MURRELL ELECTED TO HEAD BENEVOLENT FUND

The UK-based Cinema & Television Benevolent Fund (Ctbf) has elected David Murrell as its president. He joined the Ctbf council in 2000 and had been vice-president since last year.

WAILES MOVES TO VERTIGO SALES

Vertigo Films has hired Michael Wailes in its head of sales post. He will take up the new position at the end of August. Wailes has worked in theatrical sales for more than 10 years, most recently at Tartan Films.

BABELGUM FILLS CEO POST

New internet TV platform Babelgum has appointed Valerio Zingarelli as its new CEO. He succeeds Babelgum co-founder Erik Lumer, who will now focus on strategic product development. Zingarelli previously worked at Vodafone, where he was global director of networks and service platforms, and he also served as an independent board member of Fastweb.

BERNARD PRESIDES OVER CRITICS' SYNDICATE

France's Critics' Syndicate, which runs the Critics' Week sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival, has elected Jean-Jacques Bernard to the post of president. Bernard replaces Gerard Lenne who held the post for six years.

MELLING TO HEAD UP CONTENTFILM LIBRARY

Toby Melling has joined the UK's ContentFilm International as head of film library sales, the company's newly launched division which has a library of more than 100 feature films. Melling had been vice-president of sales at Granada International and previously worked at BBC Worldwide, Capitol Films and Pandora in Paris.

ENDGAME HIRES THREE

Endgame Entertainment has bolstered its ranks, naming Robert Norton as CFO, Greg Schenz as head of business and legal affairs, and Matt Birch as senior vice-president of physical production.

SUNDREAM DISTRIBUTION LOOKS TO NAN WONG

Hong Kong distribution executive Nan Wong has joined local producer-distributor Sundream Motion Pictures as general manager of distribution. Wong was formerly deputy general manager of local distributor Intercontinental Film Distributors, which handles Buena Vista product in Hong Kong.