FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Filmmaker/Director Kayo Hatta

March 18, 1958 - July 20, 2005

Kayo Hatta, 47, died Wednesday, July 20, 2005 in Encinitas, California. She was a director, producer, editor and screenwriter of independent films, a documentary video artist, and educator. Hatta was perhaps most widely known for Picture Bride, a Sundance Film Festival award-winning film that was one of the first independent features to be made in Hawaii. Her newest work, the short film Fishbowl, is scheduled for national broadcast on PBS late this year.

Lori Kayo Hatta was born on March, 18, 1958 in Honolulu, HI and grew up in Hawaii and New York. She received a B.A. in English from Stanford University and an M.F.A. in Film from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she won UCLA's Kuwahara Creative Arts Award, the UCLA Women's Affiliates Award, and the Dorothy Arzner Award, given to an outstanding woman director. At UCLA, Hatta wrote and directed „Otemba‰ ("Tomboy"), her first short narrative work which won a CINE Eagle award and was broadcast on RTE Irish Television, Canal Plus France, and Danish Television.

The critically acclaimed film, Picture Bride won the Audience Award for Best Dramatic Film at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival and was an Official Selection at the 1994 Cannes International Film Festival. Starring Youki Kudoh ("Snow Falling on Cedars"), and featuring the last film role by the legendary Japanese star Toshiro Mifune ("Seven Samurai"), the film was distributed domestically and internationally by Miramax Films, and was recently released on DVD. Picture Bride went onto to become a best-selling video in Hawaii, and is now a regular part of the educational curriculum in many local schools and universities teaching ethnic studies, women's studies, labor history, and the history and culture of Hawaii.

Hatta's most recent work, also taking place in Hawaii, is Fishbowl, a 30-minute coming-of-age film based on Lois Ann Yamanaka's stories in Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers (Harvest Books, 1996). Fishbowl premiered at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival this past March and is scheduled for its Hawaii premier on October 23rd as part of the Hawaii International Film Festival. It will be broadcast nationally on the PBS series Independent Lens this fall.

As a collaborator, Hatta played key roles in the development and production recent major films. She was co-producer of the award-winning film The Olive Harvest, directed by Hanna Elias, a romantic allegory of Palestinian culture today. The Olive Harvest was the Palestine Authority's entry to the 2005 Academy Awards and the Golden Globes Awards. She also helped to produce and film Liz Cane's upcoming 30-minute documentary Hungry for Your Kisses, a portrait of her 95-year-old grandfather.

Over the course of her career, Hatta received numerous honors, including the Asian CineVision's Asian American Media Award for Outstanding Achievement and Contribution to Asian American Media; the Asian American Arts Foundation Golden Ring Award for Artistic Achievement; and the MANAA (Media Action Network for Asian Americans) Media Achievement Award. Her honors in Hawaii include the Hawaii Council of the City and County of Honolulu Certificate Honoring Women Filmmakers of Picture Bride for Outstanding Achievement in Film; a Hawaii State Senate Testimonial of Commendation; and a Hawaii State House of Representatives Testimonial of Commendation. Hatta has also been the recipient of many media grants, including: Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts; National Endowment for the Humanities, Media Arts Program; American Film Institute, Independent Film Program; National Endowment for the Arts, Media Arts Program; Women's Project/Funding Exchange (Paul Robeson Fund 1990); Hawai`i State Commission on the Status of Women; and the Zellerbach Family Fund.

Hatta also served as an educator and mentor. She taught film directing, video production, and independent filmmaking at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television, the Art Institute of Los Angeles, and for film organizations such as Pacific New Media in Honolulu, IFP/West, and the Film Arts Foundation. She lectured at many colleges and universities including Mills College, University of California - Irvine, University of California - Santa Cruz, Scripps College and the University of Southern California. In recent years, she served as a juror for the Sundance Film Festival and the Hawaii International Film Festival. She also served on the Board of Directors for the Independent Feature Projects/West "Project Involve" Mentorship Program.

Hatta was living in San Diego at the time of her death. She is survived by her mother, Jane Matano Hatta of Honolulu; her sisters Julie and Mari Hatta of San Francisco; and Carrie Hatta of Honolulu. She is also survived by her half-sisters Eri Hatta, of Alameda, CA and Chika and Yuki Hatta, of Las Vegas, NV; by her niece and nephew, Megumi and Kenjo Hatta-Wong; and her fiance, Douglas Hetrick of Leucadia, California. The cause of death was an accidental drowning.

Services will be held in Honolulu, Hawaii on Sunday, July 31st, at 1 p.m. at the Moiliili Hongwanji Temple located at 902 University Avenue. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made payable to "Asian Improv aRts," with "Kayo Hatta Fund" in the memo section of checks; and mailed to Asian Improv aRts, 201 Spear Street, Suite 1650, San Francisco, CA 94105. ###