Certificate of Distinction - Documentary Feature - Sandra Luckow, Kat Vecchio
Feature Documentary AFIN 327
VANISHING
Directed by 
Sandra Luckow
AFIN 2025 Nominee
- 2025
- 1h 47m
-
USA - English
- MA15+
Stills
3 frames
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Credits
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Starring
Synopsis
Vanishing: A Love Story is a documentary about award-winning novelist Cai Emmons and her loving, open-hearted journey towards death. In 2021, at the age of 70, Cai was diagnosed with ALS. Taking place in 2022, during the last six-months Cai’s life, the film is, first and foremost, a story about the agency of expression - having a voice to create a legacy in the world.
"Sandra Luckow’s 'Vanishing' offers an almost shockingly close-up view of a life well lived and arguably well ended. Focused raptly on the late author Cai Emmons, the film is documented from so deep within her home and intimate circle that at times it also seems to have been shot from inside her head. Emmons is the intellectual driver of Vanishing - but it’s Luckow’s principled humility before her subject, and before the inescapable realities of illness and death, that enable this film to begin in voicelessness and dissolution and end in eloquent affirmation.
--Stuart Klawans, Film Critic, National Magazine Award winner for Reviews and Criticism
Director's Statement
I make intimate documentary portraiture of extraordinary people who confront challenging circumstances, whether willingly or unwillingly. The result of this work is a glimpse into some unfettered truths about humanity. My creative practice began with, “Sharp Edges,” a documentary about a then 15 year-old unknown Tonya Harding going to her first national figure-skating competition with little more than unmatched, raw potential. And my most recent documentary, “That Way Madness Lies…” chronicled my brother’s unvarnished struggles with paranoid schizophrenia as well his family’s failure to get him meaningful help. With all my films, I immersed and embedded myself into the lives of my subjects. My creative practice is to give my subjects as much agency over the nature of their image as possible. Vanishing: A Love Story is a continuation of that process on a much greater intensity level. Cai took an active role in convincing healthcare professionals, family and friends to understand unflinchingly of her desire to make a record of this process. Daily, there were ongoing consent and transparency checks and Cai was adamant in her conviction to give me access to her life. My vision of success for this film will be a recognition of Cai, in all her complexity, by her family, friends and fans of her writing. Success will mean that I do not shy away from the ravages of ALS, the controversy of her psilocybin explorations, her unwitting ambivalence about dying juxtaposed with her determination to take a lethal injection. Artistic success, ultimately would be the illumination of Cai Emmons’ humanity and an authentic legacy.
What makes this one special
From the Judges
From the Judges
A feature documentary about one person's journey through illness and the freedom to make peace with how life ends, this short handles a tender subject with real sensitivity and honesty. The panel found it emotional, funny, tragic and deeply engrossing, carried by an intimate, fly-on-the-wall closeness that makes you forget a camera is present at all. They praised the raw, compelling writing and the natural, unguarded presence of everyone on screen, a warmth that keeps you locked into the story from start to finish.
Director's Biography
Sandra Luckow Director
Sandra Luckow (Producer - Director - Editor) is a Mexican-American filmmaker who founded Ojeda Films, Inc. in 2000 to bring a bi-cultural voice to independent film. She is known for Sharp Edges, Belly Talkers (1996 Sundance US competition) and the multiple award-winning, That Way Madness Lies… Sandra has worked at Warner Bros., and Universal in casting, network and cable news programs and daytime dramas. She taught documentary film production at Yale University, School of Art for 22 years as well as producing, screenwriting, camera, editing and acting for the camera at Columbia University, Barnard College, Wesleyan University, and Sarah Lawrence College. Her pedagogy includes democratizing accessibility to modes of filmmaking by using smart phone technologies and teaching all aspects of production. She has traveled and worked internationally giving workshops, most notably with the US State Department’s cultural exchange: Lines and Spaces. She is a member of the Director’s Guild of America and holds an MFA from NYU’s TIsch School of the Arts.
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VANISHING was an official Nominee for Best Documentary Feature at the AFIN International Film Festival 2025, a Top 100 Best Reviewed and IMDb-qualifying festival.
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