Robert Bates (right) directs chef Charlie Trotter and cinematographer
Brian Kimmel in The Kitchen Sessions

Commercial/documentary director and soundtrack producer, Robert Bates has been a working media artist his entire adult life. He resides in Honolulu Hawaii with his wife and two children. Beginning in 1984 as a sound designer in Hawaii, Robert has since gone on to direct 169 half-hours of culinary programs for public television, several dozen television commercials both nationally and in Hawaii, numerous long form advertising films, and four documentaries. Along with directorial work, Robert has continued to design sound for a variety of mediums, including record albums, music library recordings, TV and film projects. The Returning is his first feature length dramatic film. Mr. Bates has created the companies Hawaii Film Capital L.L.C., and Bates Films L.L.C. for the express purpose of making this motion picture.