Josh Welsh (courtesy Film Independent. Photo: Michael Muita) Josh Welsh, Film Independent’s President, died December 31, 2024 at house following a five-year battle with colon most cancers. He was 62.
Welsh started his affiliation with the non-profit almost 30 years in the past, volunteering at its annual Spirit Awards in 1996 whereas working in L.A. as an actor. After becoming a member of the employees, Welsh labored his manner up by varied positions: Filmmaker Labs Coordinator, Filmmaker Labs Manager and Director of Talent Development. In the latter place, he oversaw and helped create all of the group’s expertise growth applications, together with the Labs, Project:Involve and the Fast Track Film Financing Market. He additionally administered Film Independent’s annual grant applications, together with the Sloan Producers Grant, and he oversaw the Netflix-sponsored FIND Your Voice competitors.
Following the resignation of Dawn Hudson as President, Welsh was promoted in 2012 to the place, which he initially shared with Sean McManus. When McManus resigned in 2013, Welsh stayed as President till his passing. In a press release, Film Independent credited Welsh with “growing the staff, budget, programming slate, and membership. He also increased our international reach by partnering with the State Department on the Global Media Makers Program. His leadership was instrumental in shaping Film Independent into the vibrant, diverse, global champion of independent storytelling that we are so proud to be part of today.”
“We are devastated by the loss of Josh Welsh,” mentioned Film Independent’s Board Chair Brenda Robinson in a press release. “Josh was a tireless champion of independent voices, a trusted arts leader and a cherished colleague and friend. The work we do at Film Independent has never been more necessary and we will honor his legacy by continuing to build on the foundation he established. Our hearts go out to his family.”
Prior to its 2005 relaunch as Film Independent, the group was referred to as IFP/West, a sister group to IFP, now The Gotham Film & Media Institute (Filmmaker‘s writer). Commented The Gotham Executive Director Jeffrey Sharp, “Josh Welsh transformed the independent film landscape by building Film Independent into a global force. He was also a cherished friend to our organization over many years. I valued our regular conversations, especially during the pandemic when things were particularly challenging. He was the first meeting I took when I started my role in 2019, and I last spoke with him a few weeks ago. Throughout that time, he was a dear friend and valued colleague who made our work better, our community stronger, as he brought warmth and humor to every conversation. His accomplishments were many, the careers he impacted were immeasurable, and his legacy will continue to be reflected and celebrated at the annual Spirit Awards, where he always shined bright.”
Indeed, Welsh was well-loved by the impartial movie group not simply on the West Coast however nationwide. Commented creator, critic, director and govt Brandon Harris, a Filmmaker Contributing Editor, “It’s rare that a friendship begins with a rejection letter, but I first came to know Josh after he turned me down, with great care, for the Film Independent screenwriter lab in 2009. It was only the second personalized rejection letter I had ever received — Paul Sbrizzi’s from Slamdance a year before was the first — and so began a correspondence which eventually led to a real-life friendship I came to cherish in an often lonely, dislocating city. Josh welcomed me into the Film Independent community as a fellow and later in a variety of other ways, to Los Angeles, where he was that rarest thing, universally beloved. He persevered through a lot beyond his own illness — the killing of one sibling, the recent loss of another to cancer — and remained steadfast and cheerful amidst it all, setting an example that I was constantly in awe of. Independent film in this town lost its most eager and worthy advocate, as well as one of its finest people.”
As information of Welsh’s passing unfold this week, artists posted remembrances throughout their social media feeds. Among them was producer and Film Independent board member Mynette Louie, who posted on Instagram:
I’m devastated that the extraordinary Josh Welsh handed away on New Year’s Eve. He was one of many very first business folks to assist my producing profession when he invited me Film Independent’s Fast Track program in 2009, the place I went from understanding actually nobody to assembly 60 business gamers in three days. The group additionally gave my tasks a post-production grant and monetary sponsorships. Josh then put me on Film Independent panels each time doable, making me appear far more essential than I truly was. He shined a light-weight on me in so some ways at so many essential moments in my life.
