Jowan Le Besco

Jowan Le Besco is a director, cinematographer, screenwriter, editor and actor. Le Besco was born to a Franco-Algerian mother, the actress Catherine Belkhodja, and Patrick Le Besco, a linguist specializing in the Breton language. His maternal grandfather, Abdelkader Belkhodja, a former FLN moudjahid based in France, was then in charge of emigration at the Ministry of Labor from 1965 to 1972, then at the Ministry of Former Moudjahidines until 1975 (Algeri); his grandmother, Jeanne Mauborgne, a nurse and then a social worker, was, like her husband, a very active communist activist. He is the brother of two directors and actresses, Maïwenn and Isild Le Besco; he also has a third sister, Leonor Graser, and a brother, Kolia Litscher. Le Besco shoots his first professional film as director of photography, with Demi-tarif released in 2004 and directed by his younger sister Isild Le Besco. The film won many awards in France and internationally and allowed them to produce the next film of Isild Le Besco: Charly (2006). He then worked with directors and cinematographers such as Caroline Champetier, Romain Winding, Claire Mathon, Benoît Jacquot and Emmanuelle Bercot. At the same time as shooting, he followed training courses at the École nationale supérieure Institut Louis Lumière and the École de l'Image Les Gobelins. In 2006, he wrote and directed his first feature film, Yapo (documentary filmed in India, in the Sikkim region) which earned it a selection at the 29th edition of the Cinéma du Réel Festival. A shorter version of the film was broadcast in 2008 on the television channel Arte, in the documentary slot La Lucarne, under the title Les béquilles du Lama Yapo. Le Besco has worked as a director of photography and cameraman for films such as Polisse, Mon roi, Connemara, Lomepal: 3 jours à Motorbass, Les Deux Amis, The Untouchable, Bas-fonds, La Belle Occasion, and Confinés. He also works regularly in the field of music and performing arts, notably as a director and cinematographer, with collaborators including the Opéra National de Paris, Pédro Kouyaté, the Orchestre national de Barbès, Tartit, Bania, Farees, Ghassen Fendri, and Senny Camara. 2007 : Yapo (présenté au Festival Cinéma du Réel), by Jowan Le Besco 2008 : Les béquilles du Lama Yapo (Arte-La Lucarne), by Jowan Le Besco 2011: On va à Cannes !!! (Le Making of de Polisse) by Jowan Le Besco and Douglas Attal 2002: A Moment of Happiness by Antoine Santana with Isild Le Besco