ABOUT THE FILM

A popular football player from Ohio leaves his wife for a man, then builds an inclusive community teaching ballet at a YMCA in Manhattan propelling the narrator, a dancer in his class,  to document his arc of change while also finding her own.  The film speaks broadly to the power of community, dance and art specifically in the aging process, but is also a story of what people do with what they have. Expected release Spring 2020.

WRITER & DIRECTOR

EMMA McCAGG broke into filmmaking in the last five years from a preceding career as a painter. She has made several short films and vignettes which have screened in galleries in New York and San Diego. For her first documentary, There’s Something About John, she received several grants from the JM Kaplan Fund and one from NYSCA. Her film is fiscally sponsored by NYFA. Her hope is that this film inspires audiences, like John inspired her, to find life and light through dance no matter how you do it. 

PRODUCERS

RAUL ZAMUDIO is a curator and a writer who has produced more than 100 exhibitions in the Americas, Asia and Europe. He studied art history at the C.U.N.Y. graduate center, Columbia University and the Institute of Fine Arts/NYU, and is an alumnus of the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.

CAROL MIROTZNIK is a writer and an attorney

MUSIC CONSULTANT AND ADDITIONAL EDITING

VOLKER GOETZE is a New York-based composer, trumpeter, filmmaker and media artist. He has been investigating the oral culture and storytelling of West Africa and its influences on jazz and black culture in America

EDITOR

EMMA McCAGG edited much of this film herself

SUPERVISING EDITOR

VICTOR KANEFSKY has more than 50 years in the film industry. He owned and operated a film and video editing service in New York that trained, among others, Sam Pollard and Cajun Jockey.  He won Emmy Awards for Our Latin Thing, and Style Wars, both documentary classics; as well as for Distant Harmony and Pavarotti in China.

ADDITIONAL EDITORS

ALEX MALLIS is an NYC-based filmmaker. In 2017, he directed the documentary television series AMERICAN BOYBAND for Viceland. Previous to that he worked as cinematographer on FIVE STAR (Best Editing, Tribeca, 2014) and WELCOME TO PINE HILL (Grand Jury, Slamdance, 2012). He holds an MFA in Integrated Media Arts from Hunter College and is a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective and the Meerkat Media Collective.VOLKER GOETZE is a New York-based composer, trumpeter, filmmaker and media artist. He has been investigating the oral culture and storytelling of West Africa and its influences on jazz and black culture in America

VOLKER GOETZE is a New York-based composer, trumpeter, filmmaker and media artist. He has been investigating the oral culture and storytelling of West Africa and its influences on jazz and black culture in America

CINEMATOGRAPHER

VOLKER GOETZE is a New York-based composer, trumpeter, filmmaker and media artist. He has been investigating the oral culture and storytelling of West Africa and its influences on jazz and black culture in America

ELIZABETH RODD is the director/producer/editor at The Big Think, Inc., www.bigthink.com, New York, NY (Nov. 2010- present)

DON DOWNIE is an award-winning director, writer, and producer. A native of Detroit and a self-taught filmmaker, Don recently directed season one of Royally, a comedic web series that won the Critics Award at the 2017 New York Television Festival.

RAUL ZAMUDIO is a curator of art and a producer for this film.

RUNN SHAYO is a visual performance artist, actor, and dancer. He uses video and other technology to create installations, combined with live art. His work confronts gender, race and identity issues.

EMMA McCAGG is a painter and filmmaker and the director of this film

PHIL CHUNG is a photographer and cinematographer

ISAAC ADEN is an artist

STORY ADVISOR

RIA MIRANDA is a writer and research administrator at Columbia University.

LEGAL ADVISOR

CAROL MIROTZNIK, Esq.

COMPLETION ASSISTANT

KATHERINE FAÑA is a New York-based filmmaker who graduated from the City College of New York with a BA degree in Film & Video Production. She has contributed to a wide range of productions including feature films, shorts, commercials, and music videos.

Big Apple Film Festival 2020

Production Shots

Film Stills