JOY TESSMAN AND THE BVF STORY

Storytelling with a global perspective ... that's at the heart of BolderVision Films, a grass roots company that grew out of a desire to bring the stories of indigenous cultures to the classrooms and homes of families throughout the world.

Origins

With a 12 year teaching background both in the United States and other countries, the development of a successful and innovative pilot program exploring global ethics and environmental studies, and honored with the prestigious Who's Who of American Teachers '2003' award, Joy Tessman founded BolderVision Films to broaden her classroom and reach a larger group of people.

Early on her passion for the environment lead her to work as a legislative aide focusing on environmental issues. During that time she attended the UNCED (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) in Brazil and met with top leaders in the environmental movement and US environmental policy. She also helped implement mandatory Environmental Education in the curriculum of the State of California.

Collaboration with Barry Tessman

When Joy wasn't teaching, her background as a photographer, photojournalist, and extreme sports athlete landed her in the heart of Siberia as the US Team Leader of a tri-cultural (Russian, Japanese, and United States) river expedition on the endangered Katun River in the Altai region of central Siberia. The expedition was to bring attention to a proposed dam project on the Katun River. Joy went on to cover the historic Soviet Coup that took place shortly after her river trip in 1991. Her stunning photographs of 'The Three Days That Shook the World', together with a 45 minute documentary based on her pictures and recordings of the event brought great attention to her work both as a photojournalist and filmmaker.

In 1993 Joy left the classroom to pursue documentary film and photography fulltime. She and her husband, photographer Barry Tessman, set out to explore indigenous cultures in Siberia, the new Russian Republics, Northern Pakistan, Western China, and India.

When Joy became pregnant with their first daughter, Ellie Rose, she decided to take some time out of her filmmaking career to raise their daughter and support her husband. Barry went on to become a successful photographer for National Geographic as one of the top extreme sports photographers producing cutting edge images of white water kayaking.

Tragically on January 16, 2001, Barry's life was cut short while training for an upcoming National Geographic kayaking expedition to Vietnam. At the time, Joy was 4 months pregnant with their second daughter. She was left with a tough decision ... how to go on. She decided to follow their dream of creating documentary films that would make a difference.

Realizing the Vision

The first project that Joy produced after the loss of her husband was a story about his journey across Siberia in 1990-1991 presented as a slide show to prerecorded music and text. With a baby due any day, Joy and family made their way cross-country to the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride, Colorado to share this story. Joy presented, 'Edge Dancing ... A Journey Across Siberia' to a sold out, standing room only theatre and received a standing ovation at its completion. It was a pivotal experience in her career. Alana River was born the day after they arrived home.

From that time on Joy has had many successes both in film and photography. Her photographic work is now represented by National Geographic Image Sales, and her films have won awards around the world, establishing BolderVision Films as an innovator.