British producer is new Sundance director

The 36th annual Sundance Film Festival ended with a bang last Saturday, after it was announced that British film producer Tabitha Jackson will be taking the reins as the indie fest's new director, The New York Times reported.

She will be replacing Mr John Cooper, who said last June that he would step down from the top spot after 11 years in the role.

Jackson, 49, joined the Sundance Institute in 2013 as director of the documentary film programme. Before joining Sundance, she worked for the BBC and Channel 4, where she served as the series editor of True Stories and executive producer of projects for Film 4.

Staunton to play Queen Elizabeth in The Crown

British actress Imelda Staunton, 64, will play an older Queen Elizabeth in the final season of award-winning television series The Crown, the show's creator said last Friday.

The Netflix series about the British royal family will end after five seasons rather than the six seasons originally envisaged, writer and executive producer Peter Morgan was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Staunton, best known for playing the vindictive Ministry of Magic official Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter movies (2001 to 2011), will take over from actress Olivia Colman, who played the monarch in middle age in season three and the yet-to-be-released fourth season of The Crown.