Annabel Grundy

Source: Mark Howe

Annabel Grundy

Sheffield DocFest is seeking a managing director as current postholder Annabel Grundy is set to depart after two years in the role.

Grundy joined the DocFest team in December 2022 from the BFI’s Global Screen Fund. As managing director of the festival, she oversaw its business affairs, partnerships and fundraising, production and operations and audience development. She worked in tandem with the festival’s creative director Raul Niño Zambrano as part of a joint leadership model. She is set to leave in late December.

Under Grundy’s leadership, general admissions to the annual event grew 45% and new strands were introduced across TV and audio.

She told Screen’s sister site Broadcast: “I am enormously proud of the work we have done as a team over the past two editions: growing general admissions by more than 45%, introducing new festival strands across TV and audio, enhancing the internationalism of our marketplace and launching three year-round programmes to grow audiences for documentary film in London and Rotherham, and nurturing and championing new queer voices in documentary directing.

She added: “I’ll be doing a phased handover with my successor after my role ends in late December and I am pleased that I leave the festival in good hands with the arrival of chair designate Anne Morrison, the support of current chair Alex Cooke, and the continuity of Raul Niño Zambrano, creative director.”

DocFest is now recruiting a Sheffield-based successor to Grundy who will be responsible for business performance and sustainability, and developing and implementing strategic and business plans that deliver on the festival’s charitable objectives.

A version of this story first appeared on Screen’s sister site, Broadcast.