Patsy Mink An Inspiration To Noted Kahala Filmmaker

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Kimberlee Bassford’s film ‘Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority’ will be screened by HIFF on Oct. 12 in Regal Theatres’ Dole Cannery 18. Photo from Shirley Cavanaugh.

Kahala resident Kimberlee Bassford has directed a film now in the running for the Hawaii International Film Festival documentary feature competition.

The show, Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority, is the first such film to explore the life and times of

Hawaii’s former congresswoman and local lawmaker.

It will be screened by the HIFF at 7 p.m. Oct. 12 in Regal Theatres’ Dole Cannery 18.

Bassford is already an award-winning filmmaker. Before co-producing two series for the Public Broadcasting System, Bassford made her directorial debut with Cheerleader, a documentary about a California squad’s quest for a national title. It won the Student Academy Award and a CINE Golden Eagle, and she saw her work screened at the Cannes Film Festival and on HBO Family Channel.

Back to the late Patsy Mink. “I never doubted that I would have the opportunity to go to college, even graduate school, and to play sports,” said Bassford, a 1995 Punahou graduate born after Mink’s successful campaign to establish the Title IX gender equity law for women’s sports. “Women of my generation take for granted the very things that Patsy Mink fought for.”

Bassford went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Harvard and master’s in journalism at UC Berkeley. She owns Making Waves Films in East Oahu.

“Part of my attraction to Patsy’s story is that I am also a woman of color,” added Bassford, who is Chinese and Filipino. “Patsy shattered the stereotype of the ‘typical’ Asian-American woman.”

For HIFF tickets, call 550-8457.

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