Elsbeth Fraanje (*1979) is a creative documentary director and researcher. Her films are screened and awarded at international filmfestivals such as IDFA, HotDocs, CPH:Dox, Thessaloniki, Slamdance, Krakow, DocAviv, DMZdocs. SEXUAL HEALING (2022) won numerous awards, like the Hotdocs Audience Award. HIGHWAY CONFESSIONS (2017) won the Dutch Academy Award and in 2025 Elsbeth Fraanje was honoree of Aswan International Women Film Festival in Egypt. She also works as a curator of cultural impact programmes, advisor and filmmaker coach. She studied French Literature and Theatre Studies at the UvA, Documentary Directing at the Audio Visual Media training of the HKU (cum laude) and is an alumnus of the Idfa Kids&Docs Workshop, IDFA Academy and Les Nuits en Or of the Academie des César. Jury at Budapest International Film Festival, Rotterdam Arab Film Festival.
Film director
Country of origin
Netherlands
Festivals
Current issues
Peter Paul Huth comments favourably on the 2026 Venice Film Festival awards ceremony, highlighting in particular the Golden Lion winner, “Kvinde Ukendt” (Unknown Woman) by May el-Toukhy, and “Un bon petit soldat” by Stéphane Brizé, which won the award for Best Screenplay and the INTERFILM Jury Prize.
Alex Gibney’s documentary *Musk* portrays a ‘hero of capitalism’, whilst Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s *DAU* evokes the victims of Stalinism.
Events
16.02.2025
Haus der EKD, Charlottenstraße 53/54, 10117 Berlin