Abu Dhabi executives have appointed former Tribeca creative director Peter Scarlet as the new executive director at the Middle East Film Festival.

He will take over from former Slamdance founder Jon Fitzgerald, who served two consecutive years and launched the Abu Dhabi fest in 2007.
The third edition of the Middle East Film Festival unspools Oct. 8-17.

Tribeca Film Festival had announced Peter Scarlet resignation late february.

“We are grateful to Peter for his leadership, his knowledge and his contributions to the Tribeca Film Festival over the past seven years. I have enormous respect for Peter and appreciate his work on behalf of Tribeca as well as the countless filmmakers around the globe which he helped bring to New York audiences. We thank him and know he will continue to play an important role in cinema,” said Co-founder Jane Rosenthal.

“The term ‘The Seven-Year Itch’ always evokes that famous still of Marilyn Monroe standing on a NY subway grating with her skirt blowing up around her thighs,” Scarlet noted. “But as my 7th Tribeca Film Festival loomed, I realized simply that it’s time for me to seek new challenges. I’m enormously grateful for the terrific experiences I’ve been able to share with colleagues and viewers here, and I’ll never stop being grateful to Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal for having invited me along for such a glorious ride. I wish them and the Festival all success.”