The former head of the San Francisco International Film Festival, Scarlet was named executive director of the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002, a year after it was founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff. He left the post in 2009 and went on to direct the Abu Dhabi Film Festival for a few years.

A Brooklyn native, Scarlet spent the lionshare of his career with the San Francisco International Film Festival. Joining the organization in 1984, he is credited with giving the Bay Area some film-industry cred. Not only did he feature future auteurs like Spike Lee and Mike Leigh early in their careers, but he also emphasized the International part of the fest, featuring directors like Stanley Donen, Robert Bresson, Ousmane Sembene, Im Kwon-Taek and Abbas Kiarostami (and using Akira Kurosawa's name as an award for the festival). After nearly two decades with the festival, although it was initially reported that he was going to run the Cinematheque Francais in Paris, the Tribeca Film Festival quickly snatched him up. With the festival still in its infancy, Scarlet's credibility within the film festival world helped bring in top tier films and expanded the festival from a weekend to nearly two weeks. However, in 2009, Scarlet felt the pangs of a "seven-year itch" and resigned from his post. Making good on his initial post-San Fran gig, he ran the Cinematheque for a year and then went on the direct the Abu Dhabi film festival for several years. But in 2012, amid a great deal of speculation, he abruptly left the festival (or, ya know...was fired) and was replaced by Ali Al Jabri. [Image via Getty]