About

BIOGRAPHY

Sanne Kortooms is an award-winning director and screenwriter. She graduated with honors from the Utrecht School of the Arts. Her graduation film De Blauwe Bus was awarded at various festivals in the Netherlands and abroad.

As a filmmaker (in both fiction & documentary) Sanne tells stories about personal psychological development within the framework of a social context. 

Sanne’s black comedy To Catch a Fly became quite the festival hit. After its premiere at the Nederlands Film Festival, it was showcased at many festivals around the globe between 2018 and 2021. It earned Sanne multiple prizes including awards for “Best Director of a Short Film”, “Best Short” and “Audience Awards”.
To Catch A Fly now streams at BitPix a USA streaming service hosted by Oscar Qualifying Film Festival Holly Shorts  (where the movie was shown at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood). BitPix chose To Catch a Fly as their ‘Pic of the Week’ in July 2021. The film is also available on Vimeo On Demand.

Currently, with support from the Dutch Film Fund, Sanne is developing the screenplay for her feature film Shelter about a female war photographer on a UN peacekeeping mission. 

For docu-series Dagboek van Onze Helden  about the lives of soldiers deployed in foreign countries, Sanne traveled to conflict zones in Somalia and Mali. The encounters she had only piqued Sanne’s interest in soldiers and their stories. In 2018 and 2019, she directed the Ridderzaal ceremony for Veterans Day. A 60-minute (live) show consisting of film, theater, live speakers, and music. The ceremonies were performed in the presence of King Willem-Alexander and shown on NPO 1.

Her feature-length documentary Custaryans (a collaboration with Timon Moll, Chiel Christiaans, and Judith van Vliet), set against the backdrop of the chilly Dutch postwar climate, tells stories of valuables deposited during World War II, their Jewish owners and their keepers. In May 2024 the film got a cinematic release in The Netherlands.

In 2021 Your Moral Courage / Not Everything Is What It Seems the short fiction film Sanne made for the renewed museum of the Camp Vught National Memorial, was a winner at the New York Festivals TV & Film in the category: Social Responsibility – Not For profit.

Furthermore, together with filmmaker and dancer Feike Santbergen, in response to the war in Ukraine, Sanne made the experimental short L’Ombre Du Doute. The film played at several festivals but it was especially moving that it was screened at the Wiz-Art Festival in Lviv, Ukraine, in December 2022.

In all her work Sanne focuses on people and their personal stories and psyche. With great enthusiasm, she passionately communicates these aspects to her audience, aiming to immerse them fully in worlds they may never have experienced and make them wonder about themselves and the world we live in.

PERSONAL AWARDS

Wins
– Best Director Short Film – To Catch a Fly – North Hollywood Cinefest, Los Angeles, CA,USA
– Best Fantastic Short – To Catch a Fly – FilmQuest Festival, USA
– Winner Social Responsibility – (your) Moral Courage – New York Festivals Film & TV, USA
– Best Director Short Film – To Catch a Fly – Goldon Short Fest Rome, IT
– Best Dutch Short – To Catch a Fly – New Renaissance Film Festival Amsterdam, NL 
– Director Alumni Award 2020 – International Watersprite Film Festival, Cambridge, UK
– Best Director – To Catch a Fly – Anatomy International Film Festival, Athens GR 
– Best Comedy Short – To Catch a Fly – Falcon Film Festival London, UK
– Audience Award Best Film – To Catch a Fly – Night of the Short Film, Antwerp BE 
– Best Director -To Catch a Fly – Zuidelijk Film Festival, NL
– Audience Award Best Short Film – To Catch a Fly – Short Film Festival Kalmthout, BE
– Best International Short Film chosen by the jury – To Catch a Fly – Short Film Festival Kalmthout, BE
– Best Director – To Catch a Fly – Scorpius Fest, Park City, USA
– Audience Award Best Film – To Catch a Fly – Zuidelijk Film Festival, NL
– Audience Award – De Blauwe Bus – NTR New Arrivals, NL
– Best International Student Film – De Blauwe Bus – Watersprite Cambridge Student Film Festival, UK
– Best Student Film – De Blauwe Bus – Film Front Festival, NL

Nominations
– Best Director – To Catch a Fly – FilmQuest Festival, USA
– Best Film Best – To Catch a Fly – Night of the Short Film, Antwerp BE
– Best Film Best – To Catch a Fly – Zuidelijk Film Festival, NL
– Best Short  – De Blauwe Bus – Krakow Film Festival, PL
– Best Film – De Blauwe Bus – In The Palace International Short Film Festival, HU
– Best Student Film – De Blauwe Bus – Kenya International Film Festival, KE
– Best Director – De Blauwe Bus – Watersprite Cambridge Student Film Festival, UK
– Best Screenplay – De Blauwe Bus – Watersprite Cambridge Student Film Festival, UK
– Best Student Film – De Blauwe Bus – Leiden International Film Festival, NL
– Best Student Film – Mooie Mond en Mijn Ogen Groen – Sehsuchte Student Film Festival Berlin, DE
– Best Weblog Literature – Sannq – Dutch Bloggies, NL