Jan Kounen
Jan Kounen (born Jan Coenen; 2 May 1964) is a Dutch-born French film director and producer. 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 music videos of which the most notable are the four videos he made for the English pop group Erasure in the 1990s (including three for the EP project Abba-esque): Lay All Your Love on Me (1992), Voulez-Vous (1992), S.O.S. (1992), and Always (1994).
Jan Kounen

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- Name
- Jan Kounen
- Birth Name
- Jan Coenen
- Born
- 2 May 1964
- Birthplace
- Utrecht, Netherlands
- Occupation
- Film director, film producer
- Nationality
- Kingdom of the Netherlands · France
- Honours
- Knight of the National Order of Merit
- Languages
- French
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
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wikidata · Q716398 · wikipedia · Jan Kounen
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Jan Kounen • Birth Name — Jan Coenen • Born — 2 May 1964 • Birthplace — Utrecht, Netherlands • Citizenship — * France • Netherlands • Occupation — Film director, film producer • Notable Works — Dobermann Blueberry 99 Francs
Biography
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, Dobermann, starring French actor Vincent Cassel. In the 2000s Jan Kounen travelled across Mexico and Peru, where he immersed himself in shaman culture and participated in about one hundred ayahuasca ceremonies. His next film was Blueberry (2004), an adaptation of the famous comic strip by Jean-Michel Charlier and Jean Giraud (better known as Moebius), with Vincent Cassel in the title role. The same year, he released Other Worlds (2005), a documentary about shamanism. 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 best-seller by Frédéric Beigbeder and produced by Jean Dujardin. After participating in Project 8 where he campaigned to improve maternal health in the world, he made Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009), a biographical film about the relationship between Chanel, the French fashion designer, and Stravinsky, the Russian composer, starring Anna Mouglalis and Mads Mikkelsen. The film closed the 2009 Cannes Festival. In 2009 Kounen signed a petition in support of film director Roman Polanski, calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 charge for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.
Filmography
Filmography
• Les aventures de Jeff Blizzard (1986)https: auth.wikimedia.org/ • The Broadsword (1986) • Soft (1986) • Het journaal (1987) • Het virus (1987) • Gisele Kerozene (1989) • L'âge de plastic (1991) • Capitaine X (a.k.a. Né pour mourir, 1994) • Vibroboy (1993) with Michel Vuillermoz • Dobermann (1997) • D'autres mondes (a.k.a. Other Worlds, documentary film, 2004) • Another Reality (TV documentary series, 2003) • Blueberry, l'expérience secrète (a.k.a. Blueberry, 2004) • Darshan - L'étreinte (a.k.a. Darshan: The Embrace, documentary film, 2005) • 99 Francs (2007) • The Story of Panshin Beka, short, segment of the movie 8 (2008) • Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009) • Flight of the Storks (television film, 2012) • Vape Wave (documentary film, 2015) • Mère Océan (documentary film, 2016) • Mon Cousin (a.k.a. My Cousin, 2020) • L'Homme qui rétrécit (a.k.a. The Incredible Shrinking Man, 2025) Sources:
Identity
Identity
Jan Kounen is recorded with the occupation film producer. Recorded with the occupation screenwriter. Recorded with the occupation director. Recorded with the occupation actor. Recorded as actor, film producer, screenwriter and director.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1964
Jan Kounen was born on 2 May 1964.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q716398: Jan Kounen
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “Jan Kounen”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Jan Kounen, revision 1336728130 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Jan Kounen. IMDb.
- 2.Jan Kounen, Director and Filmmaker. Sumiruna Awakenings.
- 3.Jan Kounen. uniFrance.
- 4.AlloCine. Jan Kounen. AlloCiné.
- 5.Retour sur le sketch de Jan Kounen coupé des Infidèles. Premiere.fr.
- 6.Blueberry. Time Out London.
- 7.Jan Kounen. www.rottentomatoes.com.
- 8.Jounen, Jan. D'autres Mondes. 2004.
- 9.OM on the Range: The Alternative Realities of Jan Kounen. DangerousMinds. 10 July 2010.
- 10.Kounen, Jan. Darshan : Voyage dans les bras d'Amma. Editions SW Télémaque. 9 November 2006. 9782753300361.
- 11.Le cinéma soutient Roman Polanski / Petition for Roman Polanski. Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques. 28 September 2009.
- 12.Alien Explorations. Jan Kounen and the Alien. alienexplorations.blogspot.in.
- 13.Beigbeder, Frédéric. 99 francs, le manuel d'utilisation de la société d'hyperconsommation. Editions SW Télémaque. 24 September 2007. 9782753300507.
- 14.8 Official website.
- 15.Jan Kounen. Filmweb.
- 16.Jan Kounen. Inner Traditions.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 6
- Kounen, Jan. Visionary Ayahuasca: A Manual for Therapeutic and Spiritual Journeys. Park Street Press. 2015. 978-1620553459.
- Narby, Jeremy. The Psychotropic Mind: The World according to Ayahuasca, Iboga, and Shamanism. Park Street Press. 25 November 2009. 978-1594773129.
- Metsa. De l'ombre à la lumière : Voyages d'un guérisseur chez les chamanes. mamaéditions.com. 4 June 2014. 9782845940284.
- Kounen, Jan. Carnets de voyages intérieurs : Ayahuasca Medicina, un manuel. mamaéditions.com. 2 April 2011. 9782845940482.
- Kounen, Jan. Plantes et chamanisme : Conversations autour de l'ayahuasca et de l'iboga. mamaéditions.com. 28 February 2008. 9782845940208.
- Beigbeder, Frédéric. 99 francs, le manuel d'utilisation de la société d'hyperconsommation. Editions SW Télémaque. 24 September 2007. 9782753300507.
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