Female Film Critics 24/375
“Governments attacking journalists are not new.” That is but one of the quotations to take home from Endangered, an HBO Documentary on the status of the press today. Other meaty quotations range from screams at reporters that “You are the enemy of the people!” to tempered analyses by the reporters themselves, such as, “This profound crisis is not going away.”
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Kudos to Heidi Ewing who has built her laudable career and cinema catalogue by helping fascinating people to tell their stories with authenticity and grace. Whether she’s focusing on a strict religious community, the physical and financial impact of manufacturing shutdowns on an industrial city, or two men risking everything to seek the freedom to love each other, Ewing’s empathetic lens captures the humanity of her subjects, while she is always seeking new opportunities to grow and develop her own unique talents and skills.
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You’d have to be heartless not to be touched by this moving film about a gay couple who emigrate from Mexico to the United States not just in pursuit of the American Dream but simply to be together without fear of being killed. Director Heidi Ewing, renowned for her documentaries, adds a twist to her narrative feature debut by including the actual couple in the movie.
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Imagine having your heart and wallet stolen by a charmer. Imagine marrying the man. Imagine discovering that, in addition to being a cad, he’s a bigamist and that you should have taken a number to marry this snake. Then — and you don’t have to imagine this — find the blog started by his other women. That’s what happens in Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s new documentary series.
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I saw only films directed by women this year, and my focus was on films from the Latinx community, as well as World films from diverse cultures, and African-American filmmakers. How absolutely delightful that I found nearly all of the movies I saw to be well-crafted, compelling, and unique, but a number of them were to be more widely celebrated because they’d gained distribution or won awards, or both.
Read moreJane (as in Goodall) was awarded the top honor of Best Documentary and filmmaker Ceyda Torun’s Kedi won the award
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In One of Us, filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady investigate the unique lifestyle of Brooklyn’s Hassidic community. Presented in Ewing and Grady’s signature style, the highly dramatic stories of two men and a woman who want to leave the community reveal a complex and arcane culture that exists right in our midst, but is largely unknown to outsiders. Ewing and Grady talk about making One of Us and changes in documentary filmmaking during the 15-year span of their partnership.
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Don’t mistake Jesus Camp for Godspell! Even though it’s not a thriller, Jesus Camp is a truly terrifying film. It
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When I won a trifecta at the Kentucky Derby, I was hailed as a heroine by my fellow revelers, who were natted out in their finest headgear. They marveled at the ability of anyone to guess three winning horses in a row, and in the correct order. Indeed it was not easy, but I had to admit that dumb luck played a big part.
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In Detropia, filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady focus on the woes of the once prosperous city of Detroit, heartland America’s industrial capital and headquarters for the nation’s auto makers, but now in deep economic decline and civic crisis.
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