Elvis Mitchell to run LACMA film program

Here's how Anne Thompson puts it at IndieWire:

Elvis Mitchell lands on his feet yet again. One thing about having been a film critic at the New York Times, visiting professor at Harvard, documentary filmmaker, and KCRW host of The Treatment: you get plenty of cred.

Thus it’s no surprise that Film Independent and Los Angeles County Museum of Art director Michael Govan are hiring film critic Mitchell (who recently departed Movieline under a cloud of controversy) as the museum’s outsourced film curator. He in effect will replace outgoing film curator Ian Birnie, who has run LACMA’s film department for 14 years. The film program at LACMA was saved from suspension in October 2008 by an outcry from the film community, including director Martin Scorsese, and bailouts from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Time Warner Cable and Ovation TV, which helped to cover budget shortfalls. Mitchell will take over in September.

One of Mitchell’s longtime champions is new Academy chief Dawn Hudson, who admired Mitchell’s many Q & As over the years for Film Independent....

Mitchell may have a vision for this LACMA gig. And he could do wonderful things for the program, which is what LA film lovers really care about. But it’s also important to preserve the legacy of classic programming and the loyal following the film department has developed over the years, even though the department ran on a shoe-string.....What should give Govan pause are Mitchell’s skills as an administrator/manager/organizer.