For the second time, Kimberlee Bassford will be teaching a six-hour workshop on documentary filmmaking at the University of Hawai‘i Pacific New Media program on November 19-20, 2011.  The workshop provides an overview of the art, craft, and business of producing a documentary film from concept to completion.  The workshop was first held in August 2011.  No experience necessary.

Kimberlee Bassford will be teaching this fall at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa’s Academy for Creative Media.  This will be her 2nd term as an Adjunct Lecturer, teaching the department’s mandatory introductory course, ACM255:  Cinema & Digital Media.

In December 2010, Comcast launched Cinema Asian America, a ground-breaking new video-on demand offering, featuring Asian American films and videos. For the first time, millions of viewers across the nation are able to watch a monthly-curated series of Asian American and Asian films, including award-winning films fresh from the film festival circuit and classics which beg to be revisited.

From May 1 through May 31, 2011, PATSY MINK: AHEAD OF THE MAJORITY will be available to all Comcast digital cable subscribers with On-Demand.  Comcast is the nation’s largest cable provider. The film will cost $1.99/view.  To access the film, viewers should click on the “On Demand” button through their digital cable menu and then look under the “Movies” folder. In this will be a “Movie Collections” folder and inside of this viewers will find “Cinema Asian America” and will be able to access the film.

To help celebrate the offering, the Asian American collection on XFINITY On Demand conducted an interview with filmmaker Kimberlee Bassford.

Kimberlee Bassford will be presented with the Hawai‘i Women Lawyers President’s Award on April 15 at the organization’s annual Awards Reception in Honolulu.  The President’s Award is presented by HWL President Ruth Oh in recognition of Kimberlee’s ascent as an emerging national artist and filmmaker and her effective storytelling of social and legal challenges faced by women of all backgrounds in the Hawai‘i Pacific region, advancing the reach and mission of Hawai‘i Women Lawyers, which is to improve the lives and careers of women in all aspects of the legal profession, to influence the future of the legal profession and to enhance the status of women and promote equal opportunities for all people.

On Thursday, March 3 at 7:30pm, PBS Hawaii is re-airing the episode of UNNATURAL CAUSES: IS INEQUALITY MAKING US SICK? that includes the story “Collateral Damage” that Kimberlee Bassford produced about the relationship between American colonialism (including militarism and nuclear testing), poverty and tuberculosis in the Marshall Islands and in the Marshallese diaspora in Hawai‘i and Springdale, Arkansas.  The four-hour documentary series, which investigates the socioeconomic sources of America’s health disparities, originally aired nationwide in its entirety in 2008.  It won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award in 2009, considered to be the most prestigious broadcast journalism award and the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize.  For more information, please go to the series’ website.

Kimberlee Bassford will be one of two filmmakers featured at the inaugural “Women in Filmmaking” gathering on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 6:30pm at The ARTS at Marks Garage in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.  Using a screening and discussion format, the series meets on the last Wednesday of each month and invites local Hawai‘i female filmmakers to discuss their work, exchange experience and share their expertise and personal reflections about the making of films and the workings of the movie industry. Independent filmmaker and Program Manager for Pacific Islanders in Communications Leanne Ferrer will also be featured at the February 23 event.  The event is free and open to the public.  It is sponsored by the University of Hawai‘i Diversity and Equity Initiative, in collaboration with The ARTS at Marks Garage and the Filmmaking for Social Research Program, UH Globalization Research Center.  For more information, please contact Vera Zambonelli at veraz@hawaii.edu or visit womeninfilmmaking.org.

Pacific Islanders in Communications awarded Making Waves Films a production grant for THE ANIMATED ADVENTURES OF JUDO GIRL.

THE ANIMATED ADVENTURES OF JUDO GIRL is now on Facebook. Check out the page, like it and keep up to date with the film and all of Teshya’s latest adventures.

