Following last year’s Rotterdam Film Festival, Simon Field, the fest’s illustrious director, announced that the 2004 edition would be his last. This year’s festival more than lived up to the high standard Field set when he joined Rotterdam eight years ago, and now Field has revealed his next endeavor. He’ll be joining the U.K. production company Illuminations, run by Keith Griffiths and John Wyver, and will be executive producing a series of music, architecture and film pieces commissioned by the City of Vienna on the occasion the Mozart anniversary in 2006. Theatre and opera director Peter Sellars will be artistic director of the project, further details of which will be announced soon.

At Rotterdam, Field has been a real friend to filmmakers around the world and particularly American independents and experimental filmmakers. We wish him the best in his new position and look forward to many new projects from him in the years ahead.