Susan Boehm will take up a new Sydney-based role as head of acquisitions and development at Icon Film Distribution in January.

Boehm’s three-year contract as a development executive at government agency Screen Australia came to an end in May and since then she has been having time off back home in the US. Before moving to Australia, she was head of the No Borders international co-production market.

“I am excited to be joining Icon, a company with a brilliant track record of bringing much beloved films to audiences,” Boehm said in a statement. “I look forward to building on Icon’s existing strong slate and to contributing to the growth of the company as part of Greg’s team.”

The Greg she’s referring to is Icon chief executive Greg Hughes, who said that the company is fortunate to have found someone as highly credentialed and experienced as Susan.

“She has a great eye for high-quality material and fantastic relationships within the independent film community, both in Australia and internationally,” he said. Boehm’s first market will be the European Film Market in February.

There has been big changes at the top of Icon’s Australian office during the last few months: in part sparked by Mark Gooder’s move from Icon to The Weinstein Company. Although he hadn’t been based in Australia for many years he was very hands-on, working closely with local theatrical general manager Greg Denning. Marketing manager Lisa Garner and Denning left the company soon after news of Gooder’s relocation broke.

Icon’s next releases are The Guillotines 3D (December 20), Zero Dark Thirty (January 31), Bullet To The Head (February 14), Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai 3D (March 14) and Hyde Park On Hudson (March 28).

In the past two years its two most successful Australian releases were Stephan Elliott’s A Few Best Men and Jim Loach’s UK/Australia co-production Oranges And Sunshine.

The building in which Icon Film Distribution is based, in the inner Sydney suburb of Newtown, also houses the Dendy Cinema complex and it has also been undergoing significant change, substantially increasing its screen count to ten in a major renovation. Newtown is one of several arthouse cinema complexes in Australia under the Dendy brand name, which has been owned by Icon since early 2008.

It also acquired the distribution company Dendy Films, which has since been folded into Icon Film Distribution. 

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