The Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival logo. Photo: supplied
The Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival couldn't continue unless it disestablished three full-time roles, festival chair Kaine Thompson says.
There have been major changes this week at the film festival which is set to kick off in just a few months.
The board has disestablished the positions of three staff: executive director Sally Woodfield, head of programming Michael McDonnell and part-time finance and HR manager Kirsten Dowsett.
Woodfield's last day was Friday, and she did not want to comment beyond an email to the film industry saying she was deeply saddened and had hoped to continue in the role.
The disestablishment of the roles was a response to tight finances, Thompson told RNZ's Culture 101.
"When we're not delivering the film festival, when we're in December and January and February and March, the costs to the organisation are still there."
These "off-season" costs were around $300,000 a year, he said.
"Just to keep the organisation going, we need to reconfigure the way that we're operating to make sure that we're able to deliver the festival.
"The festival has to be the number one focus. It can't be a case of running as an organisation and applying for funding to keep the organisation going through the off season."
Establishing contractual roles was not uncommon for arts organisations with uncertain funding, Thompson said.
"The positions that were established over a long period of time have existed through a period of time when we could afford to maintain those positions.
"Our focus has to be the event, so in order to achieve that, we have to pull back on those positions, but we still have the core need, which is to deliver the festival."
The festival has also this week reconfirmed Paolo Bertolin as artistic director for this year - despite re-advertising for that position earlier this month.
Bertolin agreed to keep working with the festival until a decision was made on this year's artistic director, Thompson said.
"The agreement was that he would continue to do that until the recruitment process for a new artistic director had been completed.
"So, Paulo was part of that process, and we had a separate panel that recommended that Paolo be appointed."
Last year the festival was rocked by a series of major resignations, including Ant Timpson, who had been with the festival for 30 years. Sandra Reid, a Europe-based programmer, also left after 30 years along with Malcolm Turner, Nic Marshall and Vicci Ho.
The New Zealand International Film Festival will be held over late July and August.
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