Sophie van Bree (1995) is a documentary filmmaker and director specializing in intimate, poetic, and thoughtful storytelling, with a cinematic style that brings stories to life. Her work focuses on mental health and vulnerable subjects, approached with depth and empathy.
 

In 2019, Sophie graduated in Audiovisual Media from HKU - University of the Arts Utrecht, specializing in documentary filmmaking. During her bachelor’s, she interned in TV program development and spent three months in Kampala, Uganda, co-directing a documentary about the creative industry’s impact there. Since 2017, her short documentaries have screened at festivals such as Go Short - International Short Film Festival Nijmegen, Netherlands Film Festival, and the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival.
 

After graduating, she started her career in media, film, and television. In 2020–2021, she completed a traineeship Docwerk/Art Dept focused on beginning documentary filmmakers at Van Osch Films and Dutch broadcaster NTR, directing five short documentary pieces for television. In 2021, she won the Gelderland Film Pitch 3 and received funding from Go Short to produce the short documentary Synchronous (2022).

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In September 2022, Sophie began her Master’s in Film Directing (narrative documentary) at Edinburgh College of Art, supported by four scholarships. She graduated with distinction in 2023 and was nominated as class representative, studying under tutors Ling Lee, Emma Davie, and Amy Hardie. During her master’s, she focused on Film Medicine - exploring the art of filmmaking within health care and mental health contexts. Her short documentary Four Phonecalls of Anxiety (2023) and her graduation film Luna in Wonderland were screened at several (mental health) film festivals. Luna in Wonderland is currently part of the Short Film Pool at Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam.

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Right after her master’s, she won the Amsterdam Pitch of Shortcutz Amsterdam alongside six emerging filmmakers, enabling her to make the short documentary Chico (2024). She just finished her first commissioned film Mind of Sea (2025) as part of the Teledoc Campus program (Netherlands Filmfund, NPO-fund and CoBo). This film is selected for the Golden Calf Competition.

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Alongside her passion projects, Sophie freelances in research, directing, and editing for television, documentary films, and branded content. She’s drawn to stories with deeper layers and meaningful impact.