Sam van Zoest

Photo by Hanna Rudner

I am a documentary filmmaker and visual artist, working across film, installation, prose and opinion writing. I studied Film & Television at Edinburgh College of Art (2018) and Environment and Resource Management at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (2025). My work is multidisciplinary and engages with social and environmental issues.

My feature-length documentary Living Together: The Story of De Warren screened in cinemas across the Netherlands and was selected for twenty international film festivals. My video performance Dune was presented at Landjuweel 2026. I am currently collaborating with Annick Sickinghe and production company Interakt on a short documentary about manure for Dutch public broadcaster EO. Filming for It Takes a Village, the follow-up to Living Together, is scheduled to take place in spring 2027.

As a Director of Photography, I have worked on Schaduwlevens by Thomas Maas, René te Riele and Coen van Bergeijk (Amsterdam Light Festival), Let me find myself by Annick Sickinghe (Shortcutz Amsterdam) and Wat grenzen delen by Katinka Schlette (Go Short).

My writing has been published in Trouw, Het Parool, Schrijven Magazine, and Papieren Helden. In 2024, I participated in the summer writing camp organised by publisher Das Mag. I am working on my first novel.

You can find me in my studio at Baggerbeest and at Buitenkunst, where I teach writing programmes. I live in Housing Cooperative De Warren, where I have been chairman since 2026.