Longworth, who is the co-founder of Cinematical.com and former editor SpoutBlog, will replace Scott Foundas, who last month announced he was leaving the Weekly to become the associate program director of The Film Society of Lincoln Center. Longworth will begin her tenure at the Weekly on Jan. 18. In other Weekly news, the paper has hired a new staff reporter: Gene Maddaus, formerly of the Daily Breeze.
Scott Foundas has been named the new associate program director of The Film Society of Lincoln Center, where he will work on series and event programs, including the New York Film Festival. "Scott's writing is an exhilarating dialogue with artists and audiences alike," society executive director Mara Manus tells Variety. "It is this vibrancy, along with Scott's deep film knowledge, that will contribute greatly to our growing organization, ensuring we continue to offer a vital place of serious film culture." IndieWire's Anne Thompson says Foundas' move is another nail in the coffin for the "dying art" of film criticism. "As one of the best critics working today, Foundas should be anticipating a long and happy career," she writes. "He's giving it up to program movies. This should not happen."
The Weekly's Scott Foundas will join Jury president Gillian Armstrong, Hong Kong producer Nansun Shi and Iranian director/writer/producer Majid Majidi, and Australian actress Essie Davis in determining the winner of the Sydney Film Prize for new directions in film at the 55th Sydney Film Festival, set to take place June 4-22.
The New York Film Festival has added the LA Weekly's Scott Foundas and the Village Voice's J. Hoberman to the roster of critics choosing the 2007 festival slate. They join the Film Society Of Lincoln Center's Richard Pena and Kent Jones and Entertainment Weekly critic Lisa Schwarzbaum on the committee.
In 2004, L.A. Weekly Film Editor Scott Foundas was notably unimpressed by the movie Jersey Girl: "The blame for this cosmically self-indulgent disaster lies with Kevin Smith, who directs like a proud father who can't stop showing you pictures of his kids. And here's the thing: The brats are ugly," Foundas wrote. Unfortunately, Smith has a long memory, Foundas reveals in his July 19 review of Smith's latest effort, Clerks II. Foundas says he was asked to leave a press screening because Smith thought he was biased against his work. But all's well that ends well: The critic was invited to a private screening the next day after he and the filmmaker "kissed and made up.
