Noah Cowan, former co-director of the Toronto Movie Pageant and government director of SFFILM in San Francisco, died Wednesday of most cancers in Los Angeles, Deadline has confirmed. He was 55.

Cowan died of glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive type of mind most cancers he was identified with in December 2021.

Born on July 22, 1967, in Hamilton, Ontario, he joined TIFF in 1984 as a field workplace staffer after volunteering with the fest in summer time 1981. He later ran its print site visitors division earlier than changing into one of many programmers of TIFF’s Midnight Insanity program in 1989. He was promoted to Program Administrator in 1992, and co-ran Midnight Insanity with Colin Geddes in 1997.

Cowan served as TIFF’s worldwide programmer from 1997-2001, throughout which era he was promoted to affiliate director of programming after which affiliate director. He left the competition in 2001 however returned three years later as co-director, serving within the function till 2008. From 2008-14, he was inventive director of TIFF Bell Lightbox.

He went on to serve from 2014-19 as government director of the San Francisco Movie Society, the group behind the long-running San Francisco Worldwide Movie Pageant.

After leaving SFFILM, Cowan based and led Noah Cowan Consulting, specializing in strategic realignment, model evaluation, and program restructuring for movie, media, and visible arts organizations. The corporate’s consumer roster included the IFC and the Telluride Movie Pageant.

Earlier in his profession, Cowan co-founded Cowboy Photos, a New York Metropolis-based distributor of arthouse fare. In 2002, he launched the World Movie Initiative, a nonprofit group dedicated to worldwide understanding by way of movie. In partnership with the Museum of Trendy Artwork, the org funded, acquired, created and distributed academic materials for socially significant cinema from the creating world. He left the group in 2004.

Cowan additionally was a contributing editor to Filmmaker journal from 1994-2004 and labored as a contract author and critic.

He’s survived by husband John O’Rourke; dad and mom Nuala FitzGerald Cowan and Edgar Cowan; brothers Brian FitzGerald (Diane) and Tim FitzGerald (Sandi); and several other nieces, nephews, cousins and different prolonged household.

In lieu of a funeral for Cowan, plans for a memorial are anticipated to be introduced quickly, Deadline has realized. Donations in Cowan’s reminiscence might be made to MOMA’s Division of Movie and TIFF Cinematheque.