Wout Malestein (1983) grew up in the Bible Belt and frequented the local video store. In 2014, he graduated from the HKU, specializing in direction and screenplay writing. He also earned his Master of Arts there. His graduation film, Ricochet, was showcased at various film festivals, including the Dutch Film Festival, GoShort, and the Veterans Film Festival in Canberra, Australia.

His Teledoc Campus, The Promised Land, was broadcast in 2019 by the Evangelical Broadcasting Company. In the same year, he was selected by Torino Filmlab to further develop his treatment for the web series The Millennials. His short film ‘Liminal Space,’ which he wrote and directed himself and was financed through a film fund, premiered at the Dutch Film Festival in 2021.

He is currently working on his first feature film, Paradise, which was selected for development by Holland Film Meeting 2020, TorinoFilmLab Next 2020, CineSud Scriptlab 2021, and TorinoFilmLab VAF/NFF 2023. His pitch for Paradise won the award for best pitch at the Euregion Film Pitch in 2022.