Toril Simonsen has worked for more than 30 years at the Norwegian Film Institute, where her principal focus was the promotion of Norwegian short and documentary films. She served on the board of directors of the Norwegian Short Film Festival (established in 1978) from 1981 to 2003, and acted as director of the festival from 1989 to 1991. She was also one of the founders of the Nordic short and documentary film festival Nordisk Panorama, co-directing its inaugural edition in 1990, and served on the board of directors of the Fredrikstad Animation Festival from 2001 to 2003. In addition, she co-founded the Norwegian film quarterly “Z” in 1983 and remained part of its editorial group until 1987. Throughout her career, she has served as a jury member at numerous international short and documentary film festivals.