Yen LE VAN – Film editor, filmmaker and director

In this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen chatted with Yen LE VAN. Yen is a film editor, filmmaker and director.

When the Vietnam War engulfed Asia, young Yen Le Van left bombed-out Laos with her family. France, the land of welcome, became her adopted homeland.

Passionate about art and anthropology, she became a film editor alongside Georges Klotz, renowned chief editor for Lelouch, Lautner and Zidi. Her rigor and unique eye have led her to collaborate on over 50 films and documentaries, including Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s “Home” (2009), which she also co-wrote. “Home”, has been seen by over 600 million viewers in more than a hundred countries. Produced by Luc Besson of Europacorp and Denis Carot of Elzevir Films, “Home” was nominated for a César in 2009. Yen also edited “Legacy” (2021) by the same director, which was screened at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021.

Yen’s interest in beauty, living beings and the preservation of the planet naturally led her to make her own first feature-length documentary “Respire, Souris, Vis” (“Breathe, Smile, Live”) which offers an original vision of mindfulness meditation. Drawing on her own personal experience, Yen reveals an art of living, a joyful quest for self that is within everyone’s reach.

“Breathe, Smile, Live”, produced by ChezYenProductions, and distributed by Jupiter films was released in June this year and opened to full cinemas in Paris. The documentary film interweaves how six people, try to make sense out of their lives, and face the big questions, through the practices of meditation. The diverse, captivating characters include a zen monk, a scientist, a financier, a doctor, a yoga teacher, and a therapist.

Consult www.jupiter-films.com for information regarding future screenings around France.

Contact Yen Le Van at respiresourisvis@gmail.com to organise an English screening of “Breathe, Smile, Live.”

Trailer: “Breathe, Smile, Live”