Those who love the Dublin Film Festival will be aware that the event has had more than its fair share of difficulties in recent years. The departure two years ago of its prime sponsor, ACC Bank, the loss of exclusive use of the Screen Cinema last year, and an uneasy period of transition at the top of the organisation have all contributed to an impression that all has not been well at the DFF. With the country's other major film festivals, in Cork and Galway, currently in very good shape, critics (including this writer) have drawn attention to the comparative decline in stature of Dublin from its peak in the early 1990s.

As the third programme director of the festival in as many years, and with 12 years' experience of film exhibition in the capital behind her at the Light House cinema, Maretta Dillon is clearly aware of the problems. But she firmly rejects my suggestion that 1999 might be another year of retrenchment for the DFF.

"It certainly hasn't been retrenchment on my part, and I think that would be a terrible position for the festival to adopt, given the reaction to last year's festival," she says. "The festival couldn't afford that, or people would start asking why are they here, why do we need them? You're supposed to produce the goods, otherwise why do it at all?"

After advertising for a new programmer in May, the festival finally appointed Dillon in late October, which she admits has left her with a lot of work to do within a fairly short time-frame. "It has actually worked quite well, but I certainly wouldn't want to repeat the exercise," she says. "If you had more time, you could hopefully do more things, and work more on the balance. I had been in Cannes last year with the Light House, I was at the festivals in London and at Rotterdam, but I certainly felt the lack of getting to another one. This is supposed to be a part-time position, but realistically it isn't, which is a question that probably needs to be addressed."

Dillon still refers in the present tense to the Light House, the much-missed Abbey Street arthouse cinema she ran with Neil Connolly until its demolition in 1996. The two are intent on keeping the idea of the Light House alive, spending much of the last three years investigating possible venues for its revival (Connolly edited this year's festival programme, and deserves praise for its clearer, more accessible layout). Before moving to the Lighthouse, she had worked for the DFF, first on work placement and then as administrator from 1989 to 1991.

The Light House's core programme was always dominated by contemporary European arthouse cinema (much more so than the IFC, for example). So does this year's festival programme, which seems much less American and considerably more European-oriented, reflect something of the same aesthetic? "Well, I'd be reluctant to see it like that," says Dillon. "But obviously, like anybody, I'm coming to this with certain preferences. I wanted it to have more of a European slant, respecting where we are in the world as a European city, but I don't want to ignore America; we've still got the American independents and the big American movies. It's widely perceived that Dublin is a festival that has something for everyone, and it's important that we should respect that."

APART from the practical difficulties faced by the DFF in recent years, there is the broader question, she agrees, of how the festival should respond to the huge changes that have taken place in film exhibition in the city since it was founded in 1985. "When the festival started out, it was in response to the fact that so many films weren't being shown here, so doing anything was good," she says. "I don't mean that in a derogatory way, but the fact that there's now so much more activity - specialist festivals, events at the IFC, and so on - means that just existing isn't enough. But this is still one of those big, bulky festivals where everybody wants their tastes to be reflected, whether you want to see a big American movie or a little-known Asian film. So I thought that, without ignoring those things, you should maybe have some bias in a particular direction. I went after films which I thought were interesting, and also for films that I thought people would want to see - it wouldn't be very useful if I just programmed things that interested me."

With her previous experience of the festival, she came to the job with a clear idea of what would be required from her new festival team of manager, Anne Burke, and assistant manager, Selina O'Reilly. "But the actual process of constructing the whole thing is very interesting and demanding. Distributors and film-makers want different things from a festival. Obviously, distributors see it as a platform for their titles, others wonder what they will get out of it - and some films will never get into distribution. so this is where their profile comes from." The process of requesting, negotiating and finally choosing titles is, she says, a complex one. "I would hope that it isn't just a scattergun approach, that we have thought out why we're asking for certain things. There are a lot of films out there, and it's a very fluid process. It always ends up that there are maybe 150 films that everybody's looking for at the same time." She is pleased, though, that this year's festival has a greater Irish component than in recent years.

There are so many film festivals around the world that there is vigorous competition for the most coveted titles, but this year Dublin finds itself dealing with a different set of festivals, because of the change in dates this year from early March to midApril. "We've ended up deeply connected to Singapore, which is on exactly the same dates. There's Istanbul as well, but there aren't any others in Europe at this time. You don't get everything you want, but you can achieve a lot of it."

THE other major change this year is the move to three screens in Virgin Cinemas on Parnell St, which Dillon believes is a significant improvement on last year's fragmented set-up (she's too diplomatic to say so, but it will also ensure better standards of projection and sound). "You're not going to have to queue outside any more, which some people thought was romantic, but certainly wasn't when it was raining," she says. "And Virgin really want to support the festival and make it work."

It remains to be seen how festival-goers respond to the new venue, and there are some reasonable fears that the sense of a festival may be swallowed up in the crowded multiplex, but at least everything takes place under the same roof. Dillon is conscious of the need to re-establish the DFF as a social event, and Shooters bar, next door to Virgin, will be the official festival club. "It is a festival, and there should be an opportunity for people to talk about the films afterwards, somewhere they can have a drink with some comfort. It's about providing a facility; it's not remotely about making money out of the membership. You can choose to take it up or not, but you can't say you don't have anywhere to go."

With the difficulties of the last few years, the DFF is currently carrying a substantial deficit, which Dillon believes can only be solved in one way, despite the arrival of Miller Genuine Draft as new principal sponsor. "We have to draw on our strength, which is the audience, and hope it continues to be loyal and interested. We have to sell tickets and we have to get people in - otherwise there's no hope of dealing with the deficit situation. You've got to figure out how to persuade people that things are good, but do it in a reasonably sincere way. It's all about creating that excitement about the art of film."

A seminar on the challenges posed by the proliferation of film festivals will be held on Friday April 23rd at the IFC at 10.30 a.m. Panellists will include Francois Ballay, Paddy Breathnach, Hugh Linehan and Pat Collins and the discussion will be chaired by Doireann Ni Bhriain.