Barbara Scharres, longtime programming director of the Gene Siskel Film Center, announced her retirement Monday, effective Dec. 31.
Her affiliation with the Film Center, a public program of School of the Art Institute of Chicago, goes back nearly a half-century. In the early 1970s, the St. Xavier University and School of the Art Institute graduate had begun making experimental short films. She also was in the midst of discovering the American independent film scene as well as the turbulent riches of international cinema.