Anthony van der Meer is a Dutch investigative journalist and filmmaker who graduated at the Willem de Kooning Academy in 2015. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in audio-visual design with his film Find my Phone in which he reveals his investigation of what happens to stolen smartphones by creating a bait phone to spy and portray the thief. During his study Anthony took the minor course hacking in which he was trained to use “the hacker’s mentality”: using resources for a purpose for which they were not originally intended. By gaining a hacker’s perspective he is able to view film and investigations differently. Anthony is constantly questioning himself and others and keeps experimenting during his productions.  This mindset allows him to look at film and investigations from a hacker’s perspective by constantly questioning himself and others and by continuously experimenting.

After publicising Find my Phone in November 2016, the film went viral and got a lot of national and international media attention including interviews on BBC World News and in the Sunday Times. The film currently has over 7 million views on YouTube. Prior to creating Find My Phone Anthony had to do extensive research on the technical aspects of making a bait phone and on the legal and ethical aspects of it as well. He got invited to talk about the relations between privacy, ethics and journalism during the 2017 convention of the International Association of Privacy Professionals Australia and New-Zealand in Sydney. Additionally, he shared his knowledge of the Deep and Dark Web in Ljubljana, Slovenia during a multi-day course of the Aksioma Institute for Contemporary Art in 2018.

Since 2017 Anthony uses his skills as a concept developer to create and design TV and video on demand formats.

Anthony is very fervent about doing thorough research and investigations. His films originate from the urge to address topics of social importance. That’s why he tries to explain technically complicated subjects in his work as simple and accessible as possible. The investigation itself is an important part of the films he makes.