“Winning Girl,” scheduled to be shown on public television stations across the country on Tuesday, seems like it would naturally appeal to island viewers.
The film is by Kimberlee Bassford, an award-winning documentary filmmaker born and raised here in Hawaii. The subject of the film is 16-year old Kamehameha student Teshya Alo, who dreams of competing in the Olympics in both judo and wrestling.
Star-Advertiser writer Mike Gordon featured the documentary in his Outtakes column in today’s newspaper.
He shares both the good news and the bad news. The good news is Tuesday’s national broadcast by PBS.
The bad news is that you won’t see it on PBS Hawaii.
Gordon explains.
Leslie Wilcox, president and chief executive officer of PBS Hawaii, said “Winning Girl” wasn’t up to the station’s standards but she respects Bassford’s creative decisions as an independent filmmaker. PBS Hawaii remains committed to sharing well-told documentaries about young women, Wilcox said, citing a long list of programs that have aired.
“Every film stands on its own merits,” she said.
Bassford said the PBS Hawaii decision was devastating. The filmmaker said the public will be able to find “Winning Girl” online when World Channel makes it available Wednesday on worldchannel.org. She also said that OC16 has expressed interest in airing it locally.
I have real trouble with this PBS Hawaii decision. Island filmmaker, island athlete, an inspiring Hawaii story.
Not up to the station’s standards?
A very tenuous rationale, in my view, leading to a missed opportunity for the station, and for its viewers.
Thanks to Mike Gordon for pointing out the PBS Hawaii decision not to broadcast “Winning Girl,” which might otherwise have slipped past without public comment, and for putting Wilcox on the spot to answer for the station’s decision.
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The PBS Hawaii decision is bizarre and unfortunate.
Maybe the StarAd piece that Mr. Gordon wrote will help them change their minds?
Agree. She needs to be more forthcoming or schedule it.
I wish Leslie had explained more about her decision.
She’s has spent much of her time at PBS Hawaii working with young people, like the Hiki No student journalism show.
The next time you get a mailer from PBS Hawaii soliciting a donation, send them back a message, expressing your disappointment with this programming decision. Hitting KHET in the pocketbook over this decision is probably the best way to get the powers-that-be at the station to reconsider.
“wasn’t up to the station’s standards”
boastful
bombastic
grandiose
imperious
overbearing
presumptuous
pretentious
self-centered
self-important
flatulent
flaunting
flowery
fustian
grandiloquent
high and mighty
high-flown
highfaluting
important
inflated
magisterial
magniloquent
narcissistic
orotund
ostentatious
overblown
pontifical
portentous
puffed up
puffy …..
They think they are a British station.
Jeez… Take a breath. There may be merit rather than all the other motivations some are mooting. That station wants ratings like every station, since it’s Hawaii based if it’s a story worth telling they’ll tell it.
If there are substantive issues standing in the way we’ll find out soon enough.
Fire, Ready, Aim ?
when someone gets fired, the boss does not disclose the reasons. when the “perfect couple” gets divorced, people try to convince them to stay together.
while it may seem like a terrible mistake to people outside, the internal rationale might be very sound. so, at least watch the film first and see why you, if you were ceo, might hold back. maybe there’s no good, obvious reason, but we don’t know that yet.
i know that hi pub radio edits my copy far more conservatively than natnl pub radio would…
just sayin’.
I remember another time Leslie Wilcox took a stand about airing a PBS program concerning Hawai‘i, and we agreed with them. I edit Richard Ha’s blog and we wrote about it there (he appeared on the PBS program in question): http://hahaha.hamakuasprings.com/2009/10/pbs-hawaii-takes-a-stand-and-we-agree.html.
This post from a couple days later tells the outcome: http://hahaha.hamakuasprings.com/2009/10/hawaiian-language-story-ends-happily-ever-after.html.
Leslie Wilcox has high production standards for what she will air, rightly so, and we haven’t heard her side of this situation. Ask her about it. I’d be interested to know.
Thank you Ian Lind for this post and for everyone’s thoughtful comments.
The decision by PBS Hawaii not to air Winning Girl is unfortunate, and I’m obviously disappointed by it. The film is about a local girl done by a local production team. It received funding from public television entities Pacific Islanders in Communications and Center for Asian American Media, both of which receive funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (our tax dollars). Center for Asian American Media also screened the film this past March in its festival in San Francisco. And the World Channel, a subscription service of public television that reaches more than half of the country’s PBS stations, is airing the film on Tuesday as part of its “America ReFramed” documentary series. The film also just received a Special Jury Award at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and has secured distribution in the educational market from Women Make Movies.
So the film has been vetted by respected players both inside and outside of public television, but PBS Hawaii has come to a different conclusion about the film’s merit and its potential community value and impact. And this decision is even sadder given that stories about girls are vastly underrepresented on television. I am not aware of any indie films about a local girl that PBS Hawaii has aired in its PBS Hawaii Presents weekly time slot.
However, the World Channel will be streaming the film for free starting Wednesday through mid-August (link is below). So please watch the film there, and then if you agree that it would have been of value to the PBS Hawaii community, perhaps you can let the station know.
http://video.pbs.org/program/america-reframed/
Although I’m disappointed in the decision not to air “Winning Girl” locally, I certainly don’t share in the feeling that Leslie Wilcox has ulterior motives and be a target for name-calling and attacks. I give her the benefit of the doubt that she is motivated by a sincere desire to do what she feels is in the best interests of KHET and the community it serves.
But sincerity and motives aside, it doesn’t mean that everybody has to agree with the decision made. It’s one thing to reject a documentary for objective, factual reasons (like badly mispronouncing Hawaiian names). It’s quite another matter to do so for subjective, creative reasons, particularly when Kim Bassford’s past work has won awards and has been screened in major film festivals. This kind of resume isn’t established with amateurish, slapdash work that you might see on YouTube.
If this issue picks up steam and the family and friends of the people involved in the documentary garners wider support locally, Leslie is going to have to make a convincing case to the public about why “Winning Girl” has no place in KHET’s programming lineup.
“wasn’t up to the station’s standards”
Is that it’s technical broadcast standards, or its ideological standards? Or?
Haven’t seen the show. Maybe it’s junk. If so, just having a local angle doesn’t justify showing it. Junk’s junk. On the other hand, if it’s anywhere near good then then the local angle should sway the decision to showing it. Guess we have to wait and see.
If there will be another way to see it soon, let’s see it first, then come back here to discuss.
On their webpage, PBS Hawaii asserts: “… no other station showcases the arts and talents of all people or highlights the concern of communities here in Hawaii, across the country, and around the world. …” and on the same page they note that they are funded in part by part of the cable fee all Hawaii cable subscribers pay. So in some measure, they should be held to making responsible decisions.
Perhaps Wilcox is correct. Fortunately, we may have the opportunity to see the video and perhaps understand more about this.
Take a look at the film trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drlSviUFnFg