Mackenzie Fincham (she/they) is a Dutch-American filmmaker based in Utrecht, NL. Their work is known for its raw, expressive, and colorful nature. After graduating with honors from St. Joost with the award-winning short WAAN(BEELD) (2021), they now work as an animation director, contributing their style to projects such as the short film FLY (2022). Mackenzie is currently working on their debut project COUNTERGROWTH, which is a short animated film that explores the wild grief of a teenage girl after losing her mom to suicide. COUNTERGROWTH’s development has been supported by the Netherlands FilmFund and Playgrounds Next, and has taken part in the international CEE Animation Rise&Shine development- and pitch lab 2024, through which it won entry to the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market 2025. Mackenzie is also a program maker for Kaboom Animation Festival and joined the international selection committee of Filmfest Dresden in 2022. They also moderate various panels, talks and Q&A’s through festivals like the Nederlands Film Festival, Queer Film Festival Utrecht and OOMPH! x Playgrounds.
Research question: To investigate a production pipeline that fits me as a director and my visual style, so that I can communicate my needs better. I know what my design process is as a creator, but I am excited to research how to design as a director as well. I would also like to investigate all sorts of textures within printmaking, with which to build up a library for me to use in my (digital) work.
