Beyond Selection: Who Takes Responsibility for a Documentary’s Life?
Documentary films depend on an interconnected ecosystem of producers, broadcasters, markets, festivals and sales agents. Yet responsibility within that system is increasingly fragmented. Selection, financing or a festival premiere may create visibility, but they do not necessarily secure a film’s longer life or its path to audiences. This panel asks what institutions are prepared to sustain once they decide to support a documentary. Who should enter early and help make the film possible? What responsibility begins when a market or festival selects a project? Can broadcasters still defend formal ambition and long-term observation? And how can sales agents build circulation without reshaping films around perceived demand? The discussion also considers the gaps that can open between these stages, where a film may be developed with care and premiere well, yet find that momentum becomes harder to sustain once the stage that supported it has moved on. Bringing together perspectives from public broadcasting, festival programming, industry development and international sales, the discussion examines how responsibility can be shared more coherently across the documentary value chain and what happens when institutional support ends before the film has reached its audience.
SPEAKERS
Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen
Head of Indusry, IDFA (NL)
Robert Y. Chang
Co-Producer/POV, American Documentary (US)
Eve Rawlings Sales Agent, look Sales (AT)
Thomas Matzek
Head of Specialist Factual, ORF (AT)
MODERATED BY
Martichka Bozhilova
Producer | Agitprop (BG)
TIME
August 17th, 2026
11:00 – 12:00 (CET)
LOCATION
Festival Garden
Adreik van Nieuwenhuyzen
Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen has a master’s degree in theatre and film science from the University in Utrecht. She became involved in the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in its beginning years and also worked as a producer at a Dutch broadcaster Since February 2007, she has been Head of the Industry office of IDFA . In this position, she is in charge of the professional programme of IDFA, including the markets FORUM and Docs for Sale. Alongside working at IDFA, Van Nieuwenhuyzen serves regularly as a member of selection committees and advisory boards within the documentary community.
Robert Y. Chang
Robert Y. Chang is Co-Producer of POV. He serves as a juror, screener, programmer, panellist, and reviewer for a range of film festivals, foundations, and funders of the arts. He received his PhD in cultural anthropology with research on the intersection of religion and media. As a filmmaker, Chang's work has screened worldwide and is distributed by Documentary Educational Resources (DER). In addition to serving on the steering committee of the Asian-American Documentary Network (A-Doc), he is also a member of the PGA, the Television Academy, and the Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists (NLGJA).
Eve Rawlings
Eve Rawlings is the Sales Manager at Autlook Filmsales, a leading international sales agency specializing in feature documentaries and docseries. Eve oversees global TV sales, working closely with broadcasters, platforms, and partners worldwide. Driven by a deep passion for film, Eve plays a key role in connecting powerful documentaries with global audiences.
Thomas Matzek
Thomas Matzek was born in Vienna in 1964 and is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. He has worked for Austria’s public broadcaster ORF for more than thirty-five years. His record includes all fields of factual television programmes, including magazines, reportage series, and documentaries. He has authored and directed more than a dozen films on Austrian contemporary history. After his career as filmmaker, he worked for nearly a decade as commissioning editor and series editor for ORF’s blue-chip documentary strand Universum. His current post is Head of Specialist Factual; since 2024, his department has produced science and educational programmes, from news to long form, for all media – online, radio, and TV.
Martichka Bozhilova
Producer of AGITPROP, Bulgaria. Her high-end author-driven films have been selected and awarded at Cannes, Berlin, IDFA, Toronto, Sundance, Tribeca, Pusan and many others, and broadcast all over the world. Among her films are: Touch Me Not (Golden Bear Winner, Berlinale), Palace for the People - film (Dok Leipzig, Dok Buster Award) and four-part TV docu series for ARTE, aired on BBC, ARTE, MDR, NHK, SVT etc.; Exemplary Behaviour (Dok Leipzig, Golden Dove), Georgi and the Butterflies (Silver Wolf, IDFA), The Mosquito Problem and other stories (Cannes), Corridor #8 (Berlinale), Omellette (Sundance), The Boy Who Was a King (Toronto), Dad Made Dirty Movies (sold to more than 30 territories). Her latest films include The Cars We Drove Into Capitalism (Dok Leipzig, CPH:Dox), A Provincial Hospital (Karlovy Vary, Ecumenical Jury Award), Working Class Goes to Hell (Toronto IFF, Tallinn Black Nights), Bear with Me (with ZDF/Arte and Autentic; Sarajevo FF 2026). Producer of successful factual TV series for National Geographic and HBO. Producer of Father’s Day high-end drama series for Bulgarian National Television, named Best Drama Series. Co-producer of Strandzha, world premiere Rotterdam FF 2025 and 9-Month Contract, Human Rights Award, CPH:Dox 2025, International Human Rights Competition. Co-producer of the first official drama series co-production in South Eastern Europe, Operation Sabre, CanneSeries competition 2024, Best Interpretation Award. David di Donatello Best Producer Nomination 2025 (The Great Ambition).
Jury member at numerous prestigious film festivals, including International Emmy®️ Awards, IDFA, Dok Leipzig. Lecturer at a number of international documentary workshops. Director of Balkan Documentary Center behind BDC Discoveries and Rough Cut Boutique training initiatives. Director of Sofia DocuMental International Film Festival. Mentor at European Women's Audiovisual (EWA) Network and EAVE Change. Commissioner at the Re-Act Co development and The Malik Bendjelloul Memorial Foundation’s Fund. Member of the European Producer’s Club.