Debbie Werner has been appointed executive director of the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, as the festival aims to sustain its growth.

Werner is taking on the new role following a successful year for the 11-day spring festival. Last year, the Toronto Jewish Film Festival saw a 14% increase in box office sales for their spring festival over 2012, she told Playback.

Werner first joined the Toronto Jewish Film Festival in 2009 as director of operations, and was promoted to managing director in 2012.

The festival has being growing consistently year over year, Werner said, noting that it is challenging to maintain that growth with so many competing film festivals in the Toronto area.

“We all start off as these niche festivals, but we are all trying to attract a larger audience,” she said.

In 2012, the festival held focus groups to identify how to attract new patrons to the event, Werner said.

The focus groups found that the organization needed to better appeal to audiences that were not Jewish, and to those who believed the festival was only for an older generation.

Based on the feedback from the focus groups, the festival decided to reorganize its program so that films were listed by genre, rather than alphabetically, so potential patrons could better navigate the content of the event.

The festival also focused on using social media and online marketing campaigns to better appeal to a younger audience.

“We just made it easier for people to give us a try,” Werner said.

The 2014 edition of the Toronto Jewish Film Festival will run from May 1 to May 11, and will feature over 90 films from more than 15 countries.