Meet Salt & Sugar
We want to share your story with the world.
We are a boutique creative documentary film production team and multiple award winners in the fields of television, journalism, film, and art. We specialize in creating luscious and compelling documentary-style films that express the passions and philosophies that people have for their work. The honest authenticity and visual elegance of our long and short films engage viewers and connect you with your audience.
Salt and Sugar Productions was founded by David and Barbarella Fokos, partners in every sense of the word, who share a passion for art, travel, food, drink, and storytelling.
Barbarella fokos
Barbarella is our Mistress of Story. Like Rumpelstiltskin, she can take material others might view as dry and dull as straw, and spin it into a golden, captivating narrative. As a behind-the-camera interviewer, Barbarella is exceptionally skilled at helping shy subjects feel relaxed and natural. Her conversational style of questioning probes ever deeper to get to the heart of each subject’s story. To each project, Barbarella brings over a decade’s worth of experience in all facets of media.
Barbarella is an author, emcee, television host, award-winning columnist, humorist, journalist, and an Emmy Award-winning producer. As the voice of Salt and Sugar Productions, Barbarella combines her passions for humanity, art, storytelling, travel, and filmmaking.
She is most known for two things: Art Pulse TV (a 20-episode television program she produced and hosted that appeared weekly on NBC San Diego and COZI TV, and Diary of a Diva (her column, which appeared in the weekly San Diego Reader for 12 years.) Barbarella’s book, Diary of a Diva: Behind the Lipstick, was released on the 10th anniversary of her column.
Barbarella also co-hosted a weekly radio program on KOGO (a Clear Channel station), and produced and hosted two different segments for NBC San Diego - Stepping Out With Barbarella on NBC News in the Morning, and 5 Questions with Barbarella on NBC’s California Nonstop channel.
david fokos
David is our Master of Visual and Audio. A former hi-end audio engineer, David is often heard reciting the truism that viewers will sooner forgive poor video than they will poor audio. He oversees the audio set-up and monitoring on shoots, and finalizes all audio in post. As honed as his ears are for audio, so is his artist’s eye for visual. David is always searching for engaging compositions, and luscious details that will draw viewers in, a skill sharpened by working for 23 years as a professional photographic artist and for 17 years of shooting and directing film.
David is an internationally renowned photographic artist and an Emmy Award-winning director. His work has been the subject of over 60 solo shows, and can be found in a dozen galleries on three continents, as well as in scores of museums, and prominent corporate and private collections.
David co-produced and directed Art Pulse TV, a 20-episode series that took viewers behind the scenes of everything art in San Diego County and Baja (which aired on NBC San Diego and COZI TV). His artist documentaries are award winning.
As executive producer, director, and editor for the Artist Odyssey, David combines his love of art and visual storytelling. A perfectionist in every sense of the word, David is known to roll his eyes and sigh whenever he hears someone utter the phrase, “It’s good enough.” Because for David, “good enough” is not “the best it can be,” and he’s not done with a project until he’s convinced of the latter.
Production Reel
Get a feel for our style: This short, one minute reel contains excerpts from a few of the films and segments we produced, filmed, directed, and edited. We suggest watching it full-screen for the best viewing experience.