Male heroism is a familiar sight onscreen, but examples of fearless, tough-as-nails women are harder to find.
That’s what makes Peachtree Hills director Heather O’Neill’s point of view so unique.
Her first feature documentary, “No Ordinary Life,” streams this fall on Apple TV+ and Prime Video and is clearly a passion project. The doc features women very much like O’Neill who take risks and don’t shrink from challenges. Her subjects are CNN combat videographers Mary Rogers, Cynde Strand, Jane Evans, Maria Fleet and Margaret Moth, who recorded some of history’s most cataclysmic moments in places like Tiananmen Square, Sarajevo, Iraq and Somalia at great personal risk and with remarkable bravery.
O’Neill’s career is testament to tenacity and determination. An Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist, O’Neill worked as a producer first for Turner Original Productions’ documentary unit before moving to an 11-year run as a documentary producer on the award-winning “CNN Presents” series where she met most of the “No Ordinary Life” photographers. She eventually left the corporate world to form her own production company, Array Films, with husband (and “No Ordinary Life” director of photography) Rich Brooks.
Acknowledging the unequal playing field of contemporary entertainment, as illustrated by the current writers’ and actors’ strikes, and the difficulty documentary filmmakers and other free agents have making a living, O’Neill said there have been some positive developments in the modern media landscape.
“Streaming has definitely boosted documentary viewership. Ten to 15 years ago, documentaries largely lived on HBO and PBS. There has been kind of a democratization of the documentary genre for sure. In the same breath, I wish they could share a little more,” she said of the media monoliths whose profits don’t necessarily trickle down to creatives like herself.
“No Ordinary Life” is streaming on Apple TV+ and Prime Video.
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