The programme director and three board members of Geneva International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) have all resigned from the festival.
The resignations of programme director Irène Challand and board members Nadia Dresti, Ursula Meier and Stina Werenfels follow a closed meeting of the festival board on March 23.
In a statement, FIFDH said the meeting was called “to discuss the tensions that have arisen in recent months within the FIFDH”.
The statement continued: “Considering that the mission entrusted last year by the Board to the Programme Director to develop the quality and outreach of the festival did not receive the necessary support from the operational team, and deeply regretting the internal conflicts that led to the current situation, Nadia Dresti, Ursula Meier and Stina Werenfels, all three members of the Board and renowned personalities of the Swiss film industry, have tendered their resignation.
“Sharing the same assessment, and anxious not to further endanger her health, programme director Irène Challand has also resigned. To ensure continuity, President Yves Daccord remains in charge.”
Daccord said : “I deeply regret the circumstances that bring three prominent members of the board and the programme director to leave the FIFDH today. Thanks to the rigorousness and professionalism of Irène Challand, the 21st edition of the festival presented a very high-quality programme met with a resounding public and critical success. The current situation requires a profound rethinking of the functioning of our festival and of its fundamental purposes, which the Board will address in the coming weeks.”
The 21st edition of FIFDH ran from March 10-19 2023.
Challand, a former journalist and director of the RTS Documentary Film Unit, joined the festival in September 2022. Board member Nadia Dresti launched Locarno’s Industry Days in 2010 and became the head of Locarno Pro in 2018. Filmmaker Ursula Meier’s credits include 2022 Berlinale competition title The Line and 2012 Silver Bear winner Sister. Director Stina Werenfels films include 2006 Berlin Panorama feature Nachbebem and 2015’s Dora or The Sexual Neuroses Of Our Parents.
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