Yangzom Brauen's Bio

 

Yangzom was born and raised in Bern, the capital of Switzerland.  She is a Swiss-Tibetan award winning director and bestseller author and actress. Her Swiss anthropologist father and Tibetan artist mother ignited her passion for the arts but also contributed to her appreciation and understanding of her Tibetan roots, not just from a cultural but a very deep personal perspective.

Completing her studies in Europe’s prestigious University of Theater and Music in Bern, she started working in independent theater projects in Switzerland and Germany.

Yangzom has always been extremely active and vocal in the Tibetan Freedom movement. At one time, she was president of the Tibetan Youth Association where she organized public demonstrations and cultural events.

In 2008 she wrote her first book, which became an instant bestseller in Germany and Switzerland 2009-10. ‘Across Many Mountains’ is a memoir about three generations of Tibetan women: Yangzom’s grandmother, her mother and her own story. The book has sold over 400,000 copies in Germany and Switzerland, and was on Europe’s Spiegel Bestseller list for over 40 weeks as well as The Focus Bestseller list. ‘Across Many Mountains’ got published in March 2011 in England and Australia with Random House UK. The North American publishers of the book are St.Martin’s Press in New York and in France, Press de la cite. Her book has also been published in 11 languages so far and will be released throughout the world as 2016 progresses.

 

In 2009 She co-directed and co- wrote her first narrative piece. A web-series for the leading Swiss newspaper Blick.

In 2013 Yangzom continued with her directing endeavor and wrote, directed and produced her first feature film “Who Killed Johnny” a Comedy about Swiss expats trying to make it in Hollywood. She financed the entire film via Kickstarter and shot the film at one location in Los Angeles. After a Festival run with various prices the film is now available on all the major VOD platforms.

 

She then directed the short film “Ruprecht” a Dramedy which got accepted to over 25 Festivals worldwide and won several awards.

 

With her newest short film "Born in Battle" about child soldiers she received the well known CICT-UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Award as well as the UNESCO Gandhi Medal at the Fribourg Film Festival. “Born in Battle” was shown during the UN committee meeting in Geneva with UN Special representative on children and armed conflict. The Short won the audience award at the prestigious Max Ophüls Preis 2016, a leading festival in the European film festival world for new emerging talents. “Born in Battle” has screened so far at 15 festivals in 2016.

 

At the moment Yangzom is adapting her book “Across Many Mountains” into a Feature length screenplay.