IDA Conversation Series: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

One of the most consistently exciting teams in documentary film, Heidi and Rachel have distinguished themselves by tackling difficult subject matter with sensitivity and visual inventiveness. Working in a verite style, Heidi and Rachel use the intensity of the present moment to conjure the longer arcs of history. Their films include the Academy Award-nominated Jesus Camp, a portrait of a training camp for Evangelical youth, the Emmy-winning Detropia, a dreamlike evocation of post-industrial Detroit's attempts to reinvent itself, and the Emmy-nominated Boys of Baraka, following four boys from Baltimore who are sent to a strict boarding school in rural Kenya. Heidi and Rachel also made 12th and Delaware, which the LA Times called "the best film ever made about the abortion issue," and The Education of Mohammed Hussein, which was nominated for an IDA Award and shortlisted for the Academy Awards. Their latest film Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, was an opening night premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.