Dany Saadia

Dany Saadia is a Mexican filmmaker, screenwriter, podcaster and entrepreneur who won the 2008 Best Director Malaga Festival award as well as the Best Feature Film award at the Mostra de València (Spain).[1][2] As of 2020 he is the CEO of Dixo, the first and most relevant podcasting production company in Mexico.[3][4]

Dany Saadia
Dany Saadia, 2019
Born (1973-09-19) September 19, 1973
Mexico City, Mexico
OccupationScreenwriter
Film director
Entrepreneur
Known forFilms:
Genesis 3:19
3:19 Nada Es Casualidad
Businesses:
'Interfaz 401'
'Dixo'
'Substance'

Early life and education

Dany Saadia was born in Mexico City to French citizens who moved to Mexico after World War II. He speaks fluent Spanish, French and English; and Portuguese and Arabic to some degree.

Saadia graduated from the Lycée Franco-Mexicain in Mexico City and then applied to the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he majored in Mathematics with a minor in Anthropology and French.

After graduating from college, he went back to Mexico, and studied Directing for Theater in the Centro de Arte Dramático AC (CADAC) with Héctor Azar, and after completing the two-year program, he moved back to New York and studied Filmmaking at the New York Film Academy with Gael García.

Career

Genesis 3:19

In 2003 he wrote and directed Genesis 3:19 a short film whose world premiere was at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival.[5][6] The film won 'Best Screenplay' at the 2004 Rhode Island Film Festival,[7][8] and 'Best Short Film' at the 2004 Austin Film Festival,[9] among others. Genesis 3:19 went on to be in the short list for the 2006 Academy Awards nominations.

3:19 Nada Es Casualidad
Dany Saadia at the 2008 Santa Barbara Film Festival.

In 2006 he wrote and directed his first feature film, 3:19 Nada Es Casualidad, a Spanish-Mexican production, in Valencia, Spain. It starred Miguel Angel Silvestre, Felix Gomez, Juan Diaz, Barbara Goenaga and Diana Bracho. The soundtrack was scored by Robin Guthrie,[10][11] and edited by Ivan Aledo.[12] edited "3:19".

The world premiere of 3:19 Nada Es Casualidad was during the 2008 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.[13] The film earned a positive review from Variety film critic Robert Koehler.[14]

During the festival run, 3:19 Nada Es Casualidad won 'Best Director' in the 2008 Málaga Spanish Film Festival,[1][15] and won for 'Best Film' and for 'Best Actor' for Miguel Angel Silvestre[16] in the 2008 Mostra de Valencia.[2] 3:19 Nada Es Casualidad has been distributed in Spain, Mexico and other countries.

Faust Arp

In 2008 he entered the Aniboom In Rainbows Contest to create a full-length animated video clip for Radiohead, and his video clip submission Faust Arp was one of the finalists of the In Rainbows Animated Music Video Contest.[17]

Interactive entrepreneur

In 1996, Saadia, Eric Descombes, Rafael Jimenez and Geraldina Jimenez founded Interfaz 401, an interactive agency that was sold to WPP Group in 1999 for an undisclosed amount, and later became Ogilvy Interactive Mexico.

Podcast production

In 2005, Saadia founded Dixo, the first and leading network of podcasts and blogs in Mexico.[3][4] Dixo signed in 2007 an alliance deal with Prodigy/MSN, a joint venture between Microsoft and Telmex, for commercial distribution and sale of their content and catalog. As of 2020 Saadia is the CEO of Dixo, the oldest and most relevant podcasting production company in Mexico.

Filmography
Writer / Director
Year Film Other notes
2004 "Genesis 3:19" Short film
2005 "The Perfect Date" Short film
2006 3:19 Nada Es Casualidad Feature film

Recognition

In comparing 3:19 Nada Es Casualidad to Saadia's earlier work, Variety film critic Robert Koehler wrote "Saadia has built his feature on the groundwork of his 2004 short, Genesis 3:19, but the final work may be overbuilt," expanding, "Saadia's warm cast, full of youthful Spanish thesps (many direct from the Iberian tube), add a lightness of being to a film that gets a little too eager to fling ideas at the viewer." However, he granted that "Production values add considerable allure to the brainy entertainment, decked out with an interesting score by the Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie."[14]

Awards and nominations

References
  1. "11º Festival de Malaga Premios Zonazine". Málaga Spanish Film Festival (in Spanish). festivaldemalaga.com. April 11, 2008. Archived from the original on September 5, 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  2. ""3:19" consigue el premio en Mostra Valenciana y Miguel Ángel Silvestre, el de mejor actor". Levante (in Spanish). levante-emv.com. October 23, 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  3. Hernández Becerra, Fernando (7 March 2017). "Why the podcast boom has yet to hit Mexico — and why it needs to". Current. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  4. Ochoa, David (29 March 2019). "Los podcasts están "en línea" otra vez" [Podcasts are "online" again] (in Spanish). El Universal (México). Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  5. Hernandez, Elizabeth (May 6, 2004). "`Génesis 3:19` va a Tribeca". El Universal (in Spanish). eluniversal.com.mx. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  6. "Genesis 3:19". Tribeca Film Festival. tribecafilm.com (archive). Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  7. "From the R.I. International Film Fest, the winners are . . ". Providence Journal. projo.com. August 18, 2004. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  8. "2004 RIIFF Film Award Winners". Rhode Island International Film Festival. film-festival.org. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  9. "Scenes from the 11th Annual Austin Film Festival". Austin Chronicle. austinchronicle.com. October 22, 2004. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  10. Cooper, Neil (August 13, 2007). "Just don't mention Cocteau Twins... oh why not, everyone else does". Herald Scotland. heraldscotland.com. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  11. "Robin Guthrie - 3:19 Bande Originale Du Film (Darla)". Darla Records. darla.com. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  12. "Premios Goya - Palmarés - Mejor Montaje". Zinema (in Spanish). zinema.com. Archived from the original on 21 May 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  13. "SBIFF 2008 Slate". Santa Barbara Independent. independent.com. December 31, 2007. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  14. Kohler, Robert (February 19, 2008). "review: 3:19". Variety. variety.com. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  15. Cambio 16, Issues 1910-1917 (in Spanish). Información y Revistas, S.A. 2008. p. 128.
  16. "Miguel Ángel Silvestre". El Mundo (in Spanish). elmundo.es. June 18, 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  17. "Radiohead and Aniboom Contest Winners - Semi Finalists". Animation Virtual Studio. aniboom.com. Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
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