Richard Moore will be thenext programmer of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), replacingJames Hewison as executive director from September.

Moore co-programmed 'Real Life on Film', a documentaryfestival held at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Melbourne in February as part of the cultural programme of the2006 Commonwealth Games. He also curated the TV50 Exhibition, a celebration of50 years of television in Australia, which is now showing at ACMI.

He has been a documentaryfilmmaker and was an executive producer on arts-based programming for nationalbroadcaster the ABC in the five years up to 2004.

"It is a fantasticopportunity to head up Australia's most prestigious film festival and I thoroughlylook forward to the challenges and rewards that the role will bring," Moore said in yesterday's statement from the chair of theMIFF board, Claire Dobbin.

Hewison's last festivalstarts on July 26 and runs until August 13. He joins the Australian FilmInstitute (AFI) as chief executive once Moore takes his place.

Moore is the second major Australian festival appointmentin two weeks: Clare Stewart is moving from ACMI, where she is head of filmprogrammes, to take up the role of artistic director of the Sydney FilmFestival on July 24.

Her most recent high-profileevent for ACMI was 'Stanley Kubrick: Inside the Mind of a Visionary Filmmaker'.She also programmed the AFI for five years and Melbourne Cinematheque for sevenyears.