French by education, Cuban and English by blood and American by birth, Saskia obtained her Master’s Degree in Fine Art at London’s Central Saint Martins College. Moving back to California, she started her media career in the art department – covering virtually all the jobs from PA to production designer – for the likes of Madonna, Marilyn Manson and Master P.
Saskia went on to join the board and eventually serve as festival co-director for Los Angeles’s fiercely independent Silver Lake Film Festival, launching the festival’s visionary new media arm in 2005 (MP4Fest) in addition to curating many of its film, art and music events.
In 2007 Saskia was hired at Al Gore’s Emmy-Award winning Current TV to head up the newly formed filmmaker outreach & development department, for the participatory television programming initiatives (VC2). There, she and her team conceived of and spearheaded projects designed to gain new short format documentary content for the network (and the web) from international filmmakers, while initiating content partnerships on a global scale.
After leaving Current, she went on to work as a producer and a film distribution strategist, maintaining her strong ties to the independent film world by supporting educational initiatives, and by producing events and screenings around new models in the arts (including the annual Slamdance, WorkBook Project and Open Video Alliance Filmmaker Summit at Slamdance Film Fest, several of Lance Weiler’s ongoing DIY Days events, and helping with the TEDActive Innovation Lab at TED Conference with Pink Cloud Events). She also curates and produces special film programs such as the bienial art/film extravaganza ‘Ultra Fabulous Beyond Drag’, and special programs along the lines of ‘Cuban Revolutionary Film’ (for Casa Del Tunel in Tijuana).
Further projects and pursuits include programming the feature documentary films and serving as a shorts juror for her beloved Slamdance Film Festival; advising start-up events such as the New Mexico International Film Festival and the Los Angeles Music Video Festival; serving as film juror, advisor and/or panelist for organizations ranging from Gen Art to NewFest to IFP; and overseeing Transmedia and Distribution for films such as Stephen Gyllenhaal’s Grassroots.
A committed advocate of open information and education in the arts, she also writes and speaks on a regular basis. She contributes as a writer to the WorkBook Project and Filmmaker Magazine and has been invited to speak at a number of conferences and festivals – from Open Video Conference to British Film Institute’s Power to the Pixel.
In 2009 she conceived of and started a guerilla screening series called Cinema Speakeasy, which she runs from LA with her colleague Georgi Goldman. One of the first of its kind, it has served as an inspiration for a number of other micro-cinemas & curated screening series in California and beyond. In 2010, the series expanded to San Francisco (under the wise supervision of Allison Davis, Fhay Arceo and Kate Green), and in 2011 CS started a year-long residency in Palm Springs in partnership with the Ace Hotel.
In addition, she is currently hard at work on a transmedia art collaborative with her partner Micah Hahn (Mr. and Mrs. Hahn), producing, co-directing and editing a series of short Stories, and (slowly) producing a feature-length documentary. She is also overseeing film acquisitions at the cutting edge new P2P distribution platform – Vodo.
Contact: saskia [at] cinemaspeakeasy [dot] com
