Johan Renck is one of the most respected and sought after directors of commercials and music videos today, so much so that the French magazine CB News dubbed him “the number one director of commercials and music videos in the world”.His directing career started in 1992 when he joined the production company Mekano Film and Television in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1994 he left Mekanoto join forces with childhood friend director Jonas Åkerlund and producer Lars Pettersson. They established a new production company, Renck Åkerlund Films, which immediately became one of the leaders of its kind in Sweden. During the same time he worked with his music project, Stakka Bo, with big success and a lot of his time was occupied by the music career. In 1997 he started to work as a director full time, quickly becoming a well-known name worldwide. By 1999 he was directing for high profile clients such as Madonna, Nike, and Levis.Johan has worked non-stop all over the world and continues to work with many well known brands such as: Nike, Levi’s, Mercedes, Dom Perignon, and H&M and artists such as Kylie Minogue, New Order, Madonna, Libertines and The Streets to mention a few. He has achieved prestigious nominations and awards for his work, including MTV award nominations for his Madonna and Beyoncé music videos as well as two Cannes Bronze Lions for the Nike commercial “Racing Marion”.In 2005 he won an award for best video in MVPA and was nominated in several categories in CAD for his music video for The Streets. In Cannes he collected a Bronze Lion for the commercial Sagem and a Silver Lion for his campaign for “Karl Lagerfeld for H&M”, this film also awarded Grand Prix in Eurobest and a Gold in Epica. In 2006, again he had several MVPA nominations, this time for his videos for Madonna´s “Hung Up” and for Robbie Williams “Trippin”. In The Gunn Report Johan Renck was listed as the 25th most rewarded director of commercials. In 2007 Johan’s short film ‘Cow’, for SOS Live Earth, was nominated in Eurobest and in Epica Awards where it won the Bronze price.Johan works within a variety of different medias including: films, commercials, music videos, theatre productions, art and music projects and still photography. He shoots stills for magazines like Italian Vogue and brands such as Diesel just to mention a few. Johan recently completed his first feature film "Downloading Nancy", starring starring Maria Bello, Jason Patric, Rufus Sewell, and Amy Brenneman. The provocative film premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize. The film has its world premiere in the 2008 Sundance Festival where it also is competing in the Dramatic Competition picked out of thousands of submissions.Johan is based in New York City.
