betsy blankenbaker

Producer Betsy Blankenbaker is an award winning filmmaker. Her documentaries include New York in the Fifties which was released in 2001 by Showtime Networks for the Sundance Channel; Something to Cheer About, released in 2007 by Screen Media; and, A Perfect Match and On Stage which are being released in 2010. Blankenbaker has teamed with NBA Basketball Legend Oscar Robertson to produce a feature film on the inspiring story of Robertson’s high school basketball team. Blankenbaker is in development on More Than Pele which is based on Blankenbaker’s experience of caring for abandoned children in Zimbabwe.

In New York in the Fifties, Blankenbaker's camera captured exclusive interviews with almost thirty writers, actors, artists and musicians including Robert Redford, Dan Wakefield, William F. Buckley, Jr., Joan Didion, John Gregory Dunne, Calvin Trillin, Gay Talese, Nan Talese, Bruce Jay Friedman and Nat Hentoff. The observations of this illustrious group are woven into the film with rare archival footage of Alan Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and the rantings of Norman Mailer in the midst of his infamous "orgasm debate."
Her second film, Something to Cheer About, is based on the true story of the 1950s all-black Indiana high school basketball team who overcame poverty and broke down racial barriers in athletics through their unparalleled success on the court. Their coach was the legendary Ray Crowe.

" Mr. Crowe was my father's best friend," said Blankenbaker. "This film is a tribute to their friendship and to the boys on the team who changed the way basketball will forever be played."

The film, a chronicle of the Indianapolis Cripsus Attucks high school state championship basketball team that overcame racial prejudice, was selected for the 2002 International Documnentary Association’s Film Festival that showcases films from talented, emerging directors. It screened at the CineVegas Film Festival(Las Vegas, June 2003), at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site DREAM series in Atlanta(July 2003) and at the Denver Film Festival(October 2993). The film also received a grant from the Roy Dean Foundation.

Her film, More Than Pele, captures the spirit of Africa and the passion for soccer through the story of Stanley, an abandoned boy, who discovers the magic that happens when his faith allows him to live beyond the wounds of his past.

Blankenbaker spends 6+ weeks a year caring for abandoned/orphaned children in Zimbabwe through her company, House of Loveness.