100% Directors

Born in Barcelona, Pep has built his reputation working with some of the most renowned agencies around the world, from SCPF in Barcelona and McCann in Madrid, to BBH and Fallon in London, from Forman & Bodenfors in Goteborg, to BETC Paris or Loducca in Sao Paulo, from Publicis Mojo in Sydney to Fuel Amsterdam or Heimat in Berlin.

Emmanuel Adjei is a film maker and visual artist from Amsterdam working internationally in moving image. In 2011 he graduated in Fine Art (BA) at the Utrecht School of Arts, and with a talent scholarship from the Prins Bernhard Culture Fund he commenced a BA Audiovisual Arts at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent in 2012 where he preferred to make short films and video installations in collaboration with artist and writer Marleen Özgür.
Both in 2013 and 2014 Emmanuel got honoured with a ‘Young Talent’ grant from the Mondriaan’ fund to develop his artistic practice. In 2016 he received critical acclaim for his short film ‘The Formula’ and music video ‘Human’ for Iranian-Dutch artist Sevdaliza from blogs like Billboard, Vogue, The Fader, Nowness, Promo News and V Magazine.
His clients have ranged from a variety of artists and brands such as Hugo Boss, Patta, High Snobiety and Asics. His most recent work is the mind-bending music video for ‘Give It Your Choir’ by artists Mark Pritchard and Bibio with Warp Records.
With a main interest in storytelling, his focus deals with human narratives, captured by his unique own visual language. Creating atmospheric worlds in both a painterly and a cinematic style, Emmanuel always seeks to challenge the boundaries between fiction and reality. 

Juriaan is a filmmaker born and raised in The Netherlands, currently residing in London, where he has been developing his craft and excellence for the past 8 years. Graduating first in the field of Graphic and Typographic Design, he soon decided he was to also study the art of film at the Royal College of Art in London. And it is this combination between the arts and the craftsmanship of design that has led him to produce an inspiring body of film. Juriaan has since grown into his very own and distinctively strong aesthetic and has been conceptualizing, writing and directing commercials, content, music videos, mini-docs and short films, ever since. His client list reads like a who is who of art and commerce; from Heineken, Baileys, Nissan and Volvo, all the way to the Victoria & Albert Museum, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Burberry and the Design Museum, Juriaan is certainly a force to be reckoned with, on both sides of the English Channel.

Amsterdam born and raised director Sam de Jong only graduated from the Dutch film school in 2012. A few years on, he is already hailed as one of the biggest filmmaking talents to come out of the Netherlands in recent years. Known for his critically acclaimed shorts such as Magnesium, Marc Jacobs and Malaguti Phantom, in 2014 Sam wrote and directed his highly anticipated, first feature film “Prince”, which was released during the 2015 Berlinale. It goes without saying that this film has been incredibly well received and it makes Sam part of a new wave of filmmakers.

Mea is another talented, bright young director here at Halal. Originally studying to become a fiction director, Mea changed course quite literally and switched to documentary directing. The influence of fiction is however uncanny and remains a thread throughout her documentary work. Always out to question the medium of filmmaking, Mea is very much in a league of her own. Mea’s skills and crafts center around observing and exposing interhuman relations down to their finest detail. Able to combine psychology with refined atmospheric aesthetics, Mea’s work appears subtle, yet is provocative at the same time. Her films come from an authenticity that is truly powerful, and resonate with a large audience. Mea received critical acclaim for her film ‘If Mama Ain’t Happy, Nobody’s Happy’, which has won over 15 international awards so far. Recently it has also won Slamdance Festival, which effectively made the film eligible for the Oscars 2017! In early 2016 Mea was named one of the “Top 10 Europeans to Watch” by Variety. Mea is definitely one to watch very closely!

From Form is a film & design studio founded by Jurjen Versteeg and Ashley Govers. The duo really is your one stop shop when it comes down to creating a complete production, from concept to execution, no matter the discipline. This very unconventional approach is made possible by their very diverse combination of trades and backgrounds such as filmmaking, graphic and interior design. They combine digital techniques with craftsmanship and create custom built set designs as well as handcrafted props. From Form is as creative, diverse and unique as they make them, make sure to check out their amazing making-of films

Nils Gerbens is a graduate of the infamous Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. Although he graduated in Graphic Design, he soon discovered his love and destiny was to be found in directing. And so he did. What followed was a whirlwind of prolific jobs from the very beginning on. Nils has created TVCs for the likes of FIFA, and T-Mobile, to name but a few, making his sets look like the Who is Who of football: Gareth Bale, Chicharito, Stephan El Shaarawy and Robert Lewandowski all danced to the beat of Nils’s drum! But enough about Nil’s celebrities. Nils’s winning combo and the reason why he is everybody’s darling is definitely his ability to inject a potion of clever comedy and absurdity into even the driest themes. Add to this his genius post-production abilities, impeccable taste, a great eye for cinematography and a hell of a lot of charm, et voila; you have the magic that we call Nils Gerbens.

