Esmée van Loon (1996) is a documentary director and researcher from Rotterdam, the city she came to love after growing up on Texel. Looking beyond the surface, observation, involvement and humanity are important parts of her process and makership. She reflects on stories that often revolve around socially relevant themes close to herself.

In 2016 she made her first documentary during her Audiovisual Design studies at the Willem de Kooning Academy, with the short film about 'Ma'MaQueen', which won best film at the Rotterdam Open Doek and has been broadcasted by 2DOC. She graduated from the academy in 2018 with her personal documentary “Double Lucky”, which was broadcasted on Dutch television. Her documentaries have been screened at several national and international festivals and VOD platforms, including the IFFR, ShortCutz, Sheffield Docfest and Canal+.

In recent years, Esmée also worked as an editor and researcher for BNNVARA, she was the Dutch ambassador in the youth jury at the prestigious Venice Film Festival, she set up a foundation to promote inclusive and social film projects, worked on a number of TV series (including Warner Bros) and has written new stories. In late 2022 two new films will premiere at festivals and television. A short documentary “Coming-In” (VPRO) and her 55’ minute debut documentary “Mama” (HUMAN).