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The Dutch Film Fund announced the appointment of Iwana Kronis as its permanent Executive Director, taking over from Sandra den Hamer who had held the position on an interim basis for the past three years. Kronis officially began her duties on May 1st, where she will be responsible for shaping the fund’s direction and strategy alongside commercial director George van Bremen.
Supported by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the fund is one of the principal financiers of local feature films and independent co-productions. Over the past eighteen months, the fund has supported several international projects such as "The Secret Agent" and "Filipiñana," in addition to the film "Coward," which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
The fund has a budget of €92.1 million for 2026, including €20 million allocated for feature film production, €9.5 million for high-quality television series, alongside selective support programs for development, production, and distribution.
Kronis joined the fund in 2019 as a feature film advisor and has served as Head of Feature and Documentary Films since 2021, overseeing the assessment of artistic and creative applications across film categories and developing the fund’s artistic direction. Previously, she managed the Hubert Bals Fund at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and worked at the "Movies that Matter" and "IDFA" festivals. She also co-founded the International Coalition of Filmmakers at Risk.
Kronis holds a Master’s degree in Theatre, Film and Television Studies from Utrecht University and a Master’s in Social Theory from the University of Melbourne. Expressing enthusiasm for her new role, she stated: "The public importance of the fund for the independent film sector is substantial, especially at a time when the need for dialogue and connection within society is growing, making meaningful storytelling more necessary than ever."
Jorien Witte, Chair of the fund’s supervisory board, praised Kronis’ expertise and creative role in shaping the fund’s new strategy, affirming confidence in her leadership and effective representation of the fund.
This news has been rewritten based on a report originally published on deadline.com, preserving the core facts presented in the source.
