The Film Society of Lincoln Center has appointed former Village Voice film editor Dennis Lim as its new Director of Programming, a position previously held by Robert Koehler.
Koehler is resigning due to unspecified family health problems and moving back to Los Angeles.
Koehler, a critic and festival programmer, took the job in September after Richard Pena, head of programming for both the center and the New York Film Festival, stepped down. Koehler has written for such publications as the Christian Science Monitor and Variety.
“I am leaving the position of Director of Programming both with a sense of regret, particularly the feeling of personal separation from a wonderful staff and programming team, as well as absolute confidence, given the entrance of Dennis Lim, who has been a friend, colleague and fellow cinephile for several years and whom the Film Society is extraordinarily fortunate to have in a leadership role,” Koehler said in a statement.
Lim, who was the film editor of the Village Voice from 2000 to 2006, is a regular contributor to both the New York and Los Angeles Times. A professor at New York University, he is also the founding editor of Moving Image Source, the online magazine of New York's Museum of the Moving Image, where Lim has organized film series.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center spotlights independent and international filmmakers through screenings, retrospectives and festivals. As director of programming, Lim will oversee the curation of those events. He will begin April 1. In the interim Kent Jones, who oversees programming for the New York Film Festival, will do the same for the society as well.
Rose Kuo, executive director of the film society, described Lim as “an ideal partner and leader” thanks to his “important contributions to film writing and his talent as a programmer.”
“I’m excited and honored to be joining an institution that has played a central role in the vitality of New York film culture and meant a great deal to me personally as a writer and a moviegoer,” Lim said in a statement.