Maire leaves Locarno Fest for Swiss Cinémathèque
Appointed in October 2007 to succeed Hervé Dumont, Vinzenz Hediger (39) has decided to step down as director of the Swiss Cinémathèque in Lausanne (see news).
The official reason given is that the young professor – who teaches the history and aesthetics of film at the Ruhr University of Bochum – has decided to “focus on his academic career in Germany”, as announced tactfully by the Foundation Council of the Swiss Cinémathèque.
Hediger himself preferred to be completely open by revealing to the press that, since last autumn, he has been suffering from “burnout” (professional exhaustion) from which he yet to recover. Moreover, in January 2008, he resigned from his position, but immediately changed his mind – which set people talking. Since then, rumours have been doing the rounds.
The Council Foundation thus sought a successor in the utmost secrecy. The proposed replacement was welcomed unanimously. Frédéric Maire (46), current director of the Locarno Film Festival, has agreed to take the reins of the institution in November 2009.
Marc Wehrlin (60) – who was head of the Film Section at the Federal Culture Office from 1995-2005 then deputy director of said office until last May – will act as interim director, starting this August, when Dumont will retire after 13 years at the helm of an institution he has helped to revive and improve.
A lawyer by training, Wehrlin arrives at just the right moment to oversee the much-needed expansion of the archival facilities, for which funding of around €30m is set to be voted on by parliament this autumn. His political and cultural connections should indeed guarantee the project’s success.
Maire will thus bow out as Locarno director next year, after his fourth edition, and the search for his successor is already underway. Having worked as a film director, journalist and film critic, in 1992 Maire also founded the children’s film club The Magic Lantern, an educational initiative that he co-directed until 2005 and which has expanded worldwide.
Maire’s arrival as director of the Cinémathèque will enable him to breathe new life into the operational institution and open it up to a wider audience.
(Translated from French)
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