Tommy Lau

Outgoing head of SFFS, Graham Leggat

On the front page of today's S.F. Chronicle, Leah Garchik writes that Leggat is leaving because of cancer — first detected last year, it came back this spring "with a vengeance" and has metastasized to Stage 4 status. "It is largely deemed incurable," he said.

Remarkably, Leggat managed to keep his illness a secret through the whirlwind of this year's festival, which took place two months ago."I didn't want it to be on people's faces when I walked into a room," he told Garchik.

Leggat presided over SFFS in a time of extraordinary growth — and just two weeks ago, they announced the lease of the New People theater in Japantown, where S.F. Fllm Festival programming will now be available year-round. The SFFS, after absorbing the Film Arts Foundation in 2008, was able to expand its reach even further — bolstering its publication, sf360.org, adding more grants, and working closely with the city to give directors and writers places to work. Currently, the SFFS staff numbers 35, up from 11 when Leggat took over.

This summer, Leggat told Garchik that he will take a trip to the East Coast with his girlfriend and is looking forward to his son's four-week visit. Thanks to the Scotsman's strong vision for the SFFS and the S.F. Film Festival, the oldest in the Americas, the SFFS programming marches on, even in the summer, with a kids filmmaking camp. 

"For five years the inimitable and visionary Graham Leggat has led the Film Society with determination and aplomb," wrote Pat McBaine, president of the Film Society's board of directors, in an email press release, "Today the Film Society is in the best shape—artistically, organizationally and financially—in its history."