About Stanzen
Purposeful, resolute, with a strong sense of justice.
Dutch investigative journalist and documentary maker. Graduated from the School of Journalism in Utrecht in June 2025.
Dutch investigative journalist and documentary maker. Graduated from the School of Journalism in Utrecht in June 2025.
Dutch investigative journalist and documentary maker. Recently graduated from the School of Journalism in Utrecht.
Ever since I was young I have been fascinated by power structures and international relations, particularly in the Middle East and Africa. I have always been more interested in the stories behind the headlines than in the headlines themselves. In 2018 I volunteered in Ilula, Tanzania, an experience that shaped my view of global inequality and reinforced my choice for journalism grounded in empathy and patience.
My work focuses on migration and the deeper reasons why people are forced to flee. Through in-depth research, photography and documentary I want to give a voice to people who are often not heard. My approach rests on trust and proximity: conversations that are given time, in which people can share their own experiences.
In recent years I have worked on subjects ranging from the protests in Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the experiences of refugees on the Mediterranean. My latest film is From Compassion to Crime, about the point where humanitarian aid and criminal law meet within European migration policy.
Through documentary film and investigative reporting I explore stories at the intersection of politics, borders and inequality. I focus on underreported subjects and the human consequences of global power structures.Stanzen Lèh Jelsma
I work on stories that need time. Documentary and long-term investigation give me the space to truly get to know people, not in a single conversation, but by spending longer alongside them. Only then does trust develop, and only then do the questions that truly matter come to the surface.
My subjects often lie abroad: at European borders, in Greek courtrooms, with aid workers on Lesbos or with relatives of the deceased on Sicily. What matters to me are the people who become visible when policy turns into reality: aid workers such as Pieter Wittenberg and Tommy Olsen, journalists such as Ingeborg Beugel, families fleeing conflict and communities caught between laws and reality.
I consider it important to be precise. I check facts, return to people, and show them what I do with their story. That makes the work slower, but more honest.
Journalism degree in Utrecht (2020-2025). Started as an independent investigative journalist and documentary maker.
Premiered on 4 October 2025 at ZIMIHC Zuilen, Utrecht. A documentary about the criminalisation of humanitarian aid in Europe.
Editorial work and research for the investigative programme Pointer in Hilversum (2024-2025).
Editor at the student editorial team of Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (2024-2025).
Six-month research project on Western interventions in Iran; research into the Israel-Palestine conflict; English-language research report on Covid-19 reporting in Tanzania.
Fact-checking, international journalism (Tanzania), innovation (Kortrijk), the Srebrenica genocide, climate fact-checking (Barcelona).
Involved ever since with the Ilula Orphan Program. That experience shaped my view of inequality and journalism.
Migration, human rights and global power structures, and always how they translate into the lives of people at the margins of that system.