Profile of Kayo Hatta on Famous Like Me

Kayo Hatta (March 18, 1958 - July 20, 2005) was an American film director best known for her 1994 independent film Picture Bride.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hatta graduated from Stanford University and obtained a master's degree in film from UCLA. She began her first film, Picture Bride, as a short film at UCLA, but felt the material deserved to be feature length. The film garnered a Sundance audience award for best dramatic film in 1995 and was praised for its authenticity (including use of real Hawaiian extras and locations); it has been used as curriculum for a number of Hawaii universities and schools. In 1999 Hatta narrowly lost out on the chance to direct the Ethan Hawke film Snow Falling on Cedars. She directed a number of other short films, including Otemba ("Tomboy") (1988), which the Pan-Asian Filmmakers Foundation cited as one of three "Defining Moments in Asian American Cinema," Bus Stop (1990), and Kids '99 (1999).

In 2005 Hatta completed work on a short film, Fishbowl, based on the writings of Hawaiian author Lois-Ann Yamanaka. The coming-of-age tale of plantation kids searching for a better life premiered at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in March and will air on PBS in 2006.

Unfortunately, Hatta did not live to see the reaction to her latest work. In July 2005 she died in an accidental drowning in San Diego. Hatta is survived by her mother and three sisters.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Kayo Hatta