Pablo Daniel Magee (born April 22, 1985) is a French Swiss author, investigative journalist, screenwriter and playwright.

Early life and education

His father is the Swiss painter, sculptor and filmmaker

Patrice Stellest Patrice Stellest, (a.k.a. "Stellest"; born 23 May 1953) is a Swiss artist renowned for founding the Trans Nature art movement. He is considered an eco-futurist visionary. Stellest is one of the founding fathers of renewable energy sculptures. He i ...

. His mother is a poet and photographer who named her son after

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

. He grew up in

Saint-Rémy de Provence Saint-Rémy or Saint-Remy (French for Saint Remigius) may refer to: Places Belgium * Saint-Remy, district of the municipality of Chimay, province of Hainaut, Wallonia * Saint-Remy, district of the municipality of Blegny, province of Liège, Wall ...

. He was inspired to become a journalist by reading the adventures of

Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...

at a young age and after meeting

Jorge Semprún Jorge Semprún Maura (; 10 December 1923 – 7 June 2011) was a Spanish writer and politician who lived in France most of his life and wrote primarily in French. From 1953 to 1962, during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, Semprún lived cland ...

– an author,

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

survivor and

scenario In the performing arts, a scenario (, ; ; ) is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the ''commedia dell'arte'', it was an outline of entrances, exits, and action describing the plot of a play, and was literally pi ...

writer for

Costa Gavras Costa-Gavras (short for Konstantinos Gavras; el, Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς; born 12 February 1933) is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for films with political and s ...

– during his final year at the Lycée Mistral of

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

. Having obtained his literary baccalaureat, he was about to enter the

Institut d'Etudes Politiques An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

in Paris when he shifted from this initial academic choice and travelled to Peru. Upon his return to Europe in 2005, he attended the

University of Greenwich The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic. The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along with it ...

, in London, where he pursued a multiple programme in philosophy, the arts, cinema and journalism. During his London years, his philosophy professor disclosed to him that he had worked for the cabinet of U.S. Secretary of State

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...

and had attended meetings with the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

that focused on the coup d'état against Chilean President

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

and the United States' support for

Operation Condor Operation Condor ( es, link=no, Operación Cóndor, also known as ''Plan Cóndor''; pt, Operação Condor) was a United States–backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of o ...

in Latin America. This prompted Magee to become closely interested in the issue. In 2012, he traveled to Paraguay, where he met Martin Almada, human rights defender, and discoverer in 1992 of the

archives, and decided to write a book about him. In 2013, he left France to settle in Paraguay for an investigation that was to last eight years, during which he met and interviewed personalities such as

Stéphane Hessel Stéphane Frédéric Hessel (20 October 1917 – 26 February 2013) was a diplomat, ambassador, writer, concentration camp survivor, French Resistance member and BCRA agent. Born German, he became a naturalised French citizen in 1939. He be ...

Robert Badinter Robert Badinter (; born 30 March 1928) is a French lawyer, politician and author who enacted the abolition of the death penalty in France in 1981, while serving as Minister of Justice under François Mitterrand. He has also served in high-leve ...

, Juan-Martín Guevara (brother of revolutionary

Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

Pierre Rabhi Pierre Rabhi (born Rabah Rabhi; 29 May 1938 – 4 December 2021) was a French writer, farmer, and environmentalist. Originally a Muslim, he converted to Christianity before abandoning that religion as well. Rabhi studied in France, and is consi ...

Jean Ziegler Jean Ziegler (; born Hans Ziegler, 19 April 1934) is a Swiss former professor of sociology at the University of Geneva and the Sorbonne, Paris, and former vice-president of the Advisory Committee to the United Nations Human Rights Council. He ...

Miguel Angel Estrella --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disam ...

, and

. Parallel to his research, Magee devotes his time to dramatic and journalistic writing, contributing articles to international journals such as ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

''. He also familiarizes himself with buddhist scriptures at the

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

, under the supervision of Professor

Charles Hallisey Charles Hallisey is the Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures at Harvard Divinity School and an authority on Sinhala literature and Theravada Buddhism. Biography Hallisey obtained his AB from Colgate University, M.Div. from Harvard ...

, Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on buddhist literatures at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Work

Literature

In 2020, Magee published with Editions Saint-Simon. This non-fiction novel focuses on the life of Paraguayan human rights defender Martin Almada, also known as "the hunter of the Condor" for having unearthed the Terror Archives of Operation Condor in 1992. Opération Condor is prefaced by filmmaker

, president of the

Cinémathèque Française The Cinémathèque Française (), founded in 1936, is a French non-profit film organization that holds one of the largest archives of film documents and film-related objects in the world. Based in Paris's 12th arrondissement, the archive offers ...

and director of the films ''Missing'' and ''

State of Siege A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

''. The cover of the book is the photograph of a condor taken by renowned wildlife argentinean photographer Eliseo Miciu. In February 6, 2021, edition of ''Marianne'', philosopher

Robert Redeker Robert Redeker is a French writer and philosophy teacher. He was teaching at the Pierre-Paul-Riquet high school, in Saint-Orens-de-Gameville, and at the École Nationale de l'Aviation Civile. He is currently in hiding under police protection. On ...

writes: ''"The real-life novel of Pablo Daniel Magee, breathtaking like a crime novel, moving like a love novel, political like a spy novel and educational like a historical novel installs in the European imagination a character worthy of a place next to Antigone"''. In his book, Magee is the first investigator to establish the presence of Cuban revolutionary

in Paraguay on October 3, 1966, based on

Top Secret Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know, ...

documents of the Archive of Terror and testimonies of first-hand witnesses such as Joel Filartiga, whose role was interpreted by actor

Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

biopic ''

One Man's War ''One Man's War'' is a 1991 television drama film set in Paraguay in 1976, under the dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner. It is based on the true story of Joel Filártiga (played by Anthony Hopkins), who sought justice for his son's death ...

''. Magee later dedicated a trilogy of chronicles entitled ''My uncle the Che'' to this part of his investigation, published in the political analysis magazine ''Terere Cómplice'' in 2022. On May 25, 2021, Opération Condor was added to the U.S.

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

. Following the book's publication, Almada was decorated with the National Order of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

by the

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...

, on December 6, 2021. The latest work by Magee, ''Pundonoroso/Honorablissime'', published in the

Southern Cone The Southern Cone ( es, Cono Sur, pt, Cone Sul) is a geographical and cultural subregion composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Traditionally, it covers Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, bou ...

in a bilingual French/Spanish edition by Edición Servilibro, retraces Martin Almada’s journey in search of historical justice. The book is prefaced by Agustín Nuñez, a master of South American theater, who describes it as occupying ''"a central place in the Latin American cultural pantheon"''. This work is illustrated by urban street artist Oz Montanía. The author relates that he was a victim of continuous threats against his life during his investigation and the writing of these two works, which he has dedicated to preserving the memory of the horrors of Latin American dictatorships.

Books

* , Éditions Lapachos, 2014, 37p. ISBN 978-9-99532-884-9 * , Saint-Simon, 2020, 378p. ISBN 978-2-37435-025-7 * ''Pundonoroso/Honorablissime'', Servilibro, 2021, 117p. ISBN 978-99925-254-1-8

Cinema

Between 2005 and 2009, Magee worked for

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...

in the production teams of many American blockbusters, including ''

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

'' by

Guy Ritchie Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter. His work includes British gangster films, and the ''Sherlock Holmes'' films starring Robert Downey Jr. Ritchie left school at age 15 and wor ...

, and ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', or ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'' is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan ...

'' by

Rob Letterman Robert Thomas Letterman (born October 31, 1970) is an American film director and screenwriter. Letterman made his directorial debut as co-director of the animated comedy film ''Shark Tale'' (2004), for which he received a nomination for the Annie ...

. During those years, he shared film sets with actors

Benicio del Toro Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez (born February 19, 1967) is a Puerto Rican actor and producer. He has garnered critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Screen A ...

Emily Blunt Emily Olivia Leah Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three British Academy Film Awards. ...

Hugo Weaving Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is an English actor. Born in Colonial Nigeria to English parents, he has resided in Australia for the entirety of his career. He is the recipient of six AACTA Awards, Australian Academy of Cinema and Tel ...

Jack Black Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), ''Shallow Hal'' (2001), ''Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ''E ...

Jude Law David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor. He received a British Academy Film Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, two Tony Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2007, he received an Honorary Césa ...

Rachel McAdams Rachel Anne McAdams (born November 17, 1978) is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre degree program at York University in 2001, she worked in Canadian television and film productions, such as the drama film ''Perfect Pie'' (200 ...

, and Robert Downey Junior. This immersion in the world of cinema fuelled his passion for the field. Magee reported in a televised interview that Sir

told him about the dictatorship in Paraguay and his interpretation of human rights activist Joel Filartiga, when they met on the set of ''

Wolfman In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropy, therianthropic mythological hybr ...

