JOAN SAFFA - BIOGRAPHY

For over 30 years Joan Saffa has been producing and directing award-winning non-fiction television. In the last 10 years, the majority of her shows have been for InCA Productions. Since the 1970's Saffa has created some thirty documentaries and contributed to a dozen multi-part series airing on PBS, Turner Broadcasting, CNBC, the Disney Channel, and HBO as well as international venues. Her shows have been honored with national and Bay area Emmies, Cine Golden Eagles, a George Foster Peabody Award, an ASCAP Broadcast Award and honors from the San Francisco, Hawaii and New York Film Festivals.

Saffa’s documentaries range from biographies of writers -- KEN KESEY , CARLOS FUENTES, MAXINE HONG KINGSTON, BERYL MARKHAM ; to cultural, political and historical programs like InCA’s AMELIA EARHART’S LAST FLIGHT, SAN FRANCISCO IN THE TWENTIES and HONOR BOUND, an Emmy Award winning show on the famed Japanese American battalion of WWII. She was Senior Producer on SCAN for CNBC and on InCA Productions’ THE HEART OF HEALING for TBS and THE PROMISE OF PLAY for PBS . Her work has also enlivened such national series as: WE THE PEOPLE with Peter Jennings, OVER EASY with Hugh Downs, MONEY IN AMERICA with Sylvia Chase, THE RELIGION and ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY - all on PBS; and SPARK on KQED.

Most recently Saffa has been working at InCA, crafting a series of shows on music with David Kennard. Called KEEPING SCORE the series features Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony. The pilot episode on TCHAIKOVSKY premiered on GREAT PERFORMANCES in June, 2004. The next three episodes on BEETHOVEN’s Eroica, STRAVINSKY’s Rite of Spring and COPLAND and the American Sound will air on PBS in September. This winter Saffa will also be part of a Prima Donna Productions team presenting a concert at Wigmore Hall in London (Feb. 27) and the Chatelet in Paris (March 1). Called VIARDOT and Friends the concert featuring Nathan Gunn, Frederica Von Stade and Anna Caterina Antonacci will showcase the works of 19th century composer Pauline Viardot.

Saffa has a BA in Psychology from Cornell University and an EdM from the University of Rochester.

JOAN SAFFA - CREDITS