Christian J. Lemche of the Danish Film Institute (DFI) has been elected as European Film Promotion's (EFP) new President. As the Board of Directors confirmed at a EFP members' meeting in Hamburg/Germany, DFI's Festival Manager for Feature Films will take over the presidency from Hungary's Éva Vezér who recently left Magyar Filmunió. In addition, Mariette Rissenbeek, Managing Director of German Films, has been elected as a new member to EFP's Board of Directors at the General Assembly of EFP members.

New EFP Board (from left): Martin Schweighofer, Mariette Rissenbeek, EFP Managing Director Renate Rose, new EFP President Christian J. Lemche, Rafael Cabrera, Jaana Puskala, EFP Vice President Claudia Landsberger;
not pictured: Ivana Ivisic

The members of the Board of Directors are:

Christian J. Lemche, Festival Manager Feature Films, Danish Film Institute - EFP President
Claudia Landsberger, Head of EYE International, eye Film Institute Netherlands (EFP Vice President)
Rafael Cabrera, Marketing Manager, ICAA - Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales, Spain
Ivana Ivisic, International Co-operation and Promotion, Croatian Audiovisual Centre
Jaana Puskala, Head of Feature Film Promotion, Finnish Film Foundation
Mariette Rissenbeek, Managing Director, German Films
Martin Schweighofer, CEO, Austrian Film Commission

Christian J. Lemche has been working as the Festival Manager for Feature Films at DFI since 2003. He is currently the project manager of DFI's projects for the Danish EU Presidency which will be running from January 1 to June 30, 2012. "Even during difficult times, we must not forget to nurture our arts and culture", Christian Juhl Lemche says. "I very much look forward to collaborating with all of the EFP members on the continued promotion of European films." Since EFP's inception in 1997, Denmark has always been a strong member of EFP and supporter of its international activities.

The number of participating countries in the EFP network has in the meantime increased from 10 to more than 30 countries from all over Europe. Renate Rose has been managing director since EFP was established in 1997. EFP is financially supported by the MEDIA Programme of the European Union, its member organisations, and public and private sponsors.

More information on European Film Promotion at http://www.efp-online.com/