THE FILMMAKERS
Lucy OstranderCo-Producer/Co-Director
Lucy Ostrander, an award–winning documentary filmmaker began to receive accolades for her work with her Masters' thesis from Stanford University, Witness to Revolution: The Story of Anna Louise Strong. In producing the film, she became the first American student to work with the China Film Co–Production Corporation. The film received a national PBS broadcast, and won a Student Academy Award, the Nissan Focus Award and a Cine Golden Eagle. It was funded by the Washington Commission for the Humanities.
Her film East of Occidental, (Producer) on the history of Seattle's International District, and also funded by WCH, won a Cine Golden Eagle, and received a national PBS broadcast. Choices, (Co–Producer/Co–Editor) an hour–long contemporary drama aimed at preventing youth entrance into prostitution, was awarded four regional Emmys. Home from the Eastern Sea (Co–Producer/Co–Director), on the history of Asian-Americans in Washington State, won a Silver Apple at the National Educational Film Festival. This film was produced for the Washington State Centennial Commission and was a co–production with KCTS.
In 2002 and 2003, Ms. Ostrander produced Port Blakely: Memories of a Mill Town, which depicts the rise and fall of the largest sawmill in the world and the Native American, Scandinavian, and Japanese immigrants who worked there, and The Red Pines, which depicts the cultural history of Japanese–American immigrants on Bainbridge Island and their relationship to the land. These two films premiered on KCTS in September 2004.
In 2005, Ms. Ostrander received a prestigious Washington State Artist Trust Fellowship. This award is given bi–annually to Washington state filmmakers and comes with a $6,000 cash prize. While promoting and distributing Finding Thea, Ms. Ostrander recently completed another documentary short, Island Roots, on the cultural history of the Bainbridge Island Filipino–American community, and is at work on The Revolutionary, a film about the life of Sidney Rittenberg, an American who spent 34 years living in China as the only American member of the Chinese Communist Party. In addition, Lucy Ostrander and Don Sellers are working with the Bainbridge Island Japanese American community to record oral histories of the 1942 forced evacuation from the Island. Portions of these oral histories will be included in an exhibit at the new Bainbridge Island National Park Service Nikkei Memorial, situated at the former Bainbridge Island ferry dock.
Lucy Ostrander's films are available from the following links:
Witness To Revolution
East of Occidental
Home From the Eastern Sea
Port Blakely and The Red Pines
Nancy Bourne HaleyCo-Producer/Co-Director
Nancy Bourne Haley received a Masters in Film & Broadcasting from Stanford University in 1979 and after a year as a teaching assistant in the graduate program began freelance work. She took a break from seven years of educational film and television work, which included work for two Seattle PBS stations and Rx: Competition, a 1/2 hour documentary on the early initiatives in competitive health maintenance organizations, to focus on Tacoma's non–profit world. Nancy's work has included arts advocacy work for the City of Tacoma, board membership on various arts and educational organizations, and the founding of the Children's Museum of Tacoma where she recently worked for five years in development. Finding Thea is Nancy's re–launch into the realm of film.
Don SellersVideographer/Editor
Don Sellers has been a cinematographer/videographer and editor on documentary films for over 25 years. After receiving a Masters Degree in Film and Broadcasting from Stanford University, Don worked as a cinematographer and editor on numerous programs produced for the PBS series Frontline and Discover. For Frontline, Don photographed around the world covering topics as diverse as the changes in China since the death of Mao, meetings between Afrikaners and the ANC in West Africa, horse racing in upstate New York, papal masses at the Vatican, Hollywood agents, and earthquakes in California. In addition to his work for PBS, Don spent six weeks riding with the graveyard shift of Miami homicide shooting a series for NBC. He has taught film writing and production as a guest lecturer at Stanford University and Colorado College. He has also worked as the cinematographer and editor with Lucy Ostrander on many of her historical films.
When not making films, Don has authored and edited various books on technical subjects. He authored, Zap! How your computer can hurt you –and what you can do about it and Getting Hits, both published by Peachpit Press. His favorite editing job has been Take Control of Booking a Cheap Airline Ticket. Don has also managed the development and production of content for large, commercial websites.
Hale Bill & The BoppsMusicians
Hale Bill & the Bopps first became visible in the Northwest folk music-sphere in 1997 and the 6–member group has been an active ingredient in the Nordic folk music world in the greater Puget Sound area since then. Within the constellation are Irene Myers, Bill Boyd, Gina Boyd, Mary Nelson, Leslie Foley and Nancy Morrison, all of whom individually have a history with Nordic folk music that extends back to the 70's and 80's. They play fiddles, recorder, piano, tramporgel and occasionally clarinet, and perform at festivals, folk dances, openings, parties, etc., primarily in the Seattle–Tacoma area, where they are based. Along with their participation in the production of Finding Thea, the Bopps can also be heard on another documentary about earlier eras in Puget Sound history, Port Blakely: Memories of a Mill Town.
SINGLE Click to enjoy a rendition of the theme song from Finding Thea by Hale Bill & The Bopps
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