Lynden Barber, film critic for The Australian newspaper, has been one of the Sydney Film Festival’s harshest critics. So maybe it’s a surprise that he’s just been named as the festival’s next director. “It is a poacher-turns-gamekeeper appointment considering Barber, 48, wrote that film industry insiders were calling for a rocket under the festival after “another mediocre performance” last year. He quoted critics as saying the festival was aloof and slow to address deep structural problems.”