'' by

Joe Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston II (born May 13, 1950) is an American film director, producer, writer, and visual effects artist. He is best known for directing effects-driven films, including ''Honey, I Shrunk the Kids'' (1989), ''Jumanji'' (1995 ...

, which also encouraged the young writer to study paraguayan history. In 2009, Pablo Daniel Magee wrote and directed a short film titled ''Pass:on'' for Watch a Thought Productions, in which he featured eight international artistes, four painters and four musicians, who did a free

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

, live and direct, of a

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

and an original piece of music. The painters Magee directed included his father, artist

. Magee also collaborated for this work with British musician John Altman, film score composer of ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

'' by

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...

, ''

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

:'' '' Golden Eye'' and ''

No Time to Die ''No Time to Die'' is a 2021 spy film and the twenty-fifth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, starring Daniel Craig in his fifth and final portrayal of fictional British MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Cary Jo ...

'', or

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

’s ''

Life of Brian ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (also known as ''Life of Brian'') is a 1979 British comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin). It wa ...

''; composer for

Barry White Barry Eugene Carter (September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003), better known by his stage name Barry White, was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

; and musician with the bands of

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

and many others, as he describes in his memoirs ''Hidden Man: My many musical lives''. In 2011, Magee co-authored and directed the short 3D movie ''Stellest Genesis'' for artist

. For this work he collaborated with New York City DJ

Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...

, who composed the music for it. In 2018, he collaborated with Canadian filmmaker Jorge Diaz de Bedoya to develop the scenario for the feature film ''El Supremo Manuscrito'', which plunges the spectator into the corrupt world of contemporary Paraguay in search of the last manuscript of writer

Augusto Roa Bastos Augusto Roa Bastos (13 June 1917 – 26 April 2005) was a Paraguayan novelist and short story writer. As a teenager he fought in the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia, and he later worked as a journalist, screenwriter and professor. ...

, stolen by art traffickers.

Film Awards

Stellest Genesis * Best International Peace Short Award at the Dubai Independent film festival 2022 * Best Music Video Award at the Five Continents International Film Festival 2022 * Best Animated Film Gold Award at the Hollywood Gold Awards Film Festival 2022 * Best Music Video Gold Award at the Hollywood Gold Awards Film Festival 2022 * Best Music Video Award at the London Movie Awards 2022 * Honorable Mention Award in the Best Animation Film category at the Los Angeles Film Awards 2022 * Best Short Animation Silver Award at the Milan Gold Awards Film Festival 2022 * Honorable Mention Award in the Best Short Animation Category at the Paris Film Awards 2022 * Honorable Mention Award in the Best Original Score category at the South Film and Arts Academy Festival 2022 * Best Animation Short Film Audience Award at the South Film and Arts Academy Festival 2022 * Best Short Animation Award at the South Film and Arts Academy Festival 2022 * Honorable Mention Award in the Best Screenplay in a Short Film category at the South Film and Arts Academy Festival 2022 * Best Sound and Music Award at the Wildsound Writing and Film Festival - Toronto 2022 * Best Short Animation Award at the Arthouse Festival of Beverly Hills 2022 PASS:ON * Best Experimental Short Award at the Five Continents International Film Festival 2022 * Nominee in the Best Director category at the Los Angeles Film Awards 2022 * Honorable Mention Award in the Best Experimental Film category at the Los Angeles Film Awards 2022 * Nominee in the Best Experimental Short category at the Hollywood International Golden Age Festival 2022 * Best Experimental Film Award at the London Internation Short Film Festival 2022 * Nominee in the Best Experimental Film category at the London Movie Awards 2022 * Honorable Mention Award in the Best Video Art Film category at the Los Angeles Experimental Forum Film Awards 2022 * Nominee in the Best Poetic Film category at the Sensei Tokyo Film Festival 2022 * Best Experimental Short Award at the Rio de Janeiro World Film Festival 2022 * Nominee in the Best Poetic Film category at the Lonely Wolf - London International Film Festival 2022 * Nominee in the Best New Media category at the Lonely Wolf - London International Film Festival 2022 * Honorable Mention Award in the Best Experimental Film category at the New York Movie Awards 2022 * Best Director at the New York Movie Awards 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magee, Pablo Daniel 21st-century French male writers 1985 births Living people Alumni of the University of Greenwich Writers from Paris 21st-century French dramatists and playwrights 21st-century French journalists French male dramatists and playwrights French male journalists