Directing
Willem van der Zanden
Born July 5, 1995 · Breda, The Netherlands (age 31)
Willem van der Zanden was born in the city of Breda, the Netherlands on the 5th of July 1995. After attending primary school in the small town of Bavel and spending 7 years at the Stedelijk Gymnasium in Breda, he started studying at the AKV St. Joost in Breda where he slowly shaped his craft. His work is very observing and often focuses on his own life or fragments of it. He personally believes hi…
Known For
A Little Testament · 2019A Little Testament
2019
MovieDocumentary
A free-flowing, poetic short film filled with expressionist imagery, old photos and abstract moments, led by a voice-over in which the director tells us personal memories of his youth and his recent life in the hopes of sketching a clear image of the complex struggle of growing from an innocent child to a weary adult.
Midwinter Hue · 2017Midwinter Hue
2017
MovieDramaDocumentary
A man steadily bashes through the snow. He disappears and the trees, covered in white, shift and show a beautiful array of hidden colors. A poetic, meditative short film about letting go of the past and embracing the unknown future.
Midnight Screening · 2018Midnight Screening
2018
MovieDocumentary
A misty midnight. Music plays in one house, in the other, a man brushes his teeth. More and more sounds are heard yet the darkness hardly reveals where it's all coming from. It's midnight. Isn't anybody asleep?
Gloom · 2017Gloom
2017
MovieMusicDocumentary
An ambient representation of depression with a slowly fading score building towards an uncertain climax.
PLEH · 2017PLEH
2017
MovieScience FictionComedy
An experimental journey through a year in the life of the director, using his always playing playlist to cross the boundaries of fiction and documentary. Through scenes of both comedy and tragedy, realistic documentary footage and experimental sequences of the director's environment and daily life we get a sometimes estranging image of a young man and also an intriguing insight in his mindset and how this translates to the imagery on screen.
The Caterer · 2025The Caterer
2025
MovieComedy
When the catering of a film set has canceled, one of the runners is burdened with the task of fixing lunch against impossible odds.
How I See Sunsets · 2017How I See Sunsets
2017
MovieMusicDocumentary
A poetic, semi-autobiographical short film of the sun setting over a village, shot from behind the curtains of a small, dimly lit room.
SesheiaSesheia
MovieComedy
Set to be a fictitious film in the vein of A Little Testament where actors are not or rarely seen and only heard through voice-over, recounting the story of the young girl Sesheia who lives on a post-apocalyptic earth and has to go on a perilous journey whilst learning of the world's past and present.
Movies
A Little Testament · 2019A Little Testament
2019
MovieDocumentary
A free-flowing, poetic short film filled with expressionist imagery, old photos and abstract moments, led by a voice-over in which the director tells us personal memories of his youth and his recent life in the hopes of sketching a clear image of the complex struggle of growing from an innocent child to a weary adult.
Midwinter Hue · 2017Midwinter Hue
2017
MovieDramaDocumentary
A man steadily bashes through the snow. He disappears and the trees, covered in white, shift and show a beautiful array of hidden colors. A poetic, meditative short film about letting go of the past and embracing the unknown future.
Midnight Screening · 2018Midnight Screening
2018
MovieDocumentary
A misty midnight. Music plays in one house, in the other, a man brushes his teeth. More and more sounds are heard yet the darkness hardly reveals where it's all coming from. It's midnight. Isn't anybody asleep?
Gloom · 2017Gloom
2017
MovieMusicDocumentary
An ambient representation of depression with a slowly fading score building towards an uncertain climax.
PLEH · 2017PLEH
2017
MovieScience FictionComedy
An experimental journey through a year in the life of the director, using his always playing playlist to cross the boundaries of fiction and documentary. Through scenes of both comedy and tragedy, realistic documentary footage and experimental sequences of the director's environment and daily life we get a sometimes estranging image of a young man and also an intriguing insight in his mindset and how this translates to the imagery on screen.
The Caterer · 2025The Caterer
2025
MovieComedy
When the catering of a film set has canceled, one of the runners is burdened with the task of fixing lunch against impossible odds.
How I See Sunsets · 2017How I See Sunsets
2017
MovieMusicDocumentary
A poetic, semi-autobiographical short film of the sun setting over a village, shot from behind the curtains of a small, dimly lit room.
SesheiaSesheia
MovieComedy
Set to be a fictitious film in the vein of A Little Testament where actors are not or rarely seen and only heard through voice-over, recounting the story of the young girl Sesheia who lives on a post-apocalyptic earth and has to go on a perilous journey whilst learning of the world's past and present.
The Astronaut · 2017The Astronaut
2017
MovieDramaMusic
A short film recounting the travels of a lonely astronaut confronted by the unknown. Unfolding as a mystery, it becomes a carefully subtle, autobiographical examination of the feeling of loneliness and the existential issue of not understanding life on earth and ones place among it.
Joanne & Jacob · 2015Joanne & Jacob
2015
MovieDocumentaryDrama
A short, poetic documentary of an old woman and the loneliness that surrounds her after her husband was sent to a nursing home.
Qu'est-ce que c'est? · 2016Qu'est-ce que c'est?
2016
MovieComedyDocumentary
An experimental docu-fiction short from hours of collected material shot by the director. Different scenes, from drunk parties with friends to shots of the Dutch landscape during a train ride, are cut together to see if a narrative story can be constructed from nothing but randomly shot footage.
Longing · 2016Longing
2016
MovieDrama
A semi-autobiographical short about a young man musing about the nostalgic joy of being a careless child.
Spiegel van Antwerpen · 2025Spiegel van Antwerpen
2025
MovieDocumentary
A Bunch of Melons Eating Shawarma · 2017A Bunch of Melons Eating Shawarma
2017
MovieComedyDocumentary
A short documentary concerning a group of friends who get together, eat shawarma and drink beer. They talk utter nonsense at times, yet they couldn't be happier.
In the Back of the Garden · 2019In the Back of the Garden
2019
MovieDramaFantasy
A 90-second short showing a fairytale-like story of an abandoned art academy and the students who once resided there.