Poland's Deputy Culture Minister AgnieszkaOdorowicz has been appointed by Culture Minister Waldemar Dabrowski as thedirector of the new Polish Film Centre (PISF).

The new body, whichwill bring the activities of the Film Production Agency, Script Support Agencyand Polish Film Promotion together under one roof with an annual budget ofEuros 25m, is due to start operations from January 1, 2006.

31-year-old Odorowicz became Deputy CultureMinister in August 2004 after having previously worked as the deputy head ofthe Art Institute Association in Cracow, and as artistic director of theStudent Song Festival and Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition ofContemporary Chamber Music. In the ministry, she had supervised the Ministry'slegal and economic departments and dealt wih European integration issues.

Distributor Roman Gutek and Canal Plus Poland'sDominique Lesage were among the Polish media figures appointed to PISF's firstboard, while a list of 150 experts in the areas of feature film, animation,documentary and screenwriting, including directors Krzysztof Zanussi, DorotaKedzierzawska, Robert Glinski, producers Dariusz Jablonski and HenrykRomanowski as well as Warsaw Film Festival director Stefan Laudyn, has beendrawn up by the ministry to advise the Centre on its funding decisions.