Ilja Willems(I)
- Director
- Producer
Ilja is a seasoned filmmaker and producer, boasting over a decade and a half of experience in documentary storytelling. She is focused on (often female-) character-driven projects that illustrate social, political or cultural developments all over the world.
Two documentary series won prestigious Dutch Nipkow Awards. Another documentary series called The Beagle, in the footsteps of Charles Darwin, for which she re-sailed Darwin's journey around the world, won the journalistic award De Tegel for its multi media approach. Ilja worked on prize-winning documentary series like Metropolis and she also made several seasons about the current social-political climate in the United States. One of this series received an honorable mention for that same Nipkow Award.
The documentary feature 'Etgar Keret' she worked on won an International Emmy for Best Documentary. In 2020 Ilja directed and produced the 10 episode series 'European in New York' with renowned author Arnon Grunberg and won the Best Documentary Award for her short 'Opioidemic' at the Chelsea Film festival in New York that year. Her independent short documentary 'How Great it was' won the audience choice award at the Art of Brooklyn Festival and was screened at the World Cup Field Hockey in The Hague. Ilja has directed and produced many impactful documentary projects and aims to tell stories about women, climate and adventures that expand people's horizon.