Matthijs Wouter Knol

In 1998 he was selected for an extracurricular seminar and in 1999 continued studying with a scholarship at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome, where he did research and wrote his thesis “La terza Roma: Political Ideology and Architecture at the Italian World Fair in Rome 1911”, supported by historians Catrien Santing, Hans de Valk, and Boudien de Vries.

He worked closely together with Amsterdam-based Dutch and international filmmakers Heddy Honigmann (Dame la Mano), Mani Kaul (I Am No Other), Peter Delpeut (Go West, Young Man!

), Ramón Gieling (Johan Cruijff – En Un Momento Dado, Tramontana, Cine Ambulante, Welcome to Hadassah Hospital, BiBaBo), Marjoleine Boonstra (What Keeps Mankind Alive, Haven), Boris Gerrets (Garden Stories, Driving Dreams, People I Could Have Been and Maybe Am), Ditteke Mensink (Farewell),[3] Klaartje Quirijns (The Dictator Hunter), Mercedes Stalenhoef (Carmen Meets Borat),[3] Ester Gould, Sophie Hilbrand, Jack Janssen (Fairuz – We Loved Each Other So Much), Oeke Hoogendijk (The New Rijksmuseum),[3] Ineke Smits (Putin's Mama), Danniel Danniel and Juliano Mer Khamis (Arna's Children) en Kees Vlaanderen (Noordeloos, Drijfzand), among others.

Shortly afterwards, in September 2008, Matthijs Wouter Knol was appointed programme manager of the Berlinale Talent Campus by Dieter Kosslick, then director of the Berlin International Film Festival.

[6][7] In his role as programme manager, he organised numerous and notable seminars, conferences, labs and workshops with an plethora of internationally acclaimed speakers and mentors from the film industry.

In January 2021, Matthijs Wouter Knol was appointed by the board of the European Film Academy as its new director, succeeding Marion Döring.

[35][36] He was the initiator and organiser of the annual “Johan van der Keuken Lectures” in Amsterdam in cooperation with the Netherlands Film Museum, with speakers François Albera (2006) and Péter Forgács (2007).