Focus Features

This week saw a lot chair changing in the world of film programmers and film festivals. After Geoffrey Gilmore, longtime director of the Sundance Film Festival, left Utah for New York to assume the role as Chief Creative Officer for Tribeca Enterprises, others followed suit. John Cooper, Sundance’s lead programmer, stepped up to take Gilmore’s place as Festival Director, a move which could actually mark a dramatic shift in the focus and structure of America's premier film festival. Ken Brecher, executive director of the Sundance Institute told the Los Angeles Times "There's no question you will start to see some difference by 2010….We're really giving him an opportunity to put in a new structure. Everything is on the table."

In Los Angeles, ex-Sundance programmer and film producer Rebecca Yeldham assumed the role of director of the LA Film Festival, a position left empty by the former director’s resignation. Rich Raddon, as Variety reminds us, "left the fest three months ago (not because he wasn't doing a good job, but under a cloud of controversy surrounding his financial support of Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban)."  Yeldan, who executive produced Focus Features’ The Motorcycle Diaries, thought hard about giving up film producing to take the job. In New York, Kent Jones, associate director of programming at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and editor-at-large at Film Comment, has resigned after 10 years with the Film Society. The internet immediately erupted with speculation that Jones had been forced out, especially since financial shortfalls has pushed the Film Society to cut its staff by 25%. In addition, the hiring of a new executive director, Mara Manus, caused some to fear that she might be cleaning house. But in a post left as a comment on DaveKehr.com, Jones, who is in Vienna showing his documentary Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows, wrote: “I do want to make it clear that I resigned, and wasn’t forced out or anything like that. And you’ll continue to see good programming at the Walter Reade.”

This week saw a lot chair changing in the world of film programmers and film festivals. After Geoffrey Gilmore, longtime director of the Sundance Film Festival, left Utah for New York to assume the role as Chief Creative Officer for Tribeca Enterprises, others followed suit. John Cooper, Sundance’s lead programmer, stepped up to take Gilmore’s place as Festival Director, a move which could actually mark a dramatic shift in the focus and structure of America's premier film festival. Ken Brecher, executive director of the Sundance Institute told the Los Angeles Times "There's no question you will start to see some difference by 2010….We're really giving him an opportunity to put in a new structure. Everything is on the table."

In Los Angeles, ex-Sundance programmer and film producer Rebecca Yeldham assumed the role of director of the LA Film Festival, a position left empty by the former director’s resignation. Rich Raddon, as Variety reminds us, "left the fest three months ago (not because he wasn't doing a good job, but under a cloud of controversy surrounding his financial support of Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban)."  Yeldan, who executive produced Focus Features’ The Motorcycle Diaries, thought hard about giving up film producing to take the job. In New York, Kent Jones, associate director of programming at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and editor-at-large at Film Comment, has resigned after 10 years with the Film Society. The internet immediately erupted with speculation that Jones had been forced out, especially since financial shortfalls has pushed the Film Society to cut its staff by 25%. In addition, the hiring of a new executive director, Mara Manus, caused some to fear that she might be cleaning house. But in a post left as a comment on DaveKehr.com, Jones, who is in Vienna showing his documentary Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows, wrote: “I do want to make it clear that I resigned, and wasn’t forced out or anything like that. And you’ll continue to see good programming at the Walter Reade.”