THE ANIMATED ADVENTURES OF JUDO GIRL secures fiscal sponsorship from Women Make Movies, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and the nation’s premier source for the production, promotion, distribution and exhibition of independent films by and about women.  Donations to the film are now tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law and can be made via check or credit card (Visa or Mastercard).  For more information on how to give to the project, click here.  Or you can make your online credit card donations directly at Women Make Moves.  Thank you for your support!

THE ANIMATED ADVENTURES OF JUDO GIRL is featured in an article about Teshya Alo at TeamUSA.org, the official website of the United States Olympic Committee.  The article follows Teshya’s, and her younger sister Teniya’s, gold medal wins at the 2010 Infantil Pan American Judo Championships in Panama City, Panama, this past October.  It was the girls’ first international competition and first time competing for the USA National Team.

PATSY MINK: AHEAD OF THE MAJORITY screens in Los Angeles at the Japanese American National Museum at 2pm on Saturday, October 30.  The museum is located in downtown LA at 369 East First Street.  Admission is free for museum members and free with admission for non-members.

THE ANIMATED ADVENTURES OF JUDO GIRL is featured in the new exhibit “The Art of Cinema Locally” at the Peggy Chun Gallery in downtown Honolulu now through November 13.  The exhibit provides visitors with an interactive experience in the creative and anatomical process of building a film, showing them the myriad elements that go into a single film scene. The gallery is located at 1161 Nuuanu Avenue, and is open Tuesday through Friday 11am-5pm and Saturday 11am-4pm.  Admission is free.

PATSY MINK: AHEAD OF THE MAJORITY will be featured this week on Apex Express on Berkeley, California’s popular radio station KPFA 94.1.  The program airs at 7pm Pacific on Thursday, September 23 and will include a live interview with director Kimberlee Bassford.  Apex Express is a weekly show that brings an array of news, cultural events and issues by and about the Asian and Pacific Islander communities locally and abroad.

The fundraising trailer for THE ANIMATED ADVENTURES OF JUDO GIRL is now streaming on our website and youTube.  The trailer was produced through a R&D grant from Pacific Islanders in Communications. Directed by Kimberlee Bassford and produced by Making Waves Films LLC. Director of Photography: Henry Mochida. Animation: Hawaii Animation Studios. Music courtesy of MusicBox.

Kimberlee Bassford will be co-teaching a class on filmmaking and social media at the University of Hawai‘i Pacific New Media program on Saturday, August 28.  The course is geared toward educators wanting to incorporate filmmaking in the classroom and non-profits and business owners eager to get their message out to the community.  No experience necessary.  The course is also featured in co-instructor George del Barrio’s blog, Social Media 4 Life.  It will be offered again on Saturday, November 13.

Kimberlee Bassford was named one of the top four finalists for the The White House Project’s inaugural Emerging Artist Award for her documentary PATSY MINK: AHEAD OF THE MAJORITY.  As a finalist, she attended the 2010 EPIC Awards Gala at New York City’s IAC Building, which celebrates women’s leadership in the media and popular culture.  See Jane Do covered the event in this YouTube video.

Kimberlee Bassford was nominated for The White House Project’s Emerging Artist Award for her recent documentary PATSY MINK: AHEAD OF THE MAJORITY. The winner will be decided by an online vote, going on now through March 31.  The White House Project is a national, nonpartisan non-profit organization that aims to advance women’s leadership in all communities and sectors, up to the U.S. presidency.

The San Diego Asian Film Foundation featured Kimberlee Bassford in its blog celebrating women in film for Women’s History Month.

Honolulu Magazine featured Kimberlee Bassford in its March 2010 issue.

Making Waves Films completed the short documentary LOTUS ROOT: A GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER’S JOURNEY about filmmaker Kimberlee Bassford’s journey discovering her Chinese great grandfather and her Chinese heritage. The film premiered at the C.Q. Yee Hop Chinese New Year banquet.

Pacific Islanders in Communications awarded Making Waves Films a R&D grant for THE ANIMATED ADVENTURES OF JUDO GIRL, a new documentary about a young female judoka from Hawai‘i with Olympic aspirations.