The independent filmmaker of an award-winning documentary on late Congresswoman Patsy Mink believes the plantation camps of Hamakuapoko where she grew up "had a huge influence on her."
Punahou School graduate Kimberlee Bassford, who made the biographical film "Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority," which has begun showing on Public Broadcasting Stations nationwide, recalls Mink's daughter, Gwendolyn, saying that her mom's demeanor softened when she returned to Maui.
"She was happier," her daughter told the filmmaker. "A lot of who she was was Maui, and her mom was proud to be from Maui."
Her upbringing in the plantation camps offered diversity, opportunity and contradiction. Together these factors helped mold the character and values of the first Asian-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress and who co-authored the landmark Title IX federal legislation mandating gender equity in schools across the nation.
"I think Maui had a huge influence on her," said the filmmaker.
Bassford chronicled the life of this trailblazer, who died of pneumonia at age 74 in September 2002. Her one-hour documentary is being offered to PBS stations nationwide this month. So far, the film is scheduled to be televised in Los Angeles; San Diego; Boston; Portland, Ore.; Seattle, and St. Paul, Minn.
"It's considered a national broadcast but a check-your-local-listing kind of thing," said Bassford, who was fighting the flu during a phone interview Monday.
In Hawaii, "Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority" will be televised on Channels 10 and 11 on May 14 at 8:30 p.m.
For those who can't wait and would rather view the documentary on the big screen, the Friends of Old Maui High School will screen the film Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Iao Theater. Billed as "the only Maui screening," the showing will be a fundraiser for the group. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased at the door or by calling the group at 579-9287.
The nonprofit Friends of Old Maui High School is restoring the old Hamakuapoko campus, from which Mink graduated in 1944. The centerpiece of the group's work is rebuilding the Charles W. Dickey-designed administration building as an educational and conference facility and renaming it the Patsy Takemoto Mink Center.
Bassford was noncommittal about attending the Maui screening, citing illness and possible scheduling conflicts. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Harvard University and a master's degree in journalism from the University of California, Ber-keley, and owns Making Waves Films, a documentary-production company in Honolulu.
Her filmmaking resume includes "Unnatural Causes," a four-hour national PBS documentary series that looked into the socioeconomic and racial disparities in health, and the three-hour PBS documentary series "The Meaning of Food," which explored the social significance of food in the United States.
"Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority" has been a long time in the making, "four years from the idea from meeting John (the congresswoman's husband) and Wendy and the premiere at the Hawaii International Film Festival" last October.
Since then, the film has been shown on the Big Island and Kauai, and in Atlanta, San Francisco, Creteil, France, and other U.S. cities, and has grabbed multiple awards. The latter include the grand-jury prize for best feature at the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival; the Blue Magnolia Award for Best in Festival, the Bennett Spirit Award for Most Positive Portrayal of a Woman and the Zora Neale Hurston Award for Best Documentary Film at the Gate City Women's Film Festival; and Best Documentary, Best Hawaiian Film and Gold Kahuna Award at the Honolulu International Film Festival.
It took her two years alone to garner the $400,000 to produce the film, with the bulk of the money coming from grants from the state and PBS, she said.
Only since Mink's death has Bassford come to know well the Maui-born lawmaker and her influence on women's lives, including the filmmaker's own life. The major battles Mink fought occurred before Bassford's time, with many of the victories sewn into the fabric of the filmmaker's generation.
"I grew up with Title IX. I have a lot of these opportunities . . . and I kind of took things for granted," said Bassford, who was in graduate school when Mink died. "Every woman in my generation has benefited."
As Bassford learned more about Mink and her pioneering work, a bond formed and the idea for the film came to life. Though generations apart, the filmmaker could relate to Mink on an ethnic level. They are both women of Asian descent, Mink of Japanese ancestry and the filmmaker of Chinese and Filipino heritage.
"She shattered the stereotype of the 'typical' Asian-American woman," Bassford said on the PBS Web site promoting her film. "She's a powerful inspiration for marginalized people, especially women of color, that their voices do count."
Bassford came to admire the woman, who served in Congress from 1964 to 1977 and 1990 until her death, representing Maui County and parts of rural Oahu. Mink was also a member of the Territorial House and Senate, and, after statehood, the state Senate and the Honolulu City Council.
"Her political integrity always stood out to me," said Bassford. "She never wavered. If all the politicians today were like her, the world would be a better place.
"She was willing to be practical, but she never compromised her ideals. That's something I wanted to draw out in the film."
"I really had an emotional reaction to her story," Bassford said in an interview with Honolulu Weekly last October. "The more I dug and the more I learned about what she went through, the more emotionally connected I felt to it. I was offended by the discrimination she felt and inspired by the actions she took."
Mink had wanted to be a doctor, but no medical school would accept her because she was a woman. She became a lawyer, graduating from the University of Chicago, but no firm would hire her.
After entering politics, Mink "battled sexism with her own party," Bassford said on her Web site for the film. Party leaders "disliked her independent style and openly maneuvered against her."
"Her liberal politics, particularly her vocal opposition to the Vietnam War, engendered intense criticism."
Bassford said that her film "goes beyond Mink's accomplishments, however, to reveal a woman whose political journey was lonely and tumultuous."
Her upbringing in the Ha-makuapoko plantation camps would provide a foundation from which to fight her battles against sexism, racism and inequality.
She saw inequity and discrimination in the plantation camps. Her dad was one of the few managers, serving as a land surveyor, said Bassford. Yet promotions were denied him due to his race.
Mink would see racism during World War II with some members of the Japanese community shipped off to internment camps. Her dad was taken away and questioned for a day, the filmmaker said.
On the other hand, a young Mink heard the "rhetoric of America, the equality . . . (that) if you work hard you can succeed," said Bassford. "She believed she could do whatever she wanted to do."
Her parents supported and encouraged her and never set glass ceilings. At Maui High School, Mink excelled, becoming class valedictorian and class president, besting the future territorial House Speaker and Maui County Mayor Elmer Cravalho in the school election.
During her childhood, she would learn the power of government and the value of civic duty from President Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal.
"All of these events that shaped her on the island of Maui had a huge impact on who she was," said Bassford.
The filmmaker noted that Mink was one of several very strong politicians to emerge from Maui's plantation camps.
"There might be something in the soil," she said.
On the Net www.aheadofthemajority. com/
* Lee Imada can be reached at leeimada@mauinews.com.
