Ron Howards Debuts a New Documentary About the Devastating Camp Fire

This time it was personal.

Director Ron Howard has made several documentaries, including Pavarotti, The Beatles, Eight Days a Week and Made in America. His latest docu-project, Revisiting Paradise, hits closer to home than his previous subjects. The film, which recently debuted at the Sundance Festival, deals with the aftermath of the 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed the city of Paradise and claimed 85 lives.

According to the Los Angeles Times, “It’s an area of the state that Howard knows well. He’s spent time in the town, where his mother-in-law lived for five years, and has lots of relatives in nearby Redding. And that made a difference.

“’We’ve grown numb to images of devastation, but when you are close to the people affected, you think of it on a more human level,’ said the Oscar-winning filmmaker about the motivation behind the project that turned into his first Sundance appearance.”

The film explores the lives of the surviving residents for a full year, starting with the first day of the fire on November 8, 2018.

“There was no thesis here; I checked my expectations at the door. I wanted to cover something where I had no idea what the story would be, to find out what happens after the cameras leave and the spotlight is turned off.”

You can read more about the documentary and Howard’s unique approach here.