Helen Alexis Yonov

Owner at Hansen Women Productions
Director, Screenwriter and Producer

Los Angeles, California

Member Since:
May 2023

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About Helen

Helen Alexis Yonov is a Latvian-American filmmaker. Although born and raised in Newport, Rhode Island, Alexis also grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Moscow, USSR/Russia. Her experiences living and traveling overseas created an appreciation for different cultures and foreign cinema, which influences her as a filmmaker. After moving to Los Angeles in 2002, Alexis began her career working as a Set Production Assistant on such feature films as Seabiscuit, Anchorman, War of the Worlds, and Elizabethtown.

Inspired by her overseas upbringing, Alexis moved to Paris, France in 2011 in order to return to her European roots. During her time in France, she attained her Latvian citizenship, which allows her to work within the European Union (E.U.)

It was during her time in Paris that Alexis wrote the heart-warming romantic short film "The Gesture and The Word," as well as "The Burden of Light, an international multi-award-winning feature screenplay, which is an emotionally charged WWII historical drama. It recently won the Best Live Script at the 2022 BAFTA & BIFA-qualifying British Urban Film Festival and Best Drama at the 2022 Cordillera International Film Festival. After returning to Los Angeles in late-2018, Alexis directed and produced “The Gesture and the Word," which has screened worldwide and has won 60+ awards.

Under her US-based production company Hansen Women Productions, Alexis has joined forces with Rachel Warren (of UK-based RWI Films) to develop and produce a slate of feature films, covering a variety of genres and focusing on diverse and inclusive content, with a strong push on equality both on and off camera. Their international partnership seeks to create opportunities on film sets for fresh, new and up and coming talent, mixed with some of the most reputable and well-respected cast and crew names within the film industry. The ladies are currently developing a cross-cultural romantic comedy, "Inheriting Hope," as well as "The Burden Of Light."

Gender:
Female

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Credits

The Burden of Light (2022)
Film by Hansen Women Productions screenwriter When an American woman (Anu) inherits an abandoned apartment in Paris from her Great Aunt (Hélène,) Anu is surprised to find an untouched 1939 time capsule. As she learns about the broken engagement that caused Hélène to leave Paris prior to World War II, Anu herself finds love where it’s least expected.
The Gesture and The Word (2020)
Film (short) by Burden & Light LLC Writer-Director-Producer A lonely postman (Gilbert) lives vicariously through hand-drawn postcards that a woman (Aurore) receives from her boyfriend (Eric) as he travels around the world. When the postcards suddenly stop, Gilbert begins to secretly recreate them. With the help of his friend Mr. Rostalle, (Paul Dooley) a blind widower and retired literary professor and poet, Gilbert (James Michael Tyler) learns to open himself up to the prospect of love, and in the process of trying to bring someone else happiness, discovers it for himself as he learns to express his feelings for the neighborhood florist (Eloïse.)