The directorial team of Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing–whose documentary filmmaking has garnered both Oscar and Emmy nominations–has signed with aWHITELABELproduct for U.S. representation in spots and branded content. Grady and Ewing’s Jesus Camp, a look at Pentecostal children in America, earned a Best Feature Documentary Oscar nomination in 2007.
That same year their Boys of Baraka, which focused on struggling pre-teens in Baltimore, copped a News and Documentary Emmy nom. The directing duo’s 12th & Delaware, centering on the abortion rights controversy and its impact on a local community, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010.
Currently Grady and Ewing’s docu short for HBO, The Education of Mohammed Hussein, is on the Oscar Short Subject Documentary shortlist, one of eight finalist films in the running for a 2013 Academy Award nomination. Their short explores an anti-Islamic preacher and his impact on children in Michigan, where the largest Muslim community in the U.S. resides.
Meanwhile Grady and Ewing’s feature length documentary, Detropia, about Detroit residents who have opted to stay in the Motor City despite adversity, is widely considered to be a contender for an Oscar nom. Detropia, which debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, recently earned a Gotham Independent Film Award nomination. (Winning the Gotham Award for Best Documentary Feature earlier this week was director David France’s How to Survive a Plague.)
Grady and Ewing’s body of work also includes notable TV profile pieces for CNN Heroes and Stand Up 2 Cancer.
Prior to aWHITELABELproduct, the directors were repped in the ad arena by production house Rabbit. Ewing explained what drew her and Grady to spotmaking and branded content, observing, “As a storyteller, I see that advertising has gone into more personal stories, more real people, more authenticity. Culture at large, especially younger viewers have become more cynical and skeptical when it comes to advertising. The demand for authenticity called out to us. Agencies and advertisers want to have a documentarian’s touch in profiling real people. We have something to offer–to bring more humanity and aspects of personal life to help brands connect with people.”
Ewing additionally sees ad fare as helping to diversify the nature of her and Grady’s work, noting that their documentaries reflect society’s “more sobering topics, but we have another side we want to express in our filmmaking. We are excited to bring a lighter and more humorous side to commercial projects. The idea of working our creative muscle in another emotional palette is extremely exciting to us.”
Ellen Jacobson, executive producer of aWHITELABELproduct, sees Grady and Ewing’s filmmaking prowess translating successfully into the world of commercials and branded content. The duo was first singled out as directors to watch in the ad arena by SHOOT‘s Spring 2010 Directors Series feature story on up-and-coming directorial talent.
Among Grady and Ewing’s other credits is a segment of the feature-length documentary Freakonomics based on the best-selling book of the same title. The directors turned out a 20-minute film segment on a chapter in the book revolving around teenagers who are being paid to get good grades in school. Also adapting different chapters of the book to film were documentarians Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side), Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) and Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight). Directing the interstitial glue that meshed these chapters into a unified film was Seth Gordon (The King of Kong). Freakonomics debuted at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.
Gene Hackman Died Of Heart Disease; Hantavirus Claimed His Wife’s Life About One Week Prior
Actor Gene Hackman died of heart disease a full week after his wife died from hantavirus in their New Mexico hillside home, likely unaware that she was dead because he was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, authorities revealed Friday. Both deaths were ruled to be from natural causes, chief medical examiner Dr. Heather Jarrell said alongside state fire and health officials at a news conference. "Mr. Hackman showed evidence of advanced Alzheimer's disease," Jarrell said. "He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that's what resulted in his death." Authorities didn't suspect foul play after the bodies of Hackman, 95, and Betsy Arakawa, 65, were discovered Feb 26. Immediate tests for carbon monoxide poisoning were negative. Investigators found that the last known communication and activity from Arakawa was Feb. 11 when she visited a pharmacy, pet store and grocery before returning to their gated neighborhood that afternoon, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday. Hackman's pacemaker last showed signs of activity a week later and that he had an abnormal heart rhythm Feb. 18, the day he likely died, Jarrell said. Although there was no reliable way to determine the date and time when both died, all signs point to their deaths coming a week apart, Jarrell said. "It's quite possible he was not aware she was deceased," Jarrell said. Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner, said he believes Hackman was severely impaired due to Alzheimer's disease and unable to deal with his wife's death in the last week of his life. "You are talking about very severe Alzheimer's disease that normal people would be in a nursing home or have a nurse, but she was taking care... Read More