Berlin-Brandenburg production community has welcomed thenaming of Kirsten Niehuus as the executive director with responsibility forfilm funding at Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (the public fund which supportedKevin Spacey's Beyond The Sea andHans Weingartner's The Edukators.last year) from November 1, 2004.

A qualified lawyer, Niehuus previously served as legalcounsel at Senator Film and the German Federal Film Board (FFA) and became thedeputy to the FFA's chief executive Rolf Baehr from 1999. In addition, she waselected to the honorary position of vice-president of the pan-European fundEurimages at the end of last year.

Niehuussucceeds Klaus Keil who left Medienboard on April 1 to take up a new positionas co-director of the Erich Pommer Institute in Potsdam.