Sander Burger

Sander Burger (1975) was born in Ivory Coast and grew up in Indonesia and Iraq before completing school in the Netherlands. Immediately after the Film Academy (2001) he directed his first two documentaries ONS WATERLOO (2002) and IN DE NAAM VAN DE ZOON (2003). In 2004 he made the short fiction film KOEN! for which he was nominated for the NPSKORT! Prize. Followed by three feature films: OLIVIER ETC. (2007), PANMAN, RHYTHM OF THE PALMS (2008) and HUNTING & ZN. (2009). Among other awards, PANMAN won the prize for "Best Feature" at the Hollywood Black Film Festival. For HUNTING & ZN. Sander was nominated, among other things, for 'Best Director' at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival. With the much awarded IK BEN ALICE (2015), Sander returned to documentaries. This was followed by STAND UP AND WALK (2017) and SCENARIOS FOR A NORMAL LIFE (2019). But he also continued to make fiction. For example, he wrote and directed a four-episode DEVIL’S DILEMMA and the Telefilm OFF TRACK (2017). In 2021 the three-part VPRO series DE DROEVIGE KAMPIONEN, written and directed by Sander, was shown on TV. With this entirely Curaçao-filmed series, which is based on both a novel and a true story, Sander mixed documentary and fiction in his own unique way. In 2021 the Sanders' long-awaited feature film DE VOORDOORDELING was released and nominated for 11 Golden Calves and eventually won 4, including those for Best Film and Best Screenplay. TOTEM is Sanders' first family film.

“TOTEM, despite its difficult subject, is first and foremost a family film. The dramatic fact of illegality is wrapped up for the young viewer in an adventure film in which a young girl, with the help of a huge porcupine (her totem animal), must search for her father in a big city. I hope and believe that this approach has produced a film that in its approachability and visual style, not only appeals to a wide audience but also addresses an important and complicated theme.”