Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen finished her masters in Theatre and Film Science in 1989 at the University of Utrecht. Already during her studies she started specializing in documentary and got involved in the first edition of IDFA, by then a small but sparkling initiative to bring back documentary on the big screen in Amsterdam. She had been working in various capacities for the festival, as of 2007 she is Head of the Industry overseeing the IDFA markets Docs for Sale and Forum as well as the Industry program.