special events like Film on the Rocks at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, and the annual Denver Film Festival.

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