In 1992, when Donna Sayada's oldest son had just begun school at the French-language Lycee Rochambeau in Bethesda, some other parents complained that they couldn't find enough good French-language films on video. Even the school's library had only a few titles.
Having already built a video and movie distribution business in France, Sayada and her husband, Remy, thought they could do better.
"We quickly realized there was a big demand for French films on video," she said recently. "And it wasn't just the parents at the Lycee, but also the entire French community that lives in the area. You have the people at the French Embassy and a lot of French companies along the I-270 corridor, like Aerospatiale. And the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. And not just the French, but French-speaking Africans and Vietnamese."
After quickly researching Washington's Francophone community, the Sayadas opened Version Francaise -- the French Video Club on St. Elmo Avenue in downtown Bethesda.
"We opened the store like it was a toy; we already had our main business in France. But later we realized it wasn't a game," Remy Sayada said. "We had to do serious business. We had to offer more films, and we had to offer films you couldn't find elsewhere."
Version Francaise (roughly pronounced "Vair-zee-own Fron-sez") has grown to more than 3,000 customers, say its proprietors, and a rental library of 3,500 titles. Most are French-language films without subtitles (one current hit is "Un Indien Dans la Ville," which has been made into the Tim Allen comedy "Jungle 2 Jungle") and American films dubbed into French, including "Le Bossu de Notre Dame" (Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"), "Le Verite sur les Chats et les Chiens" ("The Truth About Cats and Dogs") and "Intime et Personnel" ("Up Close and Personal"). There is also a selection of subtitled French-language films for Francophiles with varying language skills. Over the past couple of years, the Sayadas doubled the size of their store and entered the mail-order business to sell videos and popular French music compact discs and cassettes. Some 12,000 people around the country receive their quarterly newsletter and catalogue, which can be accessed online at their World Wide Web site (www.francevision.com).
According to Donna Sayada, who manages the store and mail-order business, the two operations have sales of about $17,000 a month. She said the couple plows any profits back into the business. They live off the income from their French company.
Remy Sayada, 41, who was born in Tunisia and raised in Paris, has been involved with the film distribution and video business for more than 15 years. He claims credit for opening France's first video store chain in Paris in 1979; he also established a mail-order rental business for people living outside Paris.
"At this time, the choice in videos was really limited," Remy Sayada said. "There were just two or three companies offering videos and there were 500 or 600 titles at most."
After a few years in the retail business, he turned his attention to distribution and began building his own video library. His Elyse Editions Communications distributes American television and "B" movies in France and also packages them for video stores. Sayada said he owns the French rights to an estimated 400 American films. Elysee Editions has three employees in Paris, to which Sayada returns about five times a year.
His wife, 40, is a Washington native who attended the Sidwell Friends School. Donna Sayada moved to Paris in 1979, and lived briefly in Cairo and in London, where she also earned a master of business administration degree at the London Business School. The Sayadas met about 15 years ago in Paris, and will celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary in August.
The couple moved to Bethesda in 1991, joining a French-speaking community numbering in the thousands. (A French Embassy spokesman said at least 5,000 adult French citizens live in the Washington area, but added that the number is likely to be higher. Daniel Blondy, director of the Alliance Francaise, the French cultural organization, estimated the figure was as high as 30,000.)
The Sayadas have steadily expanded their business to include French popular music on CDs and cassettes, French-language children's books and popular French-language magazines and newspapers.
"They are very much a part of the local French community," said Bernard Braem, the French Embassy's cultural attache. "I know many people here at the embassy who regularly rent films from their shop. And by offering French magazines and newspapers they are providing a great service to the Francophone community."
To increase Version Francaise's visibility, the couple produces a weekly television program called "FranceVision." It is broadcast in six cities as well as in the Washington area (Saturdays at 8 p.m. on Fairfax County's WNVC-Channel 56). More cities will receive the program later this year through the SCOLA and Mind Extension University satellite and cable networks.
The hour-long "FranceVision" includes news feature stories produced by France's public and private television networks as well as clips from French movies and music videos stocked by Version Francaise.
The program, edited on the Sayadas' high-tech equipment in a back room of the store, is a prelude to what they hope will be their next venture: a chain of French-themed video stores and cafes for the estimated 350,000 French citizens and the countless number of Francophiles living throughout the United States. CAPTION: Donna and Remy Sayada's French Video Club offers 3,500 titles of mostly French-language films without subtitles. CAPTION:A Bethesda coupel who own a video andmovie business in France thought this area needed one, too. Voila! RESUME Remy and Donna Sayada * Ages: Remy, 41; Donna, 40 * Born: Remy in Tunisia; Donna in Washington. * Personal: Married, August 1987; sons Jason, 8, Alex, 5, Raphael, 2. * Residence: Bethesda * Hobbies: Remy, tennis; Donna, gardening. * Vacation spot: France
