Orlando von EinsiedelPeople of Today 2017 / Lucy Hume (born in August 1980) is a British film director and producer. He directs mostly documentary films that investigate global social issues, and has filmed in various places around the world, including Africa, Asia, America and the Arctic. Von Einsiedel became known for his award winning film Virunga, produced with the cooperation of Virunga National Park director Prince de Merode.
Early life Von Einsiedel is the grandson of Wittgo von Einsiedel, a second cousin of Heinrich Graf von Einsiedel, and of Walburga von Oberndorff; both were members of the former German nobility. His father, Andreas Jean-Paul von Einsiedel, was a photographer specialising in architecture and interiors.Website featuring von Einsiedel's father's photography Von Einsiedel grew up in Forest Gate, London, with his mother Harriet, a British music therapist. He attended Alleyn's, an independent school in East Dulwich, London.
University Von Einsiedel studied social anthropology at the University of Manchester and got an MSc in anthropology and development at the London School of Economics.
Film career Von Einsiedel began his filmmaking career making snowboard films before moving into documentaries. Many of von Einsiedel's documentaries have been screened at film festivals including the Sundance Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival.
Von Einsiedel directed Virunga (2014), which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature, and The White Helmets (2016), which won for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Both nominations were shared with producer Joanna Natasegara. His 2018 film, Evelyn, about his late brother, launched at the London Film Festival and won the BIFA for Best Documentary. In 2020, Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (if you're a girl), a film he was an executive producer on and which grew out of his earlier film Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). In 2024 he released Los Niños Perdidos / The Lost Children. The film was nominated for a Platino Award and reached the number 2 spot on the Netflix global top ten most watched films list. In 2025 von Einsiedel released The Cycle Of Love which launched at the Telluride Film Festival.
In 2006, he co-founded Grain Media.
Snowboard career
Von Einsiedel spent several years as a professional snowboarder.
Filmography +YearTitleDirectorProducerNotes2010Skateistan: To Live and Skate KabulYesYesDocumentary Short2012Aisha's SongYesYesDocumentary Short 2012Radio AminaYesYesDocumentary Short2012Pirate FishingYesNoTV Series2013We Ride: The Story of SnowboardingYesNo2013The Cure: Doctors on Everest - Investigating Intensive CareYesNoTV Series2013EarthriseYesYesTV Series2014VirungaYesYes2014We Are FireYesNoDocumentary Short2015King of the MountainYesNoDocumentary Short2015SuperBobNoYesExecutive Producer2016The White HelmetsYesNoDocumentary Short2018EvelynYesNo2018Bruce Lee And The OutlawNoYesExecutive Producer2019Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl)NoYesExecutive Producer2019Lost and FoundYesNoDocumentary Short2019Into The FireYesNoDocumentary Short2019The SeahorseNoYesExecutive Producer2020Still HumanYesNoDocumentary Short2020The Lost ForestYesNoDocumentary Short2021Convergence: Courage in a CrisisYesYes2021Death in BollywoodNoYesExecutive Producer2021The PhantomNoYesExecutive Producer2021Into DustYesNoShort Film2022From Devil's BreathYesNoDocumentary Short2022Bastille: Hope For The FutureYesNoMusic Video2023The WalkNoYes2023Heart of InvictusYesNoDocumentary Series2024The Lost ChildrenYesNo2024Buy Now! The Shopping ConspiracyNoYesExecutive Producer2025The Cycle of Love Yes No
References
External links