SINGAPORE - Ms Pimpaka Towira, a Thai film-maker, critic and film festival organiser, is the new programme director at the Singapore International Film Festival.

She replaces Mr Zhang Wenjie, who has been the SGIFF's festival director since the event relaunched in 2014.He did not respond to queries on his next move.

Her role as programme director includes selecting films and the supervision of its educational programmes for youth and film-makers, such as the SEA Film Lab and the Youth Jury And Critics programme.

Ms Pimpaka, 50, told The Straits Times that she wants to build on the achievements of the SGIFF team.

"I'm eager to know more what Singapore audiences like," she adds.

Her experience with the SGIFF and its organisers goes back to the late 1990s, when her second short film, Mae Nak (1997) was screened here. Her feature film One Night Husband (2003) was also selected.

She was the programme director for the Bangkok Film Festival in 2008 and 2009, as well as a film critic for The Nation newspaper.