After five years as a dynamic duo, DOXA programmer Dorothy Woodend bid a fond and slightly teary farewell to outgoing executive director Kenji Maeda during the documentary film festival's gala 2016 opening on Thursday night (May 5). She also offered a hearty welcome to Kathleen Mullen, who replaces Maeda in a key position at the rapidly growing fest. 

A veteran of VIFF in its infant '90s, Mullen went on to a dazzling career as a programmer at Hot Docs, the Toronto International Film Festival, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Provincetown International Film Festival.

In 2010, she directed the award-winning doc, Breathtaking, about the grim legacy of asbestos use in Canada and India. In the midst of all this, Mullen also found the time to work as artistic director at the Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival, took on programming duties at the Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival, and was festival director for TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival. 

Mullen's appointment comes in a year when, as Woodend noted, half of the festival's schedule of 80-plus movies were directed by women.

DOXA's big opening night featured the hometown premiere of Vancouver filmmaker John Bolton's acclaimed Aim for the Roses. The festival runs until May 15.