Name Jan Kounen | Role Film director | |
 | ||
Born 2 May 1964 (age 59) ( 1964-05-02 ) Utrecht, Netherlands Occupation Film director, film producer Books The Psychotropic Mind: The World According to Ayahuasca, Iboga, and Shamanism Movies Coco Chanel & Igor Strav, 99 Francs, Dobermann, Blueberry, Flight of the Storks Similar People Anna Mouglalis, Jocelyn Quivrin, Dominique Bettenfeld, Igor Stravinsky, Jean Dujardin | ||
Vincent cassel et jan kounen le tournage de blueberry archive ina
Jan Kounen (born Jan Coenen on 2 May 1964) is a Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands-born French film director and producer.
Contents
In France, he is mostly known for his films Dobermann (1997), Blueberry, l'experience secrete (2004) and 99 francs (2007). Outside France he is better known for his interest in Shipibo-Conibo culture and shamanism, with which he became familiar during his trips to Mexico and Peru, and for directing some music videos of which, the most notable are the four videos he did for the English pop group Erasure in the 1990s (including three for the project Abba-esque) : Lay all your love on me (1992), Voulez-vous (1992), S.O.S. (1992) and Always (1994).
Biography
After studying at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs in Nice, where he directed his first short films, Jan Kounen began work as assistant operator and director of music videos and documentaries. In 1989, he made the short film Gisele Kerosene, crowned Grand Prix in the category of Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival.
In the early 90s, Kounen worked in advertising and made two highly acclaimed short films, Vibroboy and Little Red Riding Hood, the latter seeing him work with Emmanuelle Béart. In 1996, he made his first feature film on the eccentric and violent dog breed Dobermann, starring French actor Vincent Cassel.
After the controversial Dobermann film, Jan Kounen traveled across Mexico and Peru, where he immersed in shaman culture and returned in 2004 with the Western Blueberry, an adaptation of the famous comic strip by Jean-Michel Charlier and Jean Giraud Moebius where he gave the title role to Vincent Cassel. The same year, he continued his study of shamanism with the documentary Other Worlds. After making his film Darshan - The Embrace (2005), Kounen staged the Comedy 99 F in 2007, a satire of the world of advertising adapted from the bestseller by Frédéric Beigbeder and produced by Jean Dujardin.
After participating in the Project 8 where he campaigned to improve maternal health in the world, he made a film that captured Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky in which he depicts the connection of passion between the famous seamstress with the Russian composer. Starring Anna Mouglalis and Mads Mikkelsen the film closed the 2009 Cannes Festival.
Filmography
Sources: