* Robert Beattie, senior vp of Equicap Financial Corp., has stepped down after four years heading up the film financing agency, a subsidiary of Alliance Atlantis Communications.

He is leaving his post to become president of InternetStudios Entertainment Finance, a wholly owned subsidiary of InternetStudios, an online film sales company operating out of Vancouver, Beattie’s home town.

Meantime, finance exec Annette Grot, who’s been working with Beattie at Equicap for the past two-and-a-half years, has been named his successor.

* Andre Link has been named president of Lions Gate Entertainment. Link continues in his role as ceo of lions Gate Films. In his new role, Link, also a cofounder of Cinepix Film Properties – Lions Gate Films’ precursor – will be responsible for the overall management and integration of the company’s film, tv and animation operations. He remains based in Montreal.

* Doug Beeforth has been named vp and general manager of ctv’s Sportsnet, effective immediately. Beeforth was instrumental in spearheading the original licence application for Sportsnet and has been the driving force behind the specialty’s success since its launch a year and a half ago.

In other ctv appointment news, Malcolm Fox, formerly stationed at ctv’s Beijing bureau, has been appointed the new executive producer of ctv’s W-Five. Fox will steer the public affairs staple into its 35th season this fall with a new 10 p.m. Sunday slot.

At the same time, Jordan Schwartz moves up from his position as executive producer of ctv’s talk and lifestyle programming to take the helm at Canada am as it expands an extra hour from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.

* Keith Clarkson, a former exec producer at ExtendMedia, has joined Telefilm Canada as senior multimedia investment analyst, responsible for analyzing applications to the Multimedia Fund, working with regional offices and making policy decisions.

* Micol Marotti has joined the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television in the newly created position of publicity manager. Micol has worked in publicity and production for the past nine years at such companies as Alliance Atlantis Communications, ENow, ctv and cfmt.

* Writer/director Bill Evans has been appointed director of festivals for the National Screen Institute. In his new position, he will lead the artistic direction and coordination of Edmonton’s Local Heroes International Film Festival and Winnipeg’s Local Heroes Canadian Film Festival.

* Diane Burgess and Michael Ghent have been named co-programmers for the Canadian Images section of the Vancouver International Film Festival. They replace Ken Anderlin, who has left the position to concentrate on teaching at Simon Fraser University’s School of Contemporary Arts in Vancouver.

Burgess was previously the program assistant for Canadian Images in 1998 and 1999 while Ghent was most recently the director of Moving Pictures: Canadian Films on Tour festival.

* Gemini-Award winning tv journalist Anna Maria Tremonti is joining cbc’s The Fifth Estate as its newest host, effective Aug. 8.

Tremonti has spent the past decade traveling from bases in Ottawa, Berlin, London and, most recently, Washington, reporting on headline-making stories for cbc . She has also been an ardent contributor to The National Magazine.