Biography

Warren Bass is an independent filmmaker and former chair of Film and Media Arts at Temple University where he is a full professor. He teaches screen directing, cinematography, animation, and advanced documentary and fiction film workshops. He was trained at the Yale School of Drama with honors in directing, and Columbia University in film as their School of the Arts Scholar. Professor Bass has taught at Yale, NYU, AFI, the State University of California, chaired departments in film, television and theater in New England, and for extended terms was director of Temple University’s graduate program in Film. He has served as trustee of the University Film Study Center housed at Harvard/MIT, vice president of the University Film and Video Association, and guest editor of The Journal of Film and Video. His text on small format video is rated 4.7+ stars on Amazon.com, and his essays on visual style have been published internationally in English, Chinese, Polish and Turkish. He has directed theater in five cities including at Lincoln Center and off-Broadway in New York, and at the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia. His film and video productions have aired on PBS, syndicated television and cable in the United States, and on European, Asian and Australian television. His work has received more than 100 regional, national and international awards, including the Platinum Award at Worldfest Houston, Gold Lion at Barcelona, Silver Medal at the International Independent Film Awards, Bronze Palm at the Mexico International, the Denali (“highest peak”) Award at the Alaska International, Aloha Accolade at the Honolulu Festival, and First Place honors at the American Movie Awards, Athens, Bare Bones, FirstGlance, New Haven, and Trenton International film festivals. His films have been official selections at festivals in a total of 21 countries. Professor Bass has received seven public television grants and three Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowships for individual artists. He is the recipient of both the Great Teacher Award and the Creative Achievement Award at Temple University. 

Recent Productions

• The Urban World (writer, director, camera and editor) follows the experiences of one family living in a mixed Hindu/Muslim slum as they and l8,000 other families are evicted from their homes on the banks of India’s Sabarmati River. The documentary is both a portrait of a family at a moment of crisis, an ethnography of a displaced community, and a case-study that raises multiple questions regarding public policy and social justice in solving the plight of the world’s urban poor. The film had its international premiere at the United Nations World Urban Forum in Medellin Colombia, and has been accepted by the juries of 31 film festivals across eleven countries and has received 14 international awards. (2014; TRT 52 and 42 minutes versions)

• Van Gogh’s Garden (concept, director, animator), an experimental animation based on Vincent Van Gogh’s palette and his juxtaposition of colors. Official selection in five international film festivals. (2014; TRT 4 minutes)

• Professional Results with Canon Vixia Camcorders (author) a 304 page text on small format video technology, concepts and aesthetics published by Cengage Press: Boston in 2012 and released by Cengage International in the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Singapore and Japan.  ISBN-13:978-1-133-70259-7

• Monument Rubbings (concept, director, animator), an animation made from original hand-drawn graphics and rubbings from Civil War monuments. (2011, TRT 5 minutes)

• Black Soldiers in Blue (writer, director, camera and editor), a historical documentary on the recruitment of black volunteers during the American Civil War. The film documents their hardships, their heroism and their contribution to Union victory. It was an official juried selection in six international film festivals with awards in three. (2009; TRT 33 minutes)