New Berlin Film Festival director Tricia Tuttle has appointed two in-house programmers as co-directors of film programming as she puts a new executive team in place.
Jacqueline Lyanga, a former U.S. delegate to the Berlinale, and Panorama section chief Michael Stütz will take on these duties in July. This amounts to an expanded role for Stütz who will continue to head the Panorama strand, dedicated to new trends and new voices in international filmmaking, alongside his new position as co-director of film programming.
The new Berlinale co-directors of film programming will work with Tuttle to select titles for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections, including the Berlinale Special Gala, and they will “lead the wider team to shape an overall film selection,” according to a statament.
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“Michael and Jacqueline bring a strong and complementary combination of skills and networks, and they are both hugely smart, collaborative creative leaders as well as passionate, generous cinephiles,” said Tuttle in the statement. “I can’t wait to work alongside them to shape dynamic Berlinale film programs,” she added.
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Tuttle, who succeeds Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek and is currently assembling her first edition for next year, announced a new governance structure for the Berlinale in April.
Other new executive positions announced include Florian Weghorn who has held several curatorial and management positions at the fest since 2002 and will become the Berlinale’s first chief of staff, starting on July 1; Tommy Kommer, an expert in corporate finance in the cultural sector who becomes director of finance and business operations; and Miriam Reimers who is being tapped Berlinale’s director of program operations and production.
As previously announced, Tanja Meissner, a seasoned film executive with a long track record in international sales, in May was appointed as the director of Berlinale Pro and the European Film Market after this year’s edition of the EFM.
“It’s wonderful to have most of my executive team in place now,” Tuttle noted. “One of my major objectives is to revitalise the ways in which Berlinale connects to a sense of place, to take advantage of our incredible home city. If we can do this while also building stronger links between the public film program and the European Film Market and the marketplace, we can make the festival even more impactful for audiences and also the important films, filmmakers and rights holders who trust us with their premieres,” she went on to underline.
The Berlinale’s upcoming 75th anniversary edition will run Feb. 13-23, 2025.