IDA Conversation Series: Roger Ross Williams

Bursting on to the documentary scene in 2010 with the exceptional short Music by Prudence, Roger became the first African American director to win an Academy Award. Roger’s second feature, the shocking God Loves Uganda, which tackled the complex and troubling role of the American evangelical movement in Uganda, premiered at Sundance 2013, won over a dozen awards, and was shortlisted for an Academy Award. In November 2015, Roger’s short Blackface, on the tradition of Black Pete in the Netherlands, for CNN Films, premiered to immense controversy and sparked a national debate on racism and the legacy of slavery. Choosing to tell an incredibly broad array of stories, never shying away from controversy, and managing to find exactly the right cinematic voice to match the subject matter, Roger has, in just a few short years, become a leading and vital voice in documentary.