"Rita" by Filmmaker Alison Teal Blehert-Koehn - BFOC: mtvU's Best Film on Campus

Alison Teal Blehert-Koehn

University of Southern California

California

Graduation Date: 2007

Aloha all! Check me out at www.alisonteal.com

If you don't want to read all of this just WATCH MY BIO CLIP AND "RITA".................

As long as I can remember, my schooling/life has taken place on a raft, on the crowded streets of Delhi, on Mt. Everest, on a camel safari across the Rajasthan desert, or wherever else my adventure travel guide/adventure photographer/yoga teaching parents job required them to be. I suppose you could call it ‘home schooling’ if you took into account that the world was my home as well as my classroom.

Along the way I became a snowboarder, skier, surfer, and a professional Hula, Tahitian, and Balinese dancer. I’ve performed in venues such as the Denver IMAX, The Aspen Wheeler Opera House, and The University of Hawaii.

Fresh off the boat from home schooling around the world, I was accepted into the University of Southern California School of Cinema and Television and I excitedly immersed myself in bringing my unique experiences into ‘Hollywood filmmaking.’

As a way of expressing my great appreciation to my parents for the amazing upbringing they gave me I wrote an article called "Rita" that was published last year in the winter issue of the Patagonia Catalogue. Everyone who read it encouraged me to make a film from the heartwarming true story. Thus I set off on an amazing adventure through the concrete jungle of Los Angeles to bring this story of my adventures in the Himalayas to life. It wasn't easy recreating the Everest region in California especially with a two person crew, periodic help from volunteers, a seven year old LA beauty pageant actress who had never seen snow before playing a rugged Sherpa girl, and our tight budget forcing me to direct and then rush around during lunch making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!

RITA WAS RECENTLY ACCEPTED TO THE 2007:
Telluride Mountain Film Festival
Brooklyn International Film Festival
Breckenridge Film Festival
Big Island International Film Festival.
And has received world wide acclaim!

In the future I hope to take my surfboard under one arm and my camera under the other and set off across the world….

My adventuresome crazy eccentric wild fabulous parents....

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Rita

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	Action/Adventure
	Shorts

Rita is a true story based on the filmmaker’s childhood. Brought up in a worldwide whirlwind of adventure by her outdoor photographer/travel-guide parents, Alison Blehert-Koehn's early life was filled with the stuff of dreams. It was not until the family set out on an expedition to Mt. Everest, however, that seven-year-old Alison was able to experience her own dream.

Rita 06:00 Action/Adventure	The Story of Wayan 08:00 Comedy
The Legend of Dewa 03:00 Comedy	Rita 06:00 Action/Adventure
Bio Clip 01:00 Action/Adventure