The news that Sheila Whitaker, the ousted director of the London Film Festival (LFF), is planning to head a new London International Film Festival and Market, to be held from 9 to 24 October, just weeks before the LFF, has caused industry tongues to wag.
Such an event, screening 120-150 features and combining a competition with a market based around the London pre-Mifed screenings, would have a major impact not just on the LFF, but upon the international film calendar.
The core team for the proposed event is now in place. Sheila's deputy (as at last year's LFF) will be Tim Cole. The board of the new venture will be chaired by Barrie Ellis-Jones, formerly of Eurimages (and the BFI), while President is Michael Cassidy, former policy director of the Corporation of London. His involvement suggests sponsorship may come from the City and tourism authorities. The views of previous LFF sponsors such as VISA remain unknown, despite rumours suggesting they have followed Whitaker.
The BFI insists that the 41st LFF will take place from 6-23 November 1997 as planned, with Adrian Wootton as director, Mark Adams as co-director, and Sandra Hebron as programmer. All three are, like Whitaker, in Berlin. "Anybody will admit that having two festivals within a month's time is a bad idea," commented Adams. "It doesn't help the industry and it doesn't help the audience."
The BFI has agreed to commission, with producers' association PACT, some research into the function of the LFF. A report will be put before BFI governors on 26 February. But BFI Chairman Jeremy Thomas, President of the Berlin Jury in 1994, was adamant about 1997: "The BFI will certainly be running the 41st LFF this autumn, and I hope all concerned will pull together to make it the best yet." Nick Thomas, Geoffrey Macnab
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