That type of assist for an rising filmmaker with no familial monetary assets or connections was completely every thing. Then I used to be honored to have acquired a number of Spirit Awards nominations and two wins, together with the $25,000 Producers Award, which stored my indie producer head above water till my subsequent movie bought financed. Multiply my story by hundreds of Film Independent Fellows—eventual Oscar and Emmy winners, bona fide auteurs, and prolific producers and showrunners amongst them—and you may start to really feel the load of Josh’s huge influence on the American movie panorama over the previous two-plus many years.
For me, it got here full circle after I was invited to serve on Film Independent’s Board of Directors, the place I used to be capable of see up shut Josh’s potential to steer and encourage with the utmost grace and humanity—at all times with indie filmmakers on the forefront of his thoughts and coronary heart. He was an artist like us, in spite of everything. My personal coronary heart now aches and goes out to Josh’s household, associates, and all the movie group. We have misplaced an enormous. May he relaxation in peace.
Also on Instagram, director Cherien Dabis remembered Welsh and his assist for her personal work by Film Independent’s applications:
So heartbroken to listen to that the extraordinary Josh Welsh (@meatyard) has handed away. He was a tireless advocate of impartial filmmakers like myself. I used to be a child contemporary out of movie college after I met him 20 years in the past. I’ll always remember the day he known as me to ask me to the 2005 Film Independent Director’s Lab. I used to be armed with my first characteristic screenplay however sitting on a mountain of rejections. No one had taken an opportunity on me but. Josh was fairly actually my first champion, the primary particular person to like the screenplay for Amreeka and see the humor in my writing. His enthusiasm was infectious. He made me consider in myself.
The Director’s Lab was a sport changer. It gave me the chance to direct a number of scenes from my screenplay and the boldness to persuade others that I may helm my very own characteristic. I went on to participate in different Film Independent applications due to Josh — from Project Involve to Fast Track to the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Independent Spirit Awards, assembly so many superb folks and fostering connections within the impartial movie group. The photographs posted right here had been taken on the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival’s particular screening of Amreeka. Josh modified my life, serving to to leap begin my profession, then continued to search out methods to assist me through the years. I’ll endlessly be pleased about his ardour, conviction, dedication and ardent assist.
And I’m just one particular person. Josh modified the lives of numerous filmmakers each at house and overseas. He’ll be so deeply missed. Thank you to your imaginative and prescient and generosity, pricey Josh. May your lovely soul relaxation in peace and your legacy reside on.
Speaking personally, I interacted with Josh recurrently when IFP/West was this journal’s co-publisher but in addition when a mission I used to be producing went by Fast Track in 2008. Echoing these above, I deeply revered and located invigorating Josh’s ardour for the work, his sincerity, and his down-to-earth high quality. Through his ascent at Film Independent, he remained each accessible and dedicated, and I significantly admired how gracefully he balanced the robust job of administrating a non-profit, one with a multi-million greenback funds, whereas remaining invested within the lives and careers of the people that comprised his group.
Prior to his work in movie, Welsh graduated with a Ph.D in philosophy from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in philosophy from Kenyon College. He sang and performed rhythm guitar within the band Meatyard, whose different core member, Welsh’s brother Philip, was its essential lyricist. (Welsh continued to jot down songs utilizing Philip’s earlier writings following his brother’s homicide in 2014.) As the band described itself on its website, “We aim for hokum-free soulful twang. With songs built on simple, folky progressions, the band combines sharp, acerbic, and often morbid lyrics with strong, hooky melodies. We believe that if a song isn’t working, it probably needs more harmony vocals and slide guitar.”
Welsh is survived by his spouse, Bonnie Gavel, and daughter Isla. A Josh Welsh Memorial Fund to assist Isla’s schooling has been launched at GoFundMe.
This story has been up to date after publication to appropriate details about Welsh’s schooling — he acquired a Ph.D from Johns Hopkins, not Princeton – and so as to add details about his brother Philip and his position in Meatyard.
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