LUX, the renowned film and video distribution agency in London, has announced that Ali Roche has been appointed the new director of the organization. Her appointment to the position follows founder-director Benjamin Cook, who is stepping down to pursue other projects after leading the organization for the past 22 years. LUX was established in 2002 through the merger of the London Film-makers’ Co-operative, London Video Arts and the Lux Centre.

Roche first entered into creative production and curating through the establishment of her studio ANNWN, through which she commissioned and produced projects with local and international filmmakers including Eric Baudelaire and Alvin Curran, Maeve Brennan, Maryam Jafri, Larissa Sansour, Imran Perretta and others. She began working as a producer at Spike Island in 2013 and was selected to be their Head of Commissions in 2019. Her tenure in that role saw her expand Spike Island's commissioning and production operations, in concert with encouraging artists’ specialization in moving images.

Larissa Sansour, Søren Lind, Familiar Phantoms, 2023. Produced by Ali Roche. Courtesy of the artist.

Roche then took a position at Nottingham Contemporary, where she has served as Chief Curator since November 2023. Among the topics that Roche has focused on in her production career have been the issues of identity, loss, mourning, inherited trauma, memory and image circulation in Palestine. This is visible in her work with Sansour (Familiar Phantoms) and Jafri (Mariam Jafri vs Maryam Jafri).

Roche expressed enthusiasm for her appointment to LUX, having long harbored admiration for the organization's contributions to the culture of moving image art in the UK. She also praised LUX's legacy and commitment to research, advocacy and artists’ development and circulation, stressing that her passion and longstanding engagement with artists’ film and video practice in its many iterations will be a valuable asset for the organization.

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