Former San Francisco festival head, Peter Scarlet has been appointed executive director of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

The festival, in its second edition (May 6-11, 2003) was founded last year by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal. The main focus of the 2003 will be an official selection including new films from around the world shown non-competitively and a competition for feature-length fiction and documentary films by first- and second-time directors.

Sidebar events will include a selection, sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, of films with a scientific or technological theme and The Family Film Festival showcasing features, programmes of shorts and panel discussions. Short films and films by students are also invited into a competition section.

Scarlet directed the San Francisco International Film Festival for nineteen years from 1983-2001 and spent a year in Paris as director general of film archive, the Cinematheque Francaise.

Working with Scarlet on the Festival programme and returning from last year's festival will be Nancy Schafer, former executive producer and programmer for eight years of the South By Southwest Film Festival, David Kwok, who spent five years as a director of The New Festival/New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, and Eamonn Bowles, president of Magnolia Pictures and curator of the Independent Film Showcase at last year's festival.