Investigation journalist and documentary maker Geertjan Lassche (1976) works for the NPO (Netherlands Public Broadcasting).

In 1996, Lassche begins to work as a writing journalist for newspapers and magazines. He specialises into doing research and telling backgroundstories. After studying Journalism and via the radio, he winds up with the television news magazines.

Until 2008, he particularly develops his skills in research journalism and human interest reports.

At times, reports turn out too comprehensive, and they are broadcasted outside the regular news magazines, in the shape of TV documentaries. Such as God Bless Montgomery (2004), about the forgotten Polish part in the battle of Arnhem, including the last journalistic TV interview with HRH Prince Bernhard. For this film Lassche is awarded one of Poland’s most prestigious national decorations.

From 2008, when his first actual author documentary De Boer Die Zou Gaan Emigreren… (‘The Farmer Who Wanted To Emigrate…’) is selected for the IDFA, Lassche consciously chooses the creative (author) documentary. A journalistic fact is still to be the starting point for every choice of subject and execution. For example, in Nooit Meer Laf (‘Never A Coward Again’) (2009), a combination of research journalism and author documentary, a missing person case is solved after 60 years. 

In 2011, his documentary Mannenbroeders van Kootjebroek (‘Brethren’) (2011) wins The Gouden Greep. In 2012, Vreemdelingen en Bijwoners (‘Strangers and Foreigners’) (2011) is awarded both the jury and audience prize of De Tegel, the annual journalists’ professional award.

The documentaries Lassche makes can roughly be distributed into two styles: the essayist documentary and the so-called ‘direct cinema’. When using the latter, guerilla-style filming method, he operates alone or in very small teams, wanting to make the viewer feel part of a process. He does that by following the characters close-to-the-skin. This is how his documentary Niemand Kent Mij (‘Nobody Knows Me’) (2011) about the fallen cycling hero Thomas Dekker was created, as well as the IDFA film De Uitverkorenen (‘The Chosen Ones’) (2012) about the selection system within the training phase of the Korps Mariniers. With this documentary, he was selected for the Golden Calf competition during the Netherlands Film Festival of 2013. For his documentary Killer Slope, selected for IDFA 2014, he received, from an international jury, a nomination for Best Dutch Documentary.

In 2017 he won a major television award with his documentary series Break Free. In 2020 he will be awarded the title of Journalist of the Year for his short documentaries about the Corona pandemic.

In 2022, Lassche made a two hour documentary about Louis van Gaal, entitled, Louis, with the tag line “The man behind the legend”. It premiered, on April 11, in the Amsterdam Tuschinski Theatre. It was released April 14th, 2022.