Jan Wentz

Jan Wentz has been a movie junkie all his life. Born in 1968 in Dusseldorf to a stewardess mother and an architect father he soon found himself writing and acting in school plays. His family spent time in Canada and the U.S. where he graduated in 1992 from the University of Akron, Ohio with a bachelor of Fine Arts in film/video and new media.

With a couple of short films under his belt he returned to Germany to continue his film studies at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. Meanwhile he founded his own production company and began producing and directing music videos and documentaries. At 22 he won his first award for a spot he shot for a local brewery.

In 1993 he came back to the US to work as an AD for American independent director/producer Armin Q. Chaudri. Inspired by the positive experience he stayed in the States and directed the short film “The Amateur” which won several awards on the festival circuit. In 1995 Jan joined Markenfilm in Hamburg and began a prosperous career as an international commercials director.

To date Jan has directed numerous award winning spots for such brands as: Mercedes, Nike, Ikea, Siemens, Credit Suisse, Ford, Lufthansa, Swisscom, L’Oreal and Seat. He has teamed up twice to work with Robbie Williams and won awards for a clever and memorable Smart commercial they collaborated on.

During the last couple of years Jan has always made time to shoot some odd and charming short films in between commercial projects. This spontaneous work has helped shape his own visual style of storytelling allowing his respect and love for acting to consistently shine through in his immense body of work. “The Porter”, his latest credit as a writer/director, continues to show his passion for the big screen and allowed him to work with an international cast including Roxy Music icon Bryan Ferry.