Stephan Brenninkmeijer

Stephan Brenninkmeijer (born 27 June 1964 in Doorwerth) is an award-winning Dutch film director, producer, film editor and screenwriter.

Life and career

Brenninkmeijer was born and raised at Doorwerth castle, Netherlands, where his father G.H. Brenninkmeijer was owner of the Michelin starred Restaurant Beaulieu.

At the age of 8 his family moved to Apeldoorn. From 1988 to 1992 he studied at the Netherlands Film Academy in Amsterdam. Although aiming to direct feature films, he first focused on storytelling through editing.

In 1992, he started his professional career editing television series and films. As an editor he worked with Dutch directors like Academy Award winner Mike van Diem.

He directed his first feature film in 2000, The Silence of the Soul, which won a "Golden Crown" Award at the ICVM festival in Atlanta, United States.

The same year he co-directed the TV series Westenwind which won the Dutch equivalent of the Golden Globe.

In 2002 he wrote, produced and directed the motion picture Swingers, a controversial low-budget production that had theatrical releases in the Benelux countries and was sold internationally.