Richard Moore leaves Melbourne Film Festival
Melbourne International Film Festival executive director Richard Moore will leave the organisation after this year’s edition; the board will recruit for two new positions.
Moore told Encore that he announced his decision to the MIFF board two weeks ago, but declined to reveal his plans until February 22, when he expects to make an official announcement. He is currently in Europe for the Gothenburg and Berlin festivals, and will still be in charge of the 2010 edition.
In his opinion, there have been three main achievements during his four years in front of the festival: consistent growth in box office and attendance figures, re-shaping of the festival and introduction of the MIFF premiere fund and the market 37 South, and a 400 percent growth in membership.
The MIFF board will recruit for two positions as part of the festival’s restructure: a CEO and a festival director. Head of the MIFF board Claire Dobbin told Encore that this new structure is the result of MIFF’s growth and current scale, as well as a KPMG review.
“This restructure brings MIFF in line with many other arts festivals and arts organisations where the artistic and management function are split. With the festival director travelling for three or so months a year, it is timely to now introduce these changes to ensure that MIFF continues to serve its loyal audience with an even stronger and more successful festival,” she said.
MIFF will announce the recruitment process shortly. In the meantime, Dobbin has some information for those who might be interested in applying.
“People with management experience should consider applying for the CEO position, and people with high level film programming experience should consider applying for the position of festival director.”
My vote is for Mathieu Ravier to take the hot seat.
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Whoever takes on either role will be greatly compromised by a board which is far too involved in the day to day running of the festival. MIFF is overdue for a board shake-out.
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