Film critic Deborah Young is leaving her post as director of the Taormina Film Fest after five years with the event.
She said her departure was because of “incompatible views with the Taormina Arte Committee, who administer the event’s financing.”
Taormina Arte had announced that due to budget cuts it could no longer hire artistic directors across film, music and theater.
The festival’s 2012 dates haven’t been announced yet.
“I appreciate the difficulties that Taormina Arte faces, having worked hard with them last year to cut costs without damaging the festival’s image,” noted Deborah Young, “but I cannot reconcile such an alternative approach with the Taormina’s grand heritage and its guiding role as the most important film festival in southern Italy, particularly after it has risen to become a major Mediterranean showcase of enormous international resonance.
Young will become International Film Editor for The Hollywood Reporter.
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