📷Carel Schutte
Kees-Jan C.J. Mulder (1986) is an award winning director of films, docs and hybrid essays. His films revolve around the question of what total surrender may cost.
Mulder completed the Directing Fiction programme at HKU University of Arts with the distinction of cum laude and also studied Theology (MA & Mdiv) in Utrecht and Amsterdam. His graduation film Gods Lam (2013) received the HKU Award, won the Youth Award at the Zubroffka Film Festival, gained international recognition at various festivals, and was exhibited in museums including the MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome.
Mulder completed the Directing Fiction programme at HKU University of Arts with the distinction of cum laude and also studied Theology (MA & Mdiv) in Utrecht and Amsterdam. His graduation film Gods Lam (2013) received the HKU Award, won the Youth Award at the Zubroffka Film Festival, gained international recognition at various festivals, and was exhibited in museums including the MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome.
Subsequently, with Dos Santos (2015) — produced by BIND, selected by the Dutch Academy for Film — Mulder once again explored what complete surrender may cost.
NUDES (15 min, 2022, in competition at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival), about the disappearance of a group of boys, was developed over six years with a youth community in Elburg and premiered at Cinekid, where it was nominated for Best Film.
NUDES (15 min, 2022, in competition at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival), about the disappearance of a group of boys, was developed over six years with a youth community in Elburg and premiered at Cinekid, where it was nominated for Best Film.
In Het Wonder van Oirsbeek (31 min, 2023, WITFILM, Winner Limburg Film Fest, premiere at Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival), co-directed with Jaap van Heusden, Mulder created a documentary counterpoint to Van Heusden’s feature The Man from Rome. For years they followed a Limburg couple whose living room—filled with statues of weeping saints—became an intimate stage for their grief over the world’s troubles.
In the same year he directed The Devil’s Avocado (2023), a sharp corporate family dramedy in which a dying grandfather (Jan Terlouw) confesses the abuses in the family business, prompting his idealistic granddaughter (Joy Verberk) to push for real change — while her uncle and aunt (Ilse Warringa and Bert Hana) have very different ideas.
Mulder made dozens of films in Africa and Asia, moving from documentary to participatory video and more hybrid forms of filmmaking; several of his found footage video columns for Dag6 and NieuwLicht went viral
His more recent work includes One Way to Paris (Enkeltje Parijs) (34 min, 2025), a coming-of-age mystery drama about self-worth, friendship and unseen emotional struggles, selected for SCHLINGEL IFF, TIAFF and SCIFF.
In Pay Later (Blij dat je betaald hebt) (20 min, 2025), he portrays the pull of fast money, social pressure and teenage resilience in a gritty tragi-romcom designed as an impact tool for schools and youth programmes.
In Pay Later (Blij dat je betaald hebt) (20 min, 2025), he portrays the pull of fast money, social pressure and teenage resilience in a gritty tragi-romcom designed as an impact tool for schools and youth programmes.
Mulder is currently developing Hoe maken we plaats? (2026), a research-based Hybrid fiction film about just transitions and questions of land ownership, created in collaboration with HZ University of Applied Sciences within the programme Van wie is Zeeland.
always open to creative collaborations!
CONTACT: +31 6 49779162 / email / SOCIALS / VIMEO / IMdB
always open to creative collaborations!
CONTACT: +31 6 49779162 / email / SOCIALS / VIMEO / IMdB
www.godslam.nl
www.filmsvoorhetgodsdienstonderwijs.nl
www.nudes-movie.com
#vanwieiszeeland
www.devilsavocado.nl
