LANDON VAN SOEST | director + producer

Landon is a documentary filmmaker who presents social commentary through rich characters and immersive narratives. He is an Emmy Award-winning director, Fulbright Scholar, and two-time Sundance Fellow who loves to collaborate and laughs at dumb jokes.

Landon lived in East Africa for over two years to make his first feature documentary, Good Fortune. The film features a rural farmer and an urban midwife battling large-scale foreign aid projects that are threatening to undermine their livelihoods. Good Fortune broadcast in prime time on the award-winning PBS series POV, and subsequently won a national Emmy Award along with several other awards for production and promoting social justice.

His follow-up documentary, For Ahkeem, is the coming-of-age story of a Black teenage girl at an alternative high school in North St. Louis. Shot before, during, and after the police shooting of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson, the film presents an urgent and emotional account the challenges many Black teenagers in America face today. For Ahkeem premiered at the Berlinale and Tribeca Film Festivals, garnered a dozen festival awards, opened theatrically in ten cities, and is distributed by Amazon Prime Video and The Orchard.

Landon’s latest feature, the Hulu Original Documentary The Jewel Thief, tells the story of one of the most creative, calculating, and accomplished criminal masterminds in modern history. The Jewel Thief was critically acclaimed by everyone from Rolling Stone and Psychology Today to the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. It was nominated for a Critics Choice Award, and peaked as the #1 most streamed movie on Hulu worldwide in the summer of 2023.

Landon is currently finishing Light Darkness Light, a genre-bending documentary about a 76-year-old blind Anglican priest who is one of the first people in the world to receive an implanted bionic eye. The film is being produced through a partnership with The Documentary Group and Vice Films.

In addition to full length documentaries, Landon has helmed branded series for eBay, 23andMe, Nationwide Financial, and The Dramatists Guild Foundation. He works regularly as a freelance director, producer, and editor for a variety of brands like Toyota, Facebook, and Ben & Jerry’s, as well and arts, advocacy, and non-profit groups like UNICEF, Lincoln Center, and the Young Women’s Leadership Network.

Alongside Jeremy S. Levine, he founded the Brooklyn-based Transient Pictures, a full-service production company with a mission of producing innovative, socially charged films and videos. The company regularly partners with brands and broadcasters to tell targeted, far-reaching stories. Landon is also a co-founder of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, a not-for-profit filmmaking community that aims to foster the vibrant independent filmmaking community in New York City.

CONTACT LANDON

Detroit Axle | eBay Seller Spotlight

Larry’s Retirement Story | Nationwide