Joone (director)
| Joone | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1969 (age 47–48)[1] |
| Other names | Joone, Ali Joone,[2] Joonie |
| Alma mater | University of Southern California |
| Occupation | Photographer, director & producer |
| Years active | 1998–2008 (porn director)[3] |
| Organization |
Digital Playground Diosa Spirits |
| Spouse(s) | Samantha Lewis (divorced)[1] |
| No. of adult films | 21 as director (per IAFD)[3] |
Joone is an Iranian-American photographer,[4] director and producer. For directing pornographic films, he won AVN Award twice. In 1993, Joone founded American pornographic movie studio Digital Playground[2] and was a co-owner of the company until it was acquired by Manwin in 2012.
Career
Ali Joone better known by the pseudonym Joone,[5][6][7] was born in Iran and graduated from USC School of Cinematic Arts.[1]
He founded the Digital Playground company[2] in 1993 when he was 25 and still a student,[1] initially making adult CD-ROM computer games.[8]
Commenting on the transition of the pornography industry from the underground economy to mainstream corporate acceptance, the company's founder said: "I look at the porn business where Vegas and gambling was in the 70's… Vegas was still mob-owned and they were making the transition between these small groups of people to being corporate owned… I feel the same exact thing is going to happen with adult".[9]
Joone has directed the pornographic films Pirates and Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge.
In January 2012, alongside his ex-wife Samantha Lewis who was co-owner, CEO and President of Digital Playground, he reached an agreement with Fabian Thylmann to sell the company to Manwin. On the acquisition, Joone commented: “To me this deal is no different than the acquisition of Pixar by Disney, The consumer is going to see more blockbusters, big-budget productions, and it’s our goal to create the next genre of adult entertainment. This acquisition is a marriage between two industry leaders. Adult entertainment is changing and Manwin has a lead on technology.” The price or terms of the deal was not disclosed, but it was announced that Lewis and Joone will "continue to oversee the studio",[10] however, it was reported in March that Manwin has released Lewis and some other employees in orther to make changes.[11]
Partial filmography
As director
- Pirates
- Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge
- Island Fever 1, 2, 3 & 4
- Forbidden Tales
- Virtual Sex line of DVDs:
- Virtual Sex with Jesse Jane
- Virtual Sex with Taylor Hayes
- Virtual Sex with Tera Patrick
- Virtual Sex with Jenna Jameson
- Rocki Roads' Wet Dreams
Awards and nominations
- 2006 AVN Award – Best Director, Video (Pirates)[12][13]
- 2006 XRCO Award winner - Best Director[14]
- 2009 AVN Award winner – Best Director, Feature (Pirates II)[15]
- 2009 AVN Award winner – Best Screenplay (Pirates II) shared with Max Massimo[15]
- 2009 AVN Award winner – Best Videography (Pirates II) shared with Oliver Henry[15]
- 2009 Eroticline Awards winner - Best U.S. Director[16]
- 2009 Hot d'Or Award winner - Best American Screenplay (Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge - Digital Playground)[17][18]
- 2009 Hot d'Or Award winner - Best American Movie (Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge - Digital Playground)[17][18]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "THE SOFT MACHINE: Digital Playground’s High-End XXX Vids Have Redefined the Craft of Making Commercial Porn With Solid-Gold Results". GramPonante. 19 April 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
- 1 2 3 Josh Lipton. "Coming Soon: XXX In 3D". Minyanville. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
- 1 2 Joone Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "Joone". AVN. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
- ↑ "Porn Industry May Decide DVD Format War". Fox News. January 22, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
- ↑ Jay Cridlin (January 18, 2006). "Yo ho, yo ho ... oh no!". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
- ↑ "Blaue Laserdioden im Rotlichtbezirk: Pornofilmer als Schiedsrichter im Duell um neuen DVD-Standard?". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). January 26, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
- ↑ Dana Kennedy (2003-08-17). "The Fantasy of Interactive Porn Becomes a Reality". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
- ↑ Jeffreys, Sheila (2008). The Industrial Vagina: The Political Economy of the Global Sex Trade. Taylor & Francis. p. 73. ISBN 0-415-41233-1.
- ↑ Pardon, Rhett (2012-01-17). "Manwin Acquires Digital Playground - XBIZ Newswire". XBIZ Newswire. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
- ↑ "UPDATED: Manwin Makes Changes at Digital Playground". XBIZ Newswire. 2012-03-08. Retrieved 2015-04-02.
- ↑ "AVN Award Winners Announced". AVN. January 9, 2006. Archived from the original on February 23, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
- ↑ "Joone Digital Playground's founder and the director of 'Pirates' holds up his award at AVN Awards Show in Las Vegas". santabanta.com. January 9, 2006. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
- ↑ Rhett Pardon (21 April 2006). "Porn Industry Shows Up for XRCO Awards". XBIZ. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- 1 2 3 David Sullivan (2009-01-11). "2009 AVN Award-Winners Announced". AVN.com. Archived from the original on 2009-01-14. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
- ↑ "Gewinner 2009". Archived from the original on 29 August 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
- 1 2 Paul Fishbein, "Pirates II, Evil Angel Big Winners at 2009 Hot d’Or Awards", AVN.com. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
- 1 2 "Hot d’Or archives presse x, articles sur les Hot d’or". Hot-dor.fr. Archived from the original on 2014-03-16. Retrieved 2014-05-09.