Many of the documentaries in contention for this year’s Oscars are directed by women, including daughters, I am: Celine Dion, dahomey, Frida, black box diary, a new kind of wilderness, the last sea woman and frightened. This was not the case 70 years ago, when Nancy Hamilton Helen Keller’s story (also known as The undefeated) and became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
Before telling the life story of the famous disability rights advocate and humanitarian, who is blind and deaf-mute, Hamilton made a name for herself in the theater world with her acting, songwriting and playwriting talents. but Helen Keller’s story This proved to be a different feat, and Keller personally asked Hamilton to complete it after the two developed a close friendship. As director and producer, Hamilton approaches the story with care, drawing on archives and new footage of the then-74-year-old Keller to chronicle her extraordinary journey as a writer, speaker and activist despite losing her sight in early childhood and hearing.
Katharine Cornell, the actress who introduced Hamilton to Keller, narrates the documentary, while Hamilton’s longtime musical collaborator Morgan Lewis, who co-wrote How High the Moon 》. The film is the only one Hamilton produced, but her famous jazz standards can still be heard in dozens of movies and TV shows today.
This story first appeared in the December Independence issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
