Biographie
Two-time International Emmy Award winning director Fred Saddi-Naccache de Límia became the first - and still is - the only director to win two International Emmy Awards for Best Telenovela - presented by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences since 2008.
He also holds the record for International Emmy Awards nominations in this category, with a total of 5 nominations and 2 wins - all for Brazil's media conglomerate Globo TV.
Fred directed the network's first nomination, "Tropical Paradise" in 2008, but his - and Globo TV's - historical first win came the following year in 2009 with "India: A Love Story".
In 2010, he was nominated for a third time, for "Destiny River", and in 2012 for a fourth time, winning his second International Emmy Award, for "The Illusionist". His fifth nomination is for the miniseries "Maysa".
Awards were not new to the young director: already a Golden Bear Short Film Winner at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival - for the short "Prince Charming" - at age 25 Fred was part of Digital Domain Academy Award Winning team for Best Visual Effects, for David Fincher's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - which also won the Visual Effects Society awards that year, led by Eric Barba, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron.
Naccache would later be part of another Academy Award Nominated VFX team effort for 2012's "The Avengers", MCU's first Academy Award Nomination.
In the late 90's, while still in film school, Fred was an assistant to Master directors Norman Jewison in "Dinner with Friends", Paul Mazursky in "Winchell", and Joseph Sargent in "For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story". He then landed the dream one-year program at Disney's Imagineering, which led to credits in Disney Channel's and Nickelodeon Network's "The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo" and "Hercules" TV Series, amongst other shows.
Back to New York City, Naccache became assistant to Stage Director Marlene Swartz in Blue Man Group's Obie and Drama Desk Awards Winner show "Tubes", and later to director Derek Anson Jones in yet another Drama Desk Awards Winner on Broadway's smash hit "Wit". His experience on Broadway stages allow Fred to work with N'Sync in their historical "No Strings Attached" performances at the Madison Square Garden, and with the Backstreet Boys in their "Black & Blue" Tour.
Invited to directed the Stage Shows in Disneyland Paris, Fred moved to France and began directing commercials for clients such as IKEA, Olympus, Ford, Johnny Walker, Toyota, Conforama-Paris, Cartoon Network - and more recently UFC, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
Later, as Ops Manager for DreamWorks in Europe, he got the chance to become Key Assistant Director to Steven Spielberg in "Munich" and "War of the Worlds", and Third Assistant Director to Clint Eastwood in "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima", shot on location in Island.
Back in the Director's chair, Fred helmed the award winning Belgian/Flemish series "Matroesjka's", for VAF and Living Films, Antwerp. The series' success led Fred to sign an exclusive deal with Globo TV, the world's 4th media conglomerate, as a Director, bringing him the International Emmy Awards accolade that marked his career.
His credits as a director include music videos for Alicia Keys, Usher, Xavier Naidoo, Chimène Badi and Iza, and commercials for new clients Microsoft, Vodaphone, LATAN and Oculus by Meta.
Back in Los Angeles, Fred became Director / Creative Director and later General Manager at Digital Domain - the second largest VFX production house in Hollywood - where he directed and produced, amongst other projects, "The Virtual 2Pac" live performances, Game Cinematics for Ubisoft's "Assassins' Creed", Warner Bros' "Mad Max" and "Shadow of Mordor", Microsoft's "Tomb Raider", and UFC promos for the iconic "McGregor v Aldo" and "Rouse v Holms" bouts.
Invited to rejoin HBO Films by long time mentor and collaborator, Executive Producer Celia Costa, Fred became story editor and executive producer for films such as "Confirmation", starring Kerry Washington and the series "Divorce", starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Haden Church. "Confirmation" 's success and distinguished style brought Naccache an invitation to work with "Narcos" Executive Producer, Jose Padilha in Netflix's "The Mechanism" and "Intervention". Other co-production titles followed, until Fred was invited by Done + Dusted partner Hamish Hamilton to helm the company's 3D Mapping project at the massive World Expo 2020 Dubai, in the Arabic Emirate.
The Al Wasl Plaza Dome, where the 3D Mapping Projection took place, is described as "the beating heart of Expo 2020", and hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as over 200 performances and 100 special shows - all of them with special and exclusive 3D Mapping Projection designs and animation. As the Al Wasl Plaza Dome 3D Mapping Creative Director, Fred has collaborated with artists such as Coldplay, John Legend, Black Eyed Peas, Alicia Keys, Andrea Bocelli, Yo-Yo Ma, Norah Jones and Christina Aguilera.
An invitation to become Film Director of Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy Film Unit & Marketing Division during FIFA 2022 World Cup soon followed, allowing Fred to develop the "Qatar Experience" series, "Come Fly with Me" series and the "Now is All" series.
Fred's work for the Supreme Committee brought Naccache an invitation to work for the Royal Commission for AlUla, as Stage Director in the magnanimous Maraya Cocnert Hall in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, where he again directed the stage performances of Alicia Keys and Andrea Bocelli, as well Seal, and Abdul Majeed Abdullah, Guy Manoukian and Ara Malikian, at the Al Muatadil Equestrian Village. Immediately after the AlUla 2023 season ended, Fred Naccache returned to Doha to become Head of Content and Senior Producer of Cultural Experience for Expo 2023 Doha, where he resides.
