Willem van der Zanden was born in the city of Breda, the Netherlands on the 5th of July 1995. After attending primary school in the small town of Bavel and spending 7 years at the Stedelijk Gymnasium in Breda, he started studying at the AKV St. Joost in Breda where he slowly shaped his craft. His work is very observing and often focuses on his own life or fragments of it. He personally believes his film Qu'est-ce Que C'est? to be one of the most valuable films he has made so far as it helped him discover a big part of his style. His latest film, the graduation project A Little Testament, is a close and hyper-personal examination of his struggle with depression as well as a universally applicable view on the difficulties and anxieties of becoming an adult.