Sure, the real world news cycle is now obsessed (Karl Rove, who?) with John Roberts, the person chosen to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court [nyt]. But here in Seattle, there’s another surprising opening: on their weblog, the Stranger reports [#] that Helen Loveridge has resigned as director of the Seattle International Film Festival and is heading back to England after running a record-breaking festival this year. (I think that Loveridge was the second director in the history of the festival — she took over the in September 2003 after SIFF founder Darryl Macdonald left to become the director of the Palm Springs International Film Festival).

At one of the SIFF parties this year, I talked to Helen about her upcoming search to find a new apartment. I just assumed that it would be a new place on Capitol Hill, not in an entirely different country! Perhaps the SIFF logo of birds flying off into the distance was meant to be symbolic?

Dust off your resumés, the festival is already looking for a replacement; there’s no word on the schedule for the confirmation hearings.

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update: The P-I has a few more details [#]