Los
Angeles, CA - HowardFilms announces the
premiere of Bass: The Movie at the Pacific Design Center in Hollywood, California,
October 17th, 2009. The event will start at 3:15 pm PST, with featured speakers one hour
before and the hour after the film showing.
Director Jamie Howard brings bass fishing to the big screen for the first time with Bass:
The Movie – a road trip through California in search of fishing secrets and a world record.
The self proclaimed Bass Happening will feature the film as its axis and include boats,
gear, fishing pros, speakers and prize drawings. In a state known for many things but bass
fishing, this unusual journey within a few miles of the Pacific Ocean, pits fly rod
fisherman and conventional rod fisherman on the same boat to share approaches and
cultures side by side.
On the conventional rod side, the film begins with interviews with
ESPN Bass Elite Series pros including, Mike Iaconelli, Kevin VanDam, and Kelly
Jordon. Then follows (by air, land and sea) California Delta legend and guide Bobby
Barrack, California fly rod pro and Delta guide Kevin Doran, world-record holder
Raymond Easley, fly rod world-record holder Larry Kurosaki, bass pro and guide Marc
Mitrany, and fly rod pro John Sherman. Sherman, an accomplished angler, whose caught
trophy fish all over the world, was still new to the bass world. So he sets off to visit all
these men, in search of bass secrets and a trophy bass.
The
film’s initial revelation is that
the state of California is a haven for
the world’s biggest bass with
numerous fisheries unlike any other:
The endless maze and tidal waters of
the California Delta’s levee system,
contrast with the clear waters of
southern California reservoirs.
Another revelation is the backdrop of
the Delta is listed by American Rivers
as #1 on their list of 2009’s most
endangered rivers in North America.
Note: A portion of all proceeds will
go to the California Sportfishing
Protection Alliance.
Modern bass fishing has grown into a multi-billion dollar sport since it’s simple roots,
and the chase for George Perry’s 75 year-old record has helped stoke that fire. A record
anyone with a fishing rod is eligible to match. California is considered one of the most
likely places to find it. Though the record has been challenged several times in the years
since Perry’s catch, it has remained the benchmark. It is one of the longest standing
records in fishing. The film is not solely concerned with besting it, but rather
exploring the ways the men who have made this bass their life go about their hunt, by fly
rod or by conventional - in search of the big one. The movie will be released to public on
2-disc DVD set (includes legend Bill Dance retrospective interview) October 31, 2009.
Additional Information:
In 2009, ESPN Outdoors previewed Bass: The Movie with a weekly series of 2 1/2
minute shorts on the project to expose viewers a new world of bass fishing in California
through a cinematic perspective. It was one of the most-viewed projects by HowardFilms
to date. The full-length film is not owned by ESPN.
Jamie Howard has won numerous awards for his films, including Chasing Silver (chasing
tarpon in the Florida Keys) and In Search of a Rising Tide (bonefishing in the Bahamas)
and helped promote the genre of the fishing film. Howard is a graduate of The University
of Virginia, and worked in advertising as a writer and commercial director in New York
City and Los Angeles, California.
