Movies by Willem van der Zanden

Joanne & Jacob
A short, poetic documentary of an old woman and the loneliness that surrounds her after her husband was sent to a nursing home.

Longing
A semi-autobiographical short about a young man musing about the nostalgic joy of being a careless child.

A Bunch of Melons Eating Shawarma
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.

Qu'est-ce que c'est?
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.

In the Back of the Garden
A 90-second short showing a fairytale-like story of an abandoned art academy and the students who once resided there.

PLEH
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.

Gloom
An ambient representation of depression with a slowly fading score building towards an uncertain climax.

How I See Sunsets
A poetic, semi-autobiographical short film of the sun setting over a village, shot from behind the curtains of a small, dimly lit room.

The Astronaut
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.

Midnight Screening
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?

Midwinter Hue
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.

A Little Testament
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.