1964: born in Utrecht, The Netherlands

1974: changed name from Jan Jasper into Johan, because of adulation for soccer player Johan Neeskens

1975: stole 8mm camera from father

1985. dropped out of law school and start an internship at an advertising agency

1987: started working as junior writer at FHV/BBDO

1990: moved to agency PMSvW/Y&R to write & direct and collaborate with legend Paul Meijer

1993: started living & working in London, Chiat/Day, GGT, Mother

1995: started own communications-agency KesselsKramer Amsterdam with Erik Kessels, working with 22 different nationalities for many brands like Diesel, Het Parool, Ben, Nike

1998: started an own production company within KesselsKramer to direct over 250 commercials, shorts & music videos

1999: got married

2001: directed a music video for Tom Waits, ‘What's he building in there?’

2002: initiated and directed ‘The Other Final’, a documentary about the game between the two lowest ranked football teams in the world: Bhutan and Montserrat, playing on more than 50 different film festivals, 66 tv-stations and 8 times awarded, for example in New York, Avignon and Barcelona

2003: directed ‘De laatste dag’, a 25-minute documentary for Dutch TV

2004: directed ‘11:59’, a short of 11.59 minutes, for the Dutch cinema. NPO Kort, start KesselsKramer office in London

2005: left own agency KesselsKramer to go directing full-time.

2005: shot a worldwide football commercial with Chelsea NY for Coca-Cola in Buenos Aires with Wieden&Kennedy

2005: directed ‘Das Wunder von Mühlenbeck’, a documentary about a scandal in German amateur-football, with a premiere in Berlin and Amsterdam

2006: directed ‘Toni Togo’, a tv-campaign for MTV Europe about a mad, young Togo football fan from Das Ruhrgebiet, Germany

2006: directed ‘0,08’, a short film about a young boy from Barcelona who’s crazy about football, Henrik Larsson and FC Barcelona. The film played on Resfest and 23 other film-festivals

2007: directed a worldwide advertising campaign for adidas with football stars as van Persie, Messi, Kaka, Xavi Alonso – ‘Dream Big’

2007: wrote & directed first feature film: a non-profit film project ‘SING FOR DARFUR’. Shot in Barcelona and winner of several international awards

2008: worldwide premiere of Sing for Darfur at the Tokyo International Film Festival

2008: started teaching film at Design Academy Eindhoven in The Netherlands

2009: was artist of the month at CCCB Barcelona, with an exhibition ‘44’, best European Dramatic Feature at Paris Film Festival for ‘Sing for Darfur’

2010: shot documentary project ‘Rituals’: a German Football team commissioned by Mercedes, wrote & directed a feature film ‘Johan Primero’ with premiere in Amsterdam & Barcelona

2011: ‘Bye Bye Super 8’ art project at Kunsthal Rotterdam and Tribeca Film Festival NY, a project with oldest daughter Isabella and 24 other kids of 8 years old, all celebrating the last 25 Kodachrome boxes of super 8mm

2011: made ‘Bossie’ children's art project for Museum Kranenburgh in Bergen and Charly Rexach, a short film about the philosophy of FC Barcelona

2012: wrote & directed a feature film ‘The crisis and Us’: came out on Vimeo for free, about the worldwide financial crisis. Grand opening of The Very Small Office of Johan Kramer, a conceptual global local creative boutique based in a shoebox

2013: made 'Bello', a short film and art project about an old train in Bergen, Kirin commercial, shot in Tokyo with Robot and Draft. Started 'My first Coffee': a blog on the first coffee of the day

2014: art show 'football players with moustaches' in Galeries Modernes. Citizen watches commercial with Wieden&Kennedy Tokyo & Amsterdam

2014: worked with Tina Turner on a Swisscom commercial and curated & designed a huge retrospective on Dutch painter & poet Lucebert in Kranenburgh Museum in Bergen

2015: made a short about Manel Vich: the stadium speaker of FC Barcelona and photographed a campaign for the Japanese fashion label Parco. Created a photobook and art show at Kunsthal Rotterdam with a series of portraits & interviews of 10 children book writers together with his youngest daughter Lila

2016: made a short film and ad with Cycling Legend Joop Zoetemelk. Directed two ads for Lotto with Mortierbrigade Brussels. Photographed fifty 50-year olds in Tokyo with Robot with old film from 1966

2017: created a 10 minute short film about the photographs of Horacio Sequi of Johan Cruyff, which premiered live on Dutch Television at ‘De Wereld draait door’ 

2018: organized an art show about Jacques Tati and photographs for One Shot one roll of Adox Color Implosion. Started a series of shorts about ideas for the Dutch Art Directors Club (ADCN)

2019: wrote & directed 'Yan Ho': a story about an obsessive Chinese photographer who only shoots ping pong balls. Directed a short/commercial on undertaker Eric Wrede with Heimat Berlin/Das Handwerk

2020: presented new documentary KEEPER, witch won the Critics Award at the 'Nederlands Film Festival'. Created the short Camera Dream for GUP magazine. Created with photographer Nadav Kander and Chelsea NY a short called ‘Don't go back to sleep’: a reflection of the year in the early covid lockdown period. Shot a commercial for Skoda in his house with his family as crew during the covid lockdown

2021: shot a new documentary ‘M'n Beessie en ik’ with Halal Docs about people and their pets, in collaboration with BNN/VARA and Cinema Delicatessen. Worked with Dutch football players Frenkie de Jong & Matthijs de Ligt for KPN. Made a short about famous car designer Peter Schreyer in collab with Hyundai and Innocean that won a Silver Lamp for Film Direction and a Bronze Lamp for animation & design at the Dutch Art Directors Club Nederland. Created a short for The Anne Frank House Amsterdam with Elliot Page. Guest of honor for Festival do Clube de Creativity in Brazil.

2022: Joined for representation in The Netherlands production company Holy Fools. Shot a commercial for the Dutch Railways, directed a campaign for Dar Vida in Barcelona, wrote and directed a commercial for fashion label ByBorre, enjoyed the premiere of my new documentary ‘My pet and me’ at the Dutch Film Festival, worked with the Dutch National Football team to create a sponsorship ad for the World Cup and shot a commissioned spot for The Happy Reader, a wonderful magazine from the UK. Working on new documentary formats and tv series.

2023: currently still living in The Netherlands with family and dog. Over the years won countless awards and directed over 750 commercials, 30 short films, 3 feature films, 10 art projects, 8 music videos, 4 documentaries, and still going on...