After more than a decade working for Sundance Film Festival, Kim Yutani has been named the fest’s new Director of Programming. Her new role sees her leading “the curation of film, media, and off-screen programming at both the Sundance Film Festival and other year-round public platforms and programs that showcase and elevate independent storytellers and artists,” according to a press release announcing the news. Yutani was formerly Senior Programmer at the fest. She’s succeeding Trevor Groth.

“Kim’s curatorial vision combines a voracious appetite for films across genres with a creative instinct for the work that will affect audiences and culture,” said Festival Director John Cooper. “She’ll now helm an incredibly talented team of curators and programmers, and I predict that our Festival slates will further deepen and broaden the reach of independent artists and stories in fiction and nonfiction.”

Added Yutani, ““My approach as a programmer has always been driven by an empathetic inquisitiveness, a desire to see the world from as many points of view as possible — and I’m so excited to collaborate with Cooper and our team, with their myriad strengths and backgrounds, to surface new artists and voices.”

Yutani launched her programming career at Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival, where she served as Artistic Director and the Director of Programming. She joined Sundance Film Festival in 2006. She originally programmed short films for the fest. In 2009, she transitioned to feature film programmer, and more specifically U.S. and international fiction films. A former critic, Yutani also serves as a programming consultant for Provincetown International Film Festival.

Sundance Film Festival’s feature Competition lineup was about 40 percent women-helmed this year.