Born in London, Jonathan Herman moved to the Netherlands at the tender age of 9. After dipping his nose into the world of music at the Amsterdam Academy of Music, Jonathan decided to swap his guitar for a camera instead. As it turns out, it was a clever decision indeed, for Jonathan has since carved out a niche of his own and has established himself as one of the most sought after commercial directors of his time. Known for his tremendously beautiful body of work, Jonathan always insists on very strong art direction and never fails to deliver laughs. In fact, comedy plays a major role throughout his work and has become synonymous with his name. As for Jonathan’s many accomplishments and awards, he’s got plenty under his belt. Some of his more high profile ones include winning the Gold Lion at Cannes as well as the Grand Prix de Strategies in Paris for two spots he directed for the French newspaper L’Equipe, three golden Lamps at the ADCN awards in Holland. His longstanding collaboration with Bavaria Beer and the infamous ‘Life is Life’ commercials won him the ADCN Lamp for best director at the 2009 Dutch Art Directors Award. Jonathan since has been directing more of these incredibly bold and fun commercials for long term client Bavaria, starring Hollywood heavyweights such as Mickey Rourke and Hugh Hefner, and most recently Charlie Sheen. The list of celebrities Jonathan worked with over the years is impressive, Kiss, Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sport legend Eric Cantona, Andrea Pirlo and boxing legend Mike Tyson.

Johan Kramer is an advertising icon turned experimental filmmaker. After a short career as a professional soccer player at Ajax Amsterdam, Johan started working as a copywriter at agencies in Amsterdam and London.

In 1996, Johan and Erik Kessels launched KesselsKramer, an internationally renowned communications agency. In 2006, Johan left his partnership at KesselsKramer to dedicate himself to directing.
Johan's first feature-length film was The Other Final, a documentary about the world’s two lowest ranked national soccer teams, Bhutan and Montserrat, and a match that took place on the same day as the World Cup Final. It won awards at international film festivals including Toronto, Barcelona, Bermuda, Berlin and Avignon.

Johan's film, 11:59, inspired by the media's negative perception of Arabic youth, was
featured at RESFEST 2005. His next film project, Sing for Darfur, won "Best European Dramatic Feature" at the European Independent Film Festival in 2009.

In 2012, Johan launched The Very Small Office of Johan Kramer with the simple mission of "making ideas and films for brands and friends." 

Noël Loozen is a stand up kind of guy and he is pretty much considered an all-round photographer and filmmaker, and anyone will know, that in this day and age this is a very desirable combo. The magic of Noël really comes to play when you are in need of that next level layer in your image and film. His concepts tend to be pretty simple but truly ingenious and add that extra story element, meaning and just a hint of irony to his images.

Andreas Pasvantis, born and raised in Amsterdam, is a Dutch documentary and commercial director. Originally Andreas had studied ‘Media & Culture’ at the University of Amsterdam, however he quickly realized that he much preferred creating movies rather than to merely read or write about them. A seemingly logical next step for Andreas was to attend the New York Film Academy (Digital Filmmaking), followed by another hands-on film school in Amsterdam, the SAE Institute. After his studies Andreas had the privilege to work with one of the finest creatives out there, Johan Kramer. Pasvantis joined Halal in 2013, and hasn’t looked back ever since. Over the past few years Andreas has built quite the portfolio working on commercials and documentaries for some of the most renowned names in The Netherlands, such ANWB, Rabobank, Binck and KNAB. However Andreas has also taken on analog photography and to no great surprise, is very much a natural and in demand for it. For the hybrid kid who can do it all, and all of it well, get in touch with Halal!

