My first name is Zhan, pronounced like the French Jean. My father is a big fan of French movies, and he named me after Jean Luc Godard, director of the classic movie, Breathless featuring another Jean, Jean Paul Belmondo.

I'm an immigrant from Ukraine and I came to America to get away from the warfare in my country. I am a graduate of the Ukranian National Marine Academy and I worked my way up on the ships to become a second officer. I learned personal discipline and responsibility during many 12 hour watches on the bridge at sea in charge of safe navigation.

During voyages which took me around the world, I met many different kinds of people and cultures, and became interested in storytelling. Now, the biggest passion of my life is filmmaking. I work on Nomad Trilogy, like cinematographer, co-producer and editor three dramatic feature films directed by Cannes and Sundance prize winning director Rob Nilsson.