Celebrating its tenth anniversary as a nonprofit, SV Archive, commonly known as Scarecrow Video, is pleased to announce the appointment of film industry veteran Jonathan Marlow as its Executive Director. The change in leadership follows a successful round of fundraising, generating over $1 million for the vital Pacific Northwest arts institution.
Scarecrow Video maintains one of the most unique and unparalleled physical-media collections representing a vast and largely irreplaceable catalog of cinematic heritage. SV Archive has been curated to showcase films which may have been overlooked by mainstream outlets and, in December, the archive officially surpassed 150,000+ physical items in its film and television collection, cementing Scarecrow’s status as arguably the largest publicly-accessible physical media library in the world.
“Scarecrow Video is not just a place or a collection of movies, it is another portal to home. In our search for a new Executive Director, we needed to find someone who not only has the skills necessary to help us navigate the challenging times facing all nonprofits but also someone who truly understands the special nature of this institution. The Board is thrilled that Jonathan Marlow has returned down the yellow brick road to Scarecrow,” stated Lacey Leavitt Gray, Board President of Scarecrow Video.
Ken Jennings, Jeopardy! host and Scarecrow Board member, further opined, “Jonathan’s enthusiasm for Scarecrow is evident and contagious, and we’re fortunate to have him back! I am inspired by his love for this institution and its storied past, but most of all by his optimism for Scarecrow’s future.”
Marlow’s appointment comes on the heels of an unprecedented fundraising campaign and immense global support for SV Archive. Facing the brink of closure in early 2024, Scarecrow launched a historic fundraising effort—Save Our Scarecrow—to keep the nonprofit thriving, fuel its mission and preserve public access to its diverse media archive for generations to come. Since the June 2024 launch of the S.O.S. campaign, over $1 million has been raised towards its fundraising goal. This milestone of community support has given Scarecrow funding to stay in its current location through at least 2026.
Marlow is no stranger to Scarecrow Video, having volunteered to help relocate the collection in the 1990s to its present home on Roosevelt Way. During his original tenure working with co-founders Rebecca and George Latsios, Marlow oversaw the creation of Sanctuary, a twenty-seat 16mm cinema on the mezzanine level of the store (currently housing the Drama and Comedy sections). He was additionally involved in numerous Scarecrow-produced events including the Masters of Animation Festival at the Seattle Art Museum in 1997 and retrospectives of works by Seijun Suzuki, Werner Herzog and numerous others.
Kate Barr, outgoing Executive Director, shared, “For the last 36 years, Scarecrow Video has employed scores of film enthusiasts. For many, this unique place made a deep impression on them. In this past year of twists and turns for our organization, the most recent and exciting development has been to welcome back former staff member Jonathan Marlow to the Scarecrow family. Since leaving Scarecrow, he has amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience that brings fresh insights and inspirations that will allow us to pave a path into the future, the one the S.O.S. Campaign envisioned for our organization at the outset. I am very much looking forward to seeing where Scarecrow goes, but this time from the sidelines.”
After moving from the Seattle area, Marlow’s path led him towards an eclectic and varied career in Berlin and the Bay Area at the intersection of film and technology, including his co-founding of Fandor and the co-direction of the reconstituted Camera Obscura, originally created in 1957 by artists Lawrence Jordan and Bruce Conner. Across the past two decades, Marlow has continued to curate and introduce film screenings throughout the world, including occasional reappearances in Seattle to present screenings at the Northwest Film Forum (most recently, the Luminous Alchemy series last July, selections of which were recreated at the Cinematheque in Vancouver, British Columbia, in December).
“Scarecrow has inevitably factored into nearly every element of my life, from my meandering youth as a filmmaker, distributor and film exhibitor to the meticulous cinematic explorations of the present. The unsurpassable and ever-expanding Scarecrow collection has remained a persistent compulsion whenever I returned to the Pacific Northwest but it was the incredible individuals affiliated with the admirable institution who consistently pulled me back to that building,” stated Jonathan Marlow, Executive Director of Scarecrow Video. “When I was approached to lead Scarecrow into its next iteration, I willingly accepted the opportunity to help preserve this unparalleled collection at this precarious moment as well as for generations ahead. I hope that my assorted efforts will prove fundamental in securing the longevity of the archive.”
With his return to the Scarecrow fold, Marlow is prepared to tackle the multitude of challenges that the institution faces in managing and preserving its unprecedented physical media collection. He brings to the role a vast and varied institutional experience, keen intuition and characteristic inspiration to pave a path forward for the nonprofit.
