Nancy Collet has resigned as AFI FEST's director of programming after seven years in the position. No replacement has been announced yet.

Collet, who often personally viewed as many as 1,000 films each year, joined AFI as festival coordinator in 1997. Shortly after that she was promoted to programme manager and rose to director in May 2000.

'It's been an extraordinary experience,' Collet said. 'But I'm ready to move on and embrace new challenges. I'm excited about what the future holds.'

During her time at AFI FEST, Collet secured the premieres of such Academy Award winning films as The Lives Of Others, Pan's Labyrinth, Tsotsi, City Of God, Talk To Her, Life Is Beautiful, and Gods And Monsters, among others.

In 2006, Collet and her staff screened more than 3,500 submissions and put together a slate of 149 films representing 45 countries. She also supervised a large programming and temporary staff and oversaw production of the programming, scheduling, theatre management and film professionals programmes at AFI FEST.

In 2002 Collet helped to launch AFI's year-round programming initiative at the ArcLight Hollywood and the Skirball Cultural Center, creating and overseeing numerous screening series, mini festivals, retrospectives and special events with Q&As.

'Under Nancy's programming leadership, AFI FEST has grown into one of the most anticipated film festivals in North America,' AFI FEST director Christian Gaines said.

'Nancy oversaw a steep increase in film entries, festival attendees, film-maker programs and attention from the international media and film communities. We're going to miss her, and we wish her well in her future endeavours.'

Prior to joining AFI, Collet worked for Tom Hanks at his Clavius Base Films, where she was involved in various elements of production on the HBO series From The Earth To The Moon.

Prior to that, she worked at 20th Century Fox and Interscope Communications. She started her career as a trainee at the William Morris Agency.