Ken Wlaschin

Kenneth Glen Wlaschin (July 12, 1934 – November 10, 2009) was an American film programmer, historian of film and music, and author.

Biography Wlaschin was born in Bradish, Nebraska and went to high school in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1956 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He moved to Europe for his English literature Master's degree at University College Dublin and later studied French at the University of Poitiers.

In 1983, he moved back to the United States to become artistic director at the Los Angeles International Film Exposition (Filmex) which ran until 1985. He became the American Film Institute's director of exhibition programming in 1984 and in January 1987, the Institute launched the AFI Fest Los Angeles to take the place of Filmex, with Wlashchin named as director of the new festival. He was director until 1993. He later became the institute's director of creative affairs and was also vice chairman of the National Center for Film and Video Preservation and director of the National Film Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

He died November 10, 2009, at home in Palm Springs, California at the age of 75.

He was married to Maureen Kennedy Martin, a folk singer who he met in Ireland in 1956 and married in 1961. She later became a story editor for EMI Films. They had a son, Scott, born in Guildford, England in 1961.