Feike Santbergen

Feike Santbergen (The Netherlands) graduated with honours from the Utrecht School of the Arts in 2010 as director/writer for film and television. Ever since he has written and directed several short films, of which he also individually produced most. His dedication and experimental, wayward approach to the art of filmmaking has ensured his trackrecord to constitute a rich pallet of uniquely intense films, which often cross geographical and linguistical borders and collectively deal with both the beauty and the burdens of existential life. Inspired by one of Australia's greatest and now late art-house directors Paul Cox, who has been Feike's close friend and mentor, he is sparked by the conviction that film-as-medium can be as powerfully inspiring to life as life can be to the arts. Receiving international credit for his films To Music (2013), which won a Golden Thumb's Up awarded at Roger Ebert's own Ebertfest, and The Last Day of Summer (2014) that premiered in the competition of Toronto International Filmfestival, Feike hasn't been left unnoticed by the major Dutch Film Funds, as his most recent short film Buut Vrij (2016) was part of a prestigious funding program initiated as a career-booster for only the most promising upcoming talents of the country.