Photo by Pamela Gentile
Zoë is a Herefordian by birth and a Hampsteadian by heart,
though many years in the San Francisco Bay Area has made her Oaklandish by avocation. She’s a film curator, writer, interviewer and cartoonist, who’s also a tea-drinker, book nerd, traveller, food-appreciator and yogi. Her first, early loves were poetry
(Dylan Thomas’s Fern Hill was a revelation) and theatre (thanks
to Oonagh, her drama teacher whose teaching opened her to the heart of Shakespeare and language and life.)
A long time ago, Zoë came to America for a year, intending to hitchhike across the country, go to Peru, then go back to England. Instead, she fell in love with California and stayed. She wrote and directed theatre. Got some artist-in-residencies. She got involved with a start-up film festival in Mill Valley, just north of San Francisco. Learned model making, designed gold jewelry. Created cartoons: the Peace Sisters, the Tao of Film. Developed interests in video art, African film, supporting women filmmakers and exploring creativity: all of which showed up in programs at that Film Festival in Mill Valley. She regularly interviews filmmakers
and luminaries like Helen Mirren, Dustin Hoffman, James Franco, Ang Lee, Viola Davis at MVFF and, sometimes, Skywalker Ranch. And she travels a lot, regularly to Cannes, Berlin and Burkina
Faso, in her search for films.
That one year turned into many: she is still based in California,
still programs for that start-up film festival, still makes cartoons,
is still a tea-drinker, and is still a traveller. But she hasn't yet made it to Peru.