Jan Kounen - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography (Read)

Jan Kunen - biography, date of birth, place of birth, filmography, clips, Director, Writer, Actor, Producer, Operator.

Born May 2, 1964, Utrecht, The Netherlands - French film director, screenwriter, cameraman, actor, producer and music video director.

Received an art education, studied film making and animation at the Institute of Decorative Arts in France (Nice). In 1988, Jan Kunen directed short films 8 mm (Soft) and 16 mm (Yellow Death - the Broadword), as well as animation for Dutch television, his work was awarded a national diploma for high expressiveness. After graduation, he worked as an assistant operator, director of video clips and documentaries, as well as an operator in an image agency.

Jan Kuhnen's short film "Gisele Kerozene" (1989) won the Grand Prix (Prix du Court-Metrage) at the Avoriaz festival.

In 1990, Kunen worked a lot, often on several projects at once. Shoots ads in France, Germany, England for famous world brands such as Nestle, Peugeot, Adidas, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Tang, Gordons Jean, Miko, etc. Shoots a music video for Elmer Foot Beat, Pauline Easter. Especially notable were his works for the pop group from England Erasure based on the songwriting of the ABBA ensemble (Voulez-vous, Lay all your love on me, SOS, Always).

Together with Carlo Bautini in 1991 Jan Kunen wrote the script for the film "Vibroboy" and directed it in 1993. At the Clermont-Ferrand festival, he was awarded a prize for his unusual visuals. The director's next work was Capitaine X, which was unfinished and was immediately followed by the short musical Le Dernier Chaperon rouge with outstanding choreography by Philippe Decouflet, beautiful costumes and scenery, starring Emmanuelle Bear.

In 1995, Jan shot his first full-length, controversial film, the Doberman crime fighter, in which Vincent Cassel played the main role (the criminal who received his first pistol at christening), and his deaf-mute girlfriend, Monica Bellucci.

While preparing for the shooting of his western film Blueberry, which took place in Peru and Mexico, Jan Kunen devoted a lot of time to studying shamanism and culture of the Shipibo-Conibo tribes, practically falling in love with her. He spent several months there, resulting in his documentary Other Worlds (D'autres mondes, 2004). The very same picture "Blueberry", that is the second full-length feature film by Jan Kunen, was released in France in February 2004.

But, perhaps, the director's greatest glory was brought by the eponymous film adaptation of the scandalous novel by Frederic Beigbeder "99 francs", exposing the methods of manipulating people by representatives of the advertising industry. Kunen's motto in this film was the dictum - "What you are not able to change, you must at least describe", which he does in this film recklessly and talentedly, using professional experience. Although in some moments it takes him far beyond the bounds of the cinema, to where the shocking begins ... at any cost - in order to sell and get the most money for his product, as if he were the very StarLight yogurt hated by his hero Octave Parango. The strange name of this yoghurt movie and the novel 99 francs that it is based on is simply the selling price of the book in French shops. Talented, but monstrously liberated, played in the film "99 Francs" the main role of an advertiser, first a plasticine charming, and then rebellious, the French "charmer" Jean Dujardin.

In 2008 Jan Kunen was invited to work in a joint project - the film "8", consisting of 8 movie novels by different directors. Each of them shows the point of view of a famous film master on one of the global world problems (according to the UN list). Kunen's film is called "The Story of Panshin Beck" and is dedicated to the problems of maternal health.

All Information About: Jan Kounen - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography.
Author: Jane Watson