Executive Director of the Film Festival Alliance

Barbara Twist is the Executive Director of the Film Festival Alliance, a nonprofit for festivals and the people who run them. She has extensive experience in distribution and exhibition, and her previous work includes Director of Partnerships at Vidiots, as well as Art House Convergence, Europa International, and others. Barbara is one of the organizers of IND/EX, the largest gathering of independent Exhibitors and Distributors in North America, and has been a key force behind exciting discussion series and new initiatives to address the distribution crisis - including most recently The Popcorn List, highlighting exceptional films that have yet to secure distribution after a festival premiere. A frequent contributor to Dear Producer, she has written for various industry outlets on exhibition and distribution issues. She co-leads a monthly convening focused on surfacing challenges within indie distribution through the Filmmaker Distribution Collective, and she is a co-founder and board member of the field-wide advocacy nonprofit, Future Film Coalition.

*Will take place in January - February 2026