Film festival shuts down

copy of an email last month from Dana Och, director of undergraduate studies, film and media studies at the University of Pittsburgh:

“I’m writing to let you know officially that Pitt Film Studies will no longer be sending over any women interns. Students from previous terms have come to me to complain anonymously. I will not put my students in any situation that makes them feel harassed, unsafe or negative. I have informed the internship coordinator and the director of film program of my decision. We are currently debating whether to stop male interns moving forward as well, given that we are ideologically opposed to the normalization of sexually discriminatory behavior.”

Randall Halle, director of the film and media studies program at Pitt, declined to confirm the email but said the university had actually stopped sending interns to Silk Screen a year ago. “Our program chose to seek out other internship opportunities for our undergraduate students, ones we thought were a better match for them in light of the atmosphere within the festival’s operations,” he said.

Robin Rectanwald of the WordWrite Communications public relations firm, which is working with Silk Screen, said no board members were available Thursday for an interview. “For several years, the board has discussed a long-term transition plan. However, given the current financial challenges, the board made a decision to suspend operations effective Tuesday,” she said. She did not detail any specific financial challenges.

In an application for Regional Asset District funding submitted at the end of June, the organization answered the question, “What is your overall assessment of your organization’s financial health” with “Good. We had a small amount of capital remaining at the end of the year.”

The application also did not give any indication that the organization was considering suspending operations. “Next year, we will continue with the work that we have been doing and continue to grow our film series partnerships,” the organization wrote on the RAD application, also noting that it was planning on “expanding our weekly and monthly programs.”

A 990 tax form for the 2017 tax year, prepared in June, shows the organization’s balance at the end of fiscal year as $79,247.

Ms. Rectenwald said the suspension is intended to be a transition period and that the group is hoping to continue the Silk Screen tradition by partnering with another organization.

As for the allegations of sexual harassment and an inappropriate working environment, “the board takes all allegations seriously and is working to address the recent allegations.”

After her complaint in August, Ms. Welsby said the board told her that Mr. Saluja would be retiring Dec. 31 and that until then, a board member would always be present in the office as what she described as a chaperone when he was there. Ms. Rectenwald did not comment on whether the board insisted on a chaperone, though Ms. Welsby said that was the case until she was fired.

Ms. Welsby said she was shocked to be fired and to hear that the organization was suspending operations. One of only three employees there, she said she’d never heard a word about financial difficulties. After she was fired Tuesday, Ms. Welsby said she reluctantly went to the press.

“I never wanted to go to the media — I didn’t do this for any settlements or any money or anything. I did this to make the filmmaker community safer, to make women aware not to work with him,” she said.

“He would always bring in young, attractive women who had no experience in the workplace, no experience in filmmaking who were just happy to be there. He made them feel like working for him was a privilege and that if you didn’t do what he asked, you’d never work in this town again.”