Andrew van der Ven is a Dutch film director, writer and producer, born in The Hague. A storyteller and entrepreneur, he has worked in multimedia and film since 2009, when he founded his first production company focused on video and film.
In 2011 he moved to Brussels to study film at the LUCA School of Arts, formerly known as St. Lucas. He went on to earn a bachelor's and a master's degree at Leiden University, where he wrote his bachelor's thesis on virtual reality film. That mix of hands-on craft and academic curiosity still shapes his work today.
Through his company Animae Films, Andrew spent years making short films and features. Over the years he made several short films and worked mostly on commercial video projects. His debut feature, Sunny Juliette, was released in the Netherlands in February 2018 and tells of a banker kidnapped in the spring of 1979, who vanishes together with his abductors right after the ransom is paid. His older brother Tim worked as executive producer on the film.
Right after the feature, he turned to something more intimate. Chasing the Sun is a short film based on events in Van der Ven's own life, made because he felt the need to tell a more personal story. He is a big fan of short films and supports a movement that strives for the return of shorts in cinemas. More shorts followed, including the experimental documentary Summer Trains Leading Nowhere (2021) and, in 2023, The Last Shot and A Night Under Neon Light, which was shot at Animæ Studios in The Hague.
His work also moves into genre. Schim (also known as Shadows at Play) is a horror, mystery and thriller filmed in Berg en Dal. Senja, a new project, was in pre-production according to IMDb.
Today Andrew runs Bright Blue Media together with his wife, offering film, video and multimedia production for organisations, brands and cultural partners. He also works as technical coordinator at omroep Rijnmond, where he is responsible for internships and for bringing young talent into the media industry. His personal motto, as he puts it himself: "In the end film is all we have left."
