Kathleen McInnis, the formerdirector of the Slamdance Film Festival and a veteran of the SeattleInternational Film Festival, has taken up the inaugural role of film festivalspecialist at the Loyola Marymount University School Of Film And Televsion(SFTV) in Los Angeles.

The role is part of theSFTV's new office of external affairs which aims to connect the SFTV studentsto the global landscape of the entertainment and new media industries.

Peter Heller, a veteranindependent producer and manager who was formerly president of Propaganda Filmsand John Hughes' Hughes Entertainment, is running the new office.

McInnis is awell-known figure on the international festival scene, with 12 years at Seattlewhere she co-founded the popular Fly Film-making Challenge in 1996 and producedmany of the short films it generated. Also a prolific film publicist, she iscurrently serving as head programmer for the 2005 Palm Springs ShortInternational Film Festival.