Film

Exclusive Interview with Vivienne Kjono

Vivienne Kjono. Photo © Manhart Photography

Meet Vivienne Kjono (pronounced Shono), Swedishborn American author, movie producer, wine-connoisseur and jewelry designer. In the following interview we follow her whirlwind career characterized by an insatiable urge to explore and create.

Interviewed by Peter Berlin

Please describe your upbringing and professional background.

I was born in Stockholm. In the early 1960s my mother felt compelled to leave Sweden because of my father’s alcoholism. We landed in L.A. when I was 7 years old, and that was of course a big culture shock after Stockholm.

My professional career started at age 21 in San Francisco, working for a brokerage firm as a Compliance Officer Assistant. I was making very little money and decided to become a stockbroker. I took a correspondence course in finance while working full time. I married my instructor, and we formed our own company with the objective to analyse losses and gains in the stock market. Our clients were major stock brokerage firms; we served as their expert witnesses in cases involving stock and option frauds. We worked on over 200 cases in the US District courts, bankruptcy courts and arbitration proceedings.

We then moved to Seattle where I became affiliated with a law firm. I am not a lawyer but was hired to head up their international joint ventures. In the early 90s I travelled all over the world and brought TGI Friday’s to Scandinavia. It was an exciting time during which I also started up the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce (SACC) in Seattle, with the blessing of SACC New York.

Given your background in the corporate world, what inspired you to become an author and film maker?

I always wanted to be in a creative field, so I left the corporate world to become an author. I wanted to write a small, enchanting children’s story about how everybody should honor their God-given gift and share their talent with humanity. That started me on the journey of “Mykonos Blue”, an action/drama/fantasy tale. From there I wanted to create films that are heart-warming and inspirational for people to watch and enjoy, but with a message for them to take away.

You are now involved with the production of a new movie called “A New Christmas.” What inspired the storyline?

The story was inspired by a deep love for Christmas, a holiday that embraces one and all, regardless of cast, creed or religion. My East Indian partners and my screenwriter wanted to make a Christmas film with a twist. It occurred to us that we haven’t seen a movie in America that truly portrays the impact of Christmas across immigrants and foreigners. My producer and I worked on the production – we were two people doing

The film, “A New Christmas” was shown recently during Heartland Film Festival. Seen here with Vivienne Kjono (left) is Prashantt Guptha, the lead actor in the film and his beautiful wife, Mansi Gupta, both flew in from Mumbai. Photo courtesy: Vivienne Kjono

Film

Vivienne Kjono with fellow producer, Rashaana Sha. Photo courtesy: Vivienne Kjono

the job of ten people, from locations and costumes to logistics and accounting. The biggest challenge was doing all this at below zero temperatures during Christmas night, but we got through it. The movie will be released December 6, 2019 for domestic distribution in US and Canada, initially to theatres and later to digital platforms.

What future projects are in your calendar?

First in line is “Mykonos Blue,” the above-mentioned movie. We will be in production in 2020.

The second project is “Destiny Starts Early.” It is a memoir based on my mother’s life and shows the tremendous spirit a person can manifest when handling life’s strange twists and turns. We had the storyline written by a professional writer, and now we are seeking to turn it from a manuscript into a movie.

The third movie project is “The Sanctuary,” a thriller about a topsecret mission between the U.S. Defense Department and India in 1965 in order to monitor China’s secret nuclear test launches. We already have funding for half of the production, and are in negotiations with a director.

How many hours are there in your day?

I have two computer screens in front of me! I love what I do, so I don’t think of it as work. In addition to my role as a movie producer, I have enjoyed market placement in Costco of my sister’s prize-winning winery called Wise Villa Wines. I have also been asked by Quintessence jewelry NY firm to collaborate in designing unique gold and silver medallion necklaces interfaced with precious and semiprecious stones.

I don’t count the hours in the day. I wake up, go to my computer, write down my stuff, and talk to my team to get our movies rolling. I am simply happy doing what I do.