Born in Osterode in the Harz Mountains, Germany. From 1993 Jan studied visual communication and fine arts in combination at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg. (amongst others, he studied under Marina Abramović). In 1995 he worked as an assistant at the Berliner Ensemble under Heiner Müller "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui". For his film project about the French Revolution, he received the grant "Kunstfonds Bonn". He participated in the "Kunstfilmbiennale Museum Ludwig" in Cologne with his film "Quasar". Since then he has shown several short films as part of cinema short film programs as well as in the festival and gallery context. "The Court of Shards" (2012) is his debut feature length movie and had its world premiere at Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, January 2013. His latest project „The Last Night of Baby Gun" is narrated by Eva Mattes, one of Fassbinder’s darlings.