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At the early age of 5, Jason Baffa was dazzled by his cousin (Christopher Baffa ASC) shooting an 8mm stop-motion film for school. It was then that he realized movie magic is a craft and he had to be a part of it. He began a lifelong career in cinema.
In the early years, Baffa spent summers at Todd AO Sound, working under two time Academy Award Sound Mixer Chris Jenkins. And then full-time work at New World Entertainment where they ran properties for Fox, ABC, Stephen J. Cannell Productions and Marvel Comics.
Baffa's love for surfing motivated a stint as show producer on Bluetorch TV for Fox Sports. He delivered over 250 hours of action-sports related Network programming.
Wanting to return to film, he self-produced his first Indy feature, "Singlefin: yellow" (2004). The 16mm cult-classic redefined an established genre by documenting one surfboard's journey instead of the actual surfers and instantly propelled Baffa into the surfing-sub-culture spotlight. Yahoo News called it; "the perfect armchair traveler."
His follow up project, "One California Day" (2007) was co-directed and shot (super 16mm) with Mark Jeremias, and is considered by many as; "one of the best surf films of our modern times" (Surfer Magazine).
Thereafter, Baffa began actively directing commercials. Hungry to do another feature, he packaged the passion project "Bella Vita" (2014), which follows a California surfer who returns to his family roots in Italy; a parallel to Baffa's own ancestry.
Shot on 35mm, Bella Vita won critical acclaim. The London Arts News called it; "Visually Stunning". It premiered at the prestigious San Sebastian Film Festival and won Best Doc / Best Cinematography at the Highland Park International Film Fest, Best Doc La Costa, Audience Choice Best Film Costa Rica Film Fest.
With international audiences passionate about his cult documentary surf films, Baffa was approached to shoot & direct, "Loopers: The Caddie's Long Walk" (2018). The film, narrated by Bill Murray, is the first-ever look into the secretive world of the golf caddie and produced by Jim Packer (Lionsgate), David Brookwell (Brookwell McNamara Entertainment) and Chris Brown (Gem Pictures).
Loopers premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Fest (US) and Edinburg (UK) and won Best Doc at the Newport Beach Film Festival, Best Doc Cleveland Film Festival and ran limited theatrical. Golf Digest noted that watching Loopers... "is reminiscent of the BBC's 'Planet Earth' series, educating while aesthetically captivating"
Baffa's films have enjoyed limited theatrical runs as well as worldwide DVD, VOD, and streaming deals including vendors: Fox Sports, Globosat, Lionsgate, Netflix, Redbull Media House, and The Golf Channel.
When not producing features he works as a commercial Director, Dir. Photography for top brands including: Acura, Anheuser-Busch, BMW, Ford, Jeep, MTV, Patagonia and Toyota.
His development slate includes both documentary film, TV and scripted projects as well as managing passion projects like ZIOBAFFA organic Italian wines.
main website: jasonbaffafilms.com
