The Canal Plus Group announced Friday the appointment of Laurent Hassidto the post of director of foreign film acquisitions.

Hassid will report to head of film Evi Fullenbach. His responsibilitieswill include overseeing acquisitions of foreign films, excluding films from theUS majors, and pre-buys on French films shot in foreign languages for CanalPlus, Canal Plus Cinema and the group's thematic channels.

Hassid formerly worked at Andersen Consulting and joined StudioCanal in1993 working with the acquisition and distribution of foreign films. In 2000,he joined the cinema arm of the Canal Plus Group as deputy director of Frenchfilm acquisitions.