Since 2001, Dutch-born Matthijs Wouter Knol worked as associate producer on numerous documentary films and produced the digitally re-mastered oeuvre of Dutch filmmaker Johan van der Keuken (Prix Cahiers du Cinéma, 2006), exhibitions of film installations and film-related photography projects, conferences and publications. After a short stint at IDFA, Matthijs worked for the Berlinale, first as head of programming at Berlinale Talents (2008-2014) and then as Director of the European Film Market (2014-2020).
At the helm of the EFM, Matthijs’s main focus has been to adapt one of the world’s major film markets to the quickly changing film industry, adding 5 new niche markets and the EFM Horizon platform. From 2021 onwards, Matthijs has been appointed as Director of the European Film Academy.