Mees is a native from Amsterdam. In 2013 he graduated from the Dutch Film Academy. His graduation film ‘Even Cowboys Get to Cry’ was critically acclaimed and awarded several prices, it premiered at the Berlinale 2014. His short film ‘Un Creux Dans Mon Coeur’ is the Dutch representative at the Oscars 2016, category Best Live Action Short, and premiered at the Berlinale 2015. The most recent film he made, ‘We Will Never Be Royals’, won 2 Golden Calfs at the Netherlands Film Festival 2015.
His creative style experiments with different narrative forms, in which his distinct visual style is constant 

Let’s start at the beginning: nine months after his parents had the intercourse, a beautiful little baby was born, which they looked at with adoring eyes and decided right then and there to name after the Swedish motocross hero Arne Kring. Three years later they moved to Los Angeles CA, where Arne spent one marvellous year. The seed may have been planted there, but if asked about it, Arne recalls the exact moment when his dad took him to the movies to see Return of the Jedi at the age of 8 as the moment where he decided he wanted to become a filmmaker. Of course there was that short period of time where Arne, at the age of 11, wanted to become Marty McFly, but other than that he was quite determined in his way to becoming a successful movie director. (Even the moment he popped his cherry is movie related: it happened after – yes after, not during, they watched the whole thing first – watching Terminator 2 on VHS with his girlfriend.) >>>Fast-forward>>> In 1999 Arne graduated as an artist from Art School in Arnhem, after which he went on and studied at the NFTA, where he graduated as a fiction director in 2003. If you were looking for a red thread in his work, this would be that all of his movies – whether 30 seconds or 100 minutes long – are like little worlds on their own. The characters living in those worlds spring directly from Arne’s wondrous mind and are meticulously placed into those worlds. In there, what they all have in common is their colourful and eloquent nature. You could say Arne is as much a visual director as he is an ‘actors’ director. It causes for a distinct style that hasn’t exactly gone unnoticed, and rather has been praised many times over. His first feature film Dik Trom (2010) for example wasn’t just a huge success in terms of box-office numbers (487K visitors), but it also received the Gouden Kalf at the NFF for Best Art-direction. The movie went on to win many jury and audience awards across the world. The features Black Out (2012) and De Boskampi’s (Little Gangster) (2015) followed and also won him rave reviews (Variety, Hollywood Reporter) – again praising him for his distinctive visual style and humour. De Boskampi’s also was selected for the prestigious Sundance Film Festival 2016. Arne likes to work hard and have a laugh at the same time. It is one of the many reasons Halal and Arne make for a perfect match.

Being a true autodidact, Wim van der Aar (1964) started off making mostly experimental movies, but soon proved to be a gifted commercial director. Other than the famed and, more often than not, humorous commercials he directed for Albert Heijn and Calvé amongst others (Wim directed over 500 in total!), you may also know him from some of his beautiful and surprising documentaries. His first documentary ‘De Van Waveren Tapes’ (2012) is based on a box full of audiotapes van der Aar found at a flea market. They tell the detailed life story of a troubled young man who recorded his diary and various phone calls. ‘De Van Waveren Tapes’ was shown in movie theaters across the country, and ended up being reworked into a theater play (Ro Theater) and exposition (Kunsthal). Soon thereafter the famed documentary ‘Gabber!’ (2013) was released, for which van der Aar looked up some of the original, die-hard gabbers from the 90s. Together they tell the story of the most influential musical subculture to have ever emerged from Holland. The latest documentary to have come from the hand of van der Aar is released this year: the intimate ‘All You Need is Me’. With this documentary van der Aar tells the life story of Dutch painter Aad Donker and his two brothers, who in the 90s were set on finding fame in the States, but lost each other along the way.

Although obviously single headed, Belgium based Benny Vandendriessche likes to wear two hats to go to work, acting as both writer and director on many of his commercials and music videos.
With this cumulation, Benny aims at magic, combining a taste for original concepts and an absurd sense of humor with a highly developed visual constraint and a talent for coaching actors.
Photo credit: Emilie Vercruysse 

Emma Westenberg is a Dutch director, born in Berkeley California, March 1990, to two Dutch citizens. Emma is a very special young lady, which calls for a very special introduction, one of her own really: “I’m a sucker for fluffy and shiny things, colorful skies, anything concerning the sea, explosions, George Michael, sweet and stubborn people and monkeys.” Her initial plan of action for her future was to become a skipper and/or a ballerina, but after careful consideration Emma finally landed at filmmaking. She studied at the renowned Rietveld Academy and the Cooper Union School of Art in NYC. Emma graduated in 2014 with special distinction ‘Cum Laude’ with a short film, ‘Het stilleven van Estelle’/ ‘The still life of Estelle’, which she wrote, directed, produced and art directed herself and was selected at the student competition of the Dutch film festival. What followed was Emma’s first commercial for VPRO Dorst in conjunction with the Dutch design week, a brand video for Models at Work and a music video for ‘Regal Degal’. In 2016 Emma was awarded Best New Fashion Film for ‘Blue and You’ at the Fashion Film Festival in Milan. Emma just finished a short film for NTR Kort!, titled ‘A Painful Affair’ and is now busy with multiple new projects in fashion, music and fiction.