Johan Vandewoestijne — Director | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

Johan Vandewoestijne was born on August 26th 1961 in Kortrijk Belgium (Europe) At very young age he showed interest for television and cinema. He studied chemistry and afterwards he went to a filmschool in Brussels.The filmschool was a great disappointment since he always said and today more than ever, that cinema is much more entertainment than it is art. At the filmschool they claimed the opposite. So very rapidly he understood that this was not a place for him to stay. So he left after two years. He joined a video production team by the name of Acces Video and assisted with the lighting of corporate videos. In 1985 he left the company to start up a feature film project entitled " Lucker " which became a cult classic very soon. In 1988 he produced " Rabid Grannies ". Troma inc picked up the film and did the distribution upon this day. It was a 20 year contract and when that was expired Michael Herz asked him to prolonged it with another 20 years. In 1988 Lloyd Kaufman from Troma Inc asked him " to do something about his name ". " Vandewoestijne " means " from the desert " Lloyd said that " Vandewoestijne " for others than Flemish or Dutch, was difficult to pronounce so Johan changed his name into " James Desert " Till today Johan ( or James if you like) is producing and directing low budget horror and exploitation films, always English spoken. That's why some people also name him " The Roger Corman " of the low countries " a surname he seems to like. For many years his films were distributed by Troma Inc but the last five years he has a collaboration with Jeffrey Swanson of SGL entertainment located in Concord California.