Anita Monga has been hired as senior programmer at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), reporting to festival director Carl Spence. She will work with Spence and his team on the annual 25-day festival in May and June but primarily focus on programming the new SIFF Cinema in Seattle.

Monga comes to Seattle from San Francisco where she has been involved in film exhibition for 28 years. She was director of programming at the famous Castro Theatre, a founding member of the Film Noir Foundation and director of the Noir City Festival. In 2006, she directed the Palm Springs International Festival Of Short Films and was associate director of programming for the 2007 Palm Springs International Film Festival.

'Anita Monga is one of the best programmers in the country,' said Spence. 'She oversaw the programming at San Francisco's Castro Theatre, creating one of the most successful single screen art houses in North America.'

The SIFF Cinema, based in the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall in Seattle, has been equipped with two 35mm projectors and a Sony SRXR110 digital projector as well as a state of the art sound system.