As you know, my term as Chief Executive at the NZFC will come to an end at the start of November, when I leave to take up the role heading Screen Australia. The Board has a recruitment process for my replacement underway and I understand that they hope to be able to announce the appointment of a new Chief Executive within the next few weeks.
In the meantime, in the event that there is a gap between my departure and a new Chief Executive starting, Mladen Ivancic has agreed to be Acting Chief Executive. Mladen currently holds the roles of Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer and is well known to you all. He is highly respected by our stakeholders and staff for his expertise and knowledge and I am confident that the leadership of the Film Commission will be in safe hands.
Mladen will be supported by a strong team at the NZFC, including Lisa Chatfield, currently our Short Film Manager, who has been appointed as Acting Head of Development and Production. In this new role she will be responsible for overseeing short films, feature film development and professional development in continuing our commitment to helping filmmakers progress their careers.
To fill the vacancy created by Lisa’s change of role, I am pleased to welcome Whetu Fala to the Development team as the Acting Short Film Manager. Whetu has been working in film and television for more than 20 years and has a background in writing, acting, directing and producing.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to welcome Tracey Brown as Film Materials Manager and Jo Dixon-Didier as Film Materials Coordinator. Both Tracey and Jo will be known to many of you from their time at Park Road Post. Tracey was a post-producer and Jo worked in the film lab. Tracey is joining the NZFC while Rachel Corley is on maternity leave and Jo has a fixed term contract to get the digitisation project up and running.
Graeme Mason