“I am delighted to be joining TLAVideo.com as manager editor of lesbian content,” Coombes said. “I am looking forward to working with the terrifically dedicated team at TLAvideo.com.”
Additionally, Coombes will serve as the Associate Artistic Director of the Philadelphia Film Festival, presented by the Philadelphia Film Society. Her duties will include programming and curating special events. The festival runs from March 26-April 7, 2009. Her position as associate artistic director is effective immediately, to coincide with her attendance at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.
"I am very excited to have Carol join the TLAvideo.com and Philadelphia Film Festival teams,” President of TLA Entertainment Group Raymond Murray, who also is artistic director of the Philadelphia Film Society.
“Her film experience working in London with the British Film Institute and in Miami with the MGLFF is unparalleled,” Murray added. “Her success in Miami — in taking a small regional gay/lesbian film festival and in a few short years, making it one of the most important film festivals in the U.S. — is a testament to her organizational abilities, vast programming knowledge and overall vision of creating a world-class film festival."
The Manchester, England, native previously worked with the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, before moving to the U.S. in 2001, to work on the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. She eventually rose to the position of director/program director in Miami.
Coombes brings with her nearly a decade of solid festival work, as well as a lifetime love-affair with cinema. She will be relocating to Philadelphia, headquarters of TLA Entertainment Group and the Philadelphia Film Society, in late September.
