ACMI’S Director of Film, Kristy Matheson, appointed Creative Director of Scotland’s Centre for the Moving Image (CMI)

The CMI incorporates Scotland’s leading independent cinema, Filmhouse, the iconic Edinburgh International Film Festival, and Belmont Filmhouse in Aberdeen. Kristy will be responsible for developing and driving the creative vision and strategies for the whole of the CMI, including its curated screenings programs, and its audience development, community engagement, learning, talent and industry development programs.

Kristy Matheson departs ACMI, Australia’s national museum of screen culture, after enormous success as the Director of Film Programs. She has more than 20 years of experience across distribution, film festivals and the museum sector.

During her time at ACMI Kristy established a collaborative programming partnership with Sydney Film Festival, the National Film & Sound Archive and QAGOMA to deliver large scale retrospective programming, including the recent blockbuster season, Love & Neon: The Cinema of Wong Kar Wai. She led the development and launch of ACMI’s video-on-demand service Cinema 3, deepening the reach and accessibility of the museum’s film programs. She established ACMI as the co-publisher of new book series The Decadent Editions. Published by Fireflies Press, the series is 10 books about 10 films, one for every year of the 2000's with each book offering a deep dive into a single film, written by some of the world’s most compelling cultural critics.

Kristy will join CMI following the delivery of Edinburgh International Film Festival 2021 (18–25 August), and will lead the vision for the 75th anniversary edition of Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2022. ACMI will begin a process to fill this key role over the next couple of months.

Kristy Matheson: “In my role at ACMI, I've had the enormous privilege to work in a multi-disciplinary museum that puts curiosity, collaboration, and audiences at the centre of everything it does. This ethos has informed my approach to programming and after being part of the enormously successful relaunch of ACMI, I'm excited to take this energy and learnings into this new opportunity. "

ACMI Director & CEO Katrina Sedgwick OAM: “We are absolutely thrilled for Kristy and thank her for her wonderful contribution to ACMI. Her passion for, knowledge of, and dedication to film are incomparable. Under her leadership our film programs have expanded in breadth, accessibility and vibrancy. We know she will achieve great things in Scotland!”

About Kristy Matheson

Kristy has over 20 years’ experience across distribution, film festivals and the museum sector. She started her career in the programming department at Brisbane International Film Festival, held publicity and marketing roles at Dendy Films and was the Industry

Manager at Sydney Film Festival. Kristy has held multiple roles at ACMI including Cinema Programmer, Senior Film Programmer and most recently Director of Film. In this role, Kristy served on the ACMI Executive, led the strategy for ACMI's film offering and programmed contemporary films and retrospectives. Kristy has served on film festival juries and industry peer assessment panels. She is a regular reviewer on ABC Radio Melbourne, a member of Screen Australia's Gender Matters Taskforce, Monash University Bachelor of Media Communications Advisory Board, and a recipient of the Natalia Miller Fellowship.