Saville Productions has signed Emmy-nominated directors Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster for U.S. commercial representation. The directing duo recently made its feature documentary debut with the film Science Fair, winner of the Festival Favorite Award at the Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award at SXSW, Sun Valley Film Festival, Cleveland Film Festival, Portland International Film Festival and the Tumbleweeds Film Festival. Both directors come from an investigative journalism background, fostering a directorial sensibility enabling them to extract raw, intimate narratives in sometimes extreme circumstances. The duo will leverage its distinct directorial style to enhance brand stories and authentically infuse brand messaging into narratives that entertain and educate audiences.
Costantini is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist. In 2015, her first TV documentary Pimp City, which uncovered a cross-border U.S.-Mexico sex trafficking ring, was nominated for two Emmys. Later that year, her reporting on immigration earned her an award from GLAAD for her investigation on the treatment of detainees in U.S. immigration centers. She also earned the top investigative prize in 2015 and 2016 from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists for investigations related to the U.S. prison system. She has reported for a variety of top news organizations including the New Haven Independent, The Huffington Post, ABC News, Univision and Fusion. Wisconsin-native Costantini earned a Political Science degree at Yale University and is now based in Los Angeles.
Foster is also an award-winning journalist and director specializing in character-driven, exposing storytelling. His profound reporting on the opioid crisis kicked off in 2009 with The OxyContin Express, which received a Peabody Award, a Television Academy Honor and an Emmy nomination. Other notable projects include: Chasing El Chapo, a documentary about the hunt for infamous Mexican drug dealer Joaquin Guzman Loera, Borderland, a critically-acclaimed series that followed six ordinary Americans of different political persuasions on a journey from Central America across Mexico and the U.S. border, and Inside: Secret America, an investigative docu-series he co-created and produced for National Geographic.
His work has appeared on VICE, Discovery, National Geographic, PBS, CNN, ABC, Channel 4 (UK), the CBC and Fusion. New York-native Foster earned an MS degree from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and now resides in Los Angeles.
Prior to directing Science Fair, the directing duo directed and produced the investigative documentary Death by Fentanyl about the role of fentanyl in the opiate epidemic. The documentary, an episode of Fusion’s The Naked Truth TV series, went on to win the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award in 2017.
