The complexion of the Dutch film industry could be set for dramatic change following the appointment of new chiefs at all three of The Netherlands' major film institutions: the Dutch Film Fund, the Filmmuseum and the Maurits Binger Institute.

After months of speculation it was announced that broadsheet journalist Toine Berbers is to take over from taking over from Ryclef Rienstra at the Dutch Film Fund. Rienstra left on Feb 1 to start a cultural fund backed by Endemol founder Joop van de Ende. Former Asia correspondent and political editor for Dutch national paper De Volkskrant, Berbers is a complete outsider to the film industry. This was a deliberate choice on the part of the Film Fund as an outsider is expected to have more chance of bringing together the filmmaking community, the public funding bodies and the broadcasters. This has long been an unwieldy triangle, complicated by internal and external politics.

Another surprise appointment is that of Rien Hagen as director of the Filmmuseum. Hagen is a former writer-director-producer who has run The Hague's art-house cinema since 1993. The Filmmuseum was rumoured to have negotiated with Emile Fallaux, the former director of the Rotterdam film festival, and Melle Daamen of the Mondriaan Foundation. The Filmmuseum was recently awarded in New York by the Anthology Film Archives for its preservation of Holland's cinematographic heritage.

Following the departure of Jeanne Wikler to be cultural attache at the Dutch embassy in New York, the Maurits Binger Institute, has appointed Dick Willemsen as its new director. The Institute manages a post-graduate programme for international filmmakers and producers. Willemsen is a founding director of Sources, a MEDIA programme strand, and more recently was in charge of the Dutch Film Academy's directing department. He takes up the post on July 1.