Johan Kramer
director
Johan Kramer is an advertising icon turned exquisite filmmaker – a terrific storyteller who loves the documentary-format. In his former life, Johan was partner of KesselsKramer, an internationally renowned communications agency. In 2006, Johan left his partnership at KesselsKramer in order to dedicate his time to directing.
His first feature-length documentary, ‘The Other Final’ (2003), won numerous international awards in its portrayal of the world’s two lowest ranked national soccer teams, Bhutan and Montserrat. His next film project, ‘Sing for Darfur’ (2008), premiered at the Tokyo Film Festival and won “Best European Dramatic Feature” at the European Independent Film Festival. In 2011, the highly anticipated feature ‘Johan Primero’ arrived in Dutch and Spanish cinemas. A year later, “Bye Bye Super 8” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. This sweet documentary short, starring 25 8-year olds, was a farewell to the now obsolete Kodachrome film. His most recent documentary, ‘KEEPER’ (2019), premiered at the Netherlands Film Festival and was awarded the prestigious Dutch film critics award.
In between his work on long format features, Johan keeps on shooting commercials, quite often with a documentary approach. More recently he picked up photography, and not much to anyone’s surprise, he excelled and received much praise for the documentary feel he brings to his images. There is always a sense of intimacy, honesty and purity that has become Johan’s trademark over the years. An utter creative at heart, Johan never stands still and is thus also known for creating his own projects. Whether it’s a touching documentary, quirky analogue photography project or an experimental short film, his work keeps surprising and attracting new audiences.
