Skip to main content
Production
2023

When They Were Here

IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund Grantee

  • headshot of Ivan MacDonald wearing a black top with flowers and black glasses
    Ivan MacDonald, Director
  • headshot of Ivy MacDonald wearing a black leather jacket with a black shirt with red flowers
    Ivy MacDonald, Director
  • headshot of Mridu Chandra wearing a blue, purple, and yellow top
    Mridu Chandra, Producer
A person wearing all black with a dark gray backpack walking down paved road with a grassy water area to their side and mountains off in the distance.

About the Project

When They Were Here is a documentary about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls crisis on the Blackfeet Reservation in northern Montana, told through the eyes of the families and community members left behind. The film traces experiences through time, place, and memory–and examines the legacy of violence in the place they call home

Project Team

    headshot of Ivan MacDonald wearing a black top with flowers and black glasses

    Ivan MacDonald

    Ivan MacDonald is a member of the Blackfeet tribe and an Emmy-winning filmmaker. His most recent producing project, Murder in Bighorn, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and aired nationally on Showtime. He is an inaugural fellow for the Netflix and Illuminative Producers fellowship and is an alumnus of the Firelight Media Documentary Film Lab. Currently, he is the recipient of the Hulu and Firelight Kindling fund and developing a film about the history of indigenous residential schools told through the lens of technology. His work has been supported by Sundance, ITVS, and the Montana Film Office.

    headshot of Ivy MacDonald wearing a black leather jacket with a black shirt with red flowers

    Ivy MacDonald

    Ivy MacDonald is an Emmy-winning filmmaker and member of the Blackfeet Tribe. Her most recent producing project, Murder in Bighorn, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and aired nationally on Showtime. She is currently directing and producing two feature-length documentaries about her community, the Blackfeet Tribe. Her work has been supported by Sundance, ITVS, and the Montana Film Office.

    headshot of Mridu Chandra wearing a blue, purple, and yellow top

    Mridu Chandra

    Mridu Chandra is a BAFTA and Emmy-nominated filmmaker based in New York City. She has over 20 years of experience as a creative producer of impactful documentaries and fiction films that cover topics of civil rights, environmental and racial justice, LGBTQ+ history, and gender equality. Her films have premiered at Sundance, Telluride, and SXSW; aired on PBS, Disney+, and on Netflix; and screened for members of U.S. Congress and the United Nations. Most recently, she produced Becoming Cousteau (BAFTA nominated for Best Documentary) for two-time Oscar nominee Liz Garbus and co-produced Cured (Emmy nominated for Best Research). In addition to her filmmaking practice, she is a committed field-builder and educator. From 2016 to 2019, she was the founding director of IF/Then Shorts– a film fund and distribution initiative supporting the professional development and increased visibility of underrepresented filmmakers across the U.S. and worldwide.