Jan Kounen

Born: May 2 1964
Where: Utrecht, The Netherlands

The former film reporter and music video director exploded onto the scene with his bloodthirsty debut Dobermann.

As a student at the Arts Décoratifs in Nice, France, he graduated while making the short Yellow Death - The Breadword.

As well as making animated films for Dutch TV he became a documentary-maker and worked as a cameraman/reporter for a picture agency.

In 1989, he directed Gisele Kerosene, which won the Grand Prix du Court-Métrage award at the Avoriaz Festival.

The following year, he directed the popular L'age de plastic music video for Elmer Foot Beat before going on to work with Erasure as well as making adverts for Peugeot and Adidas.

In 1991, Kounen co-wrote and directed Vibroboy and produced Captain X and Le Dernier Chaperon Rouge, a musical short with Emmanuelle Beart.

In 1995, his ultra-violent feature debut - Dobermann - starred Vincent Cassel, divided critics, some finding it barely watchable.

Nine years later he he cast Cassel as Blueberry, an overblown supernatural western which also included Michael Madsen and Eddie Izzard in the cast.