Heart (and eye) of a champion

By Mary Rothschild, Leader Contributing Writer

Jane Champion wanted to be the first woman astronaut.

But during college the math major was introduced to foreign cinema by a professor in the English Department, and she became just as starry-eyed as if she'd rocketed off into outer space.

Today the CEO of Champion Video Productions in Port Townsend remains an explorer, pushing the limits of video storytelling with creative approaches that combine music, dance, art and literature.

She began this journey making 16 mm movies, the first a tribute to Hiroshi Teshigara's classic "Woman in the Dunes" and another based on the poet Sylvia Plath. A request to shoot and edit news footage for a local TV station led to a three-year job working for an ABC affiliate in Iowa. (Read More)