Milwaukee Film today named Diane Bacha as its executive director. Milwaukee Film is the newly formed independent organization that will host Milwaukee's premier film festival.

Bacha, whose background is in journalism, takes her post on Oct. 27, four days after Milwaukee Film's debut event and less than two weeks before its second.

That first event is "The Milwaukee Show," Thursday, Oct. 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Landmark's Oriental Theatre, 2230 N. Farwell Ave. OnMadison.com's Bobby Tanzilo served as one of the judges who collaborated to select the films that will appear in this premiere showcase of diverse, locally made short films. The event's Jury Award winner nabs a prize package valued at more than $10,000.

Meanwhile, "Song Sung Blue" -- the award-winning documentary about local celebrity singing due Lightning & Thunder -- screens Thursday, Nov. 6 at 7:15 p.m. at the Oriental.

"While this is an entirely new organization, this is a staff that has been putting on a film festival for five years," said Chris Abele, president and CEO of the Argosy Foundation and chair of the Milwaukee Film board. "We have a great board of directors, a full-time executive director, and ambitious ideas that will help us engage the community. Milwaukee deserves a world-class film festival and this organization is dedicated to ensure that we get one."

Milwaukee Film Artistic Director Jonathan Jackson said, "As a staff, we are energized by the makeup of our organization and are eager to get to the work of building a film festival that Milwaukee will enjoy and be proud of. I am thrilled with the hiring of Diane Bacha and believe that she is the right person to lead the development of the film festival into a year-round cultural institution."

For more on Milwaukee Film join its Facebook group by searching "Milwaukee Film" on the social network's Web site, or e-mail Milwaukeefilm414@gmail.com.