CMI appoints James Mullighan to produce EIFF overhaul

Journalist Mark Cousins, Oscar winner Tilda Swinton and a wider artistic team to be announced have begun to craft the blueprint for the ambitious transformation under the title All That Heaven Allows.

The festival may cease to have a competition section or prizes and will focus more on inviting a team of guest curators to programme their own selection of films or contribute to special themed days within the festival.

Festival-goers will be encouraged to interact with initiatives designed to bring the city alive, all of which will be revealed in due course by Cousins and his artistic team.

“We live in a very fragmented and competitive space and so it becomes much more important to continually refresh, revitalise and re-invent,” Miller said.

“I’m both confident and excited with this blueprint that Mark Cousins has shaped, which will deliver a unique and distinctive festival. I am delighted also that James is joining us as the producer and I believe that his years at Shooting People put him in a good position to build on the heritage of Edinburgh International Film Festival as a distinctive cultural force.”

Mullighan was born in Adelaide, South Australia, and moved to the UK 13 years ago. He worked for Sony Classical and Columbia records in Australia and as a freelance journalist contributed to a variety of publications including The Scotsman, GQ, Vogue and Rolling Stone.

Mullighan currently serves as creative director at Shooting People, the global network of independent film-makers that numbers 38,000 members in the UK and US. He oversees day-to-day operations.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be appointed to this new position at a film festival that I have long admired and supported,” Mullighan said. “It has an incredible history of programming the finest films from all over the world and delivering an exciting and innovative programme to a very faithful and enthused audience. Mark describes it as a Ziggy Stardust moment and I think that’s right. We will announce Mark’s blueprint for the festival in the New Year.”

Commenting on the initiatives Caroline Parkinson, director of creative development at Creative Scotland, said: “Creative Scotland welcomes the announcement of a team with a strong breadth of experience to take the Edinburgh International Film Festival into the future.”

 The 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival will kick off on June 15, 2011.