Jane Roscoe to Head London Film School

LONDON — Jane Roscoe has been appointed as the director of the London Film School. She will take over from Ben Gibson in August.

Roscoe comes to the film school with more than 20 years’ experience as an academic and broadcaster in Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.

At the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, she launched the Center for Screen Studies and Research, and led a number of large-scale industry-focused research projects. She was a network programmer at Australia’s SBS Television, and was responsible for launching SBS Two.

More recently, as the U.K.-based head of international content at SBS, she acquired feature films in a wide variety of languages, and brokered a slate of international co-productions.

Mike Leigh, chair of governors, said, “Jane is passionate about film education and innovation, and we are delighted that she is to join us to lead LFS into our exciting new phase.”

Roscoe said, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead LFS as it approaches its 60th anniversary. The move to the Barbican will further enhance the school’s ability to educate for creativity, and stay connected to a fast changing film industry. It’s going to be an exciting and challenging journey.”

The school is one of two leading British graduate film schools supported by Creative Skillset and the BFI.

At the Cannes Film Festival, films by LFS graduates are represented in all the official sections: in competition, “Mr Turner,” written and directed by Mike Leigh; in Un Certain Regard, “Xenia,” directed by Panos H. Koutras, and “The Salt of the Earth,” co-directed by LFS graduate Juliano Ribeiro Salgado with Wim Wenders.

In Cannes’ shorts competition, it is repped by LFS graduation film “Leidi,” directed by Simon Mesa Soto, one of only nine films chosen from 3,450 short films to compete for the short film Palme d’Or. Newton Aduaka is one of 15 directors selected for the tenth edition of the Cinefondation Atelier co-production showcase, with his latest feature “Oil on Water.”

In December, LFS announced its first major funding from Creative Skillset toward the development of its plans to transfer its operations from Covent Garden to a new site within the Barbican Center in the City of London. The move is planned for 2016, when the school will also celebrate its 60th birthday.

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