Xavier Ruiz

Xavier Ruiz (born 1970 in Geneva, Switzerland) is a Swiss film director.

Biography

From 1992 to 1994, he studies at ESRA (Ecole supérieure de réalisation audiovisuelle) in Paris and obtains a BTS in production. Then, he takes classes from the workshop AVID, Video and Arts - New York in 1995.

Meanwhile, from 1992 to 1999, he produces and line produces a dozen short films, such as « Perfect Day » by Reza Rezaï and « Talon d’Achille » by Nicholas Cuthbert. In 1994, he becomes unit manager for a Canal + TV series and in 1995-96, he works as international sales manager at Fox Lorber in New York. He goes on working in the marketing department at New Concorde/Horizon in Los Angeles.

He directs in 1997 a TV mini-series titled « THE TOILETTE ZONE ». In 1997, Hamster production hires him as unit manager for a TV series broadcasted on France 2. From 1996 until 2001, he works as freelance editor for television and feature films.

In 2001, he directs and produces his first feature film « NEUTRE » that is released on Swiss cinema screens the same year, then on television in 2003 and on DVD on the whole Swiss territory. « NEUTRE » is screened in many festivals, among others Montréal, Mar del Plata, Hof, Braunschweig and Geneva. At the same time, he founds his production company.

He then directs a music video for a Swiss rap band « Sens Unik ». In 2003, he directs two documentaries for the series « PHOTOsuisse » for the Télévision Suisse Romande (TSR). In 2004, he produces Elena Hazanov’s first feature film « LOVE EXPRESS» that is distributed in French-speaking Switzerland as off September 1st. The same year, he co-produces with the TSR the documentary « GEISHA, THE TWILIGHT OF FLOWERS», broadcasted on TSR2 on December 6th 2004 and sold to numerous TV channels. He produces « RYNA», Ruxandra Zenide’s first feature, released in Swiss theaters in 2006 and selected in many festivals, where it won numerous awards, among others at Cinéma Tout Ecran, Mannheim-Heidelberg, Tromso, Annonay and Milano.

In 2005, he also directs the documentary « SWISS MADE IN HOLLYWOOD», which relates the actual experiences of three young Swiss people who try (with a certain difficulty) to build their career in Hollywoodland. The TSR broadcasts it twice in May 2005 and TV5 in May and August 2005. The same year, he directs an episode of the series « DESIGNsuisse » about the designer Yves Béhar. At the same time, he starts writing with Nicholas Cuthbert the screenplay of his second feature film « VERSO».

His production company Navarro Films joins in March 2006 the group of European producers Tarantula, present in France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Great-Britain, and officially becomes Tarantula Suisse. Nowadays, Xavier Ruiz develops within his company several fiction feature films and television and cinema documentaries, while directing his feature « VERSO ».

FILMOGRAPHY

Director

* Feature Film Verso, 100 min (in production) * Feature Film Neutre, 92 min * Documentary DesignSuisse, 12 min * Documentary Swiss made in Hollywood, 52 min * Documentary PhotoSuisse, 2x12 min * Music Video SENS UNIK - Dans le creux de sa main, 5 min * TV Series The Toilette Zone, 6x2 min

Producer

* Feature Film Verso, 100 min (in production) * Feature Film Ryna de Ruxandra Zenide, 90 min * Feature Film Love Express, de Elena Hazanov, 100 min * Feature Film Neutre, de Xavier Ruiz, 92 min

* Feature Documentary Togo de Pierre Morath et Nioclas Peart, 80 min * Documentary Geisha, le crépuscule des fleurs de Romain Guélat, 52 min * Documentary DesignSuisse, 12 min * Documentary Swiss made in Hollywood, 52 min * Documentary PhotoSuisse, 2x12 min

* TV Series La Tribu, 10x9 min * TV Series The Toilette Zone, 6x2 min * Documentary Series Onoma, Expo 02, 12x6 min

* Music Video SENS UNIK - C'est la vie, 5 min * Music Video SENS UNIK - Dans le creux de sa main, 5 min * Short Film Week-end Break, 14 min * Short Film Perfect Day, 20 min * Short Film Talon d'Achille 14 min * Short Film The Barber, 10 min * Short Film Dieu que pour toi, 10 min * Short Film Tango Lola, 6 min