Vanishing: A Love Story
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
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Sandra LuckowDirectorSharp Edges, Belly Talkers, That Way Madness Lies... A World Within
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Sandra LuckowProducerSharp Edges, Belly Talkers, That Way Madness Lies... A World Within
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Kat VecchioProducerThe American Dream and Other Fairy Tales
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Cai EmmonsKey Cast"herself"
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Sandra LuckowWriterThat Way Madness Lies... Belly Talkers, Sharp Edges, A World Within
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Cai EmmonsWriter
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Project Type:Documentary, Feature
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Runtime:1 hour 47 minutes 14 seconds
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Completion Date:March 15, 2025
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Production Budget:918,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:4K smart phone techologies
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Digital Cinema Package:Unavailable
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Manhattan Film FestivalNew York, NY
United States
June 14, 2025
North American Premiere
Best Documentary Feature -
Doc OnlyCopenhagen
Denmark
Did not play
Official Selection -
Lighthouse Lens Film FestivalNew Haven
United States
April 8, 2025
Sneek Peek
Best Documentary Feature -
New York Independent Women Film FestivalNew York, NY
United States
July 24, 2025
Best Documentary Feature -
NYC Chain International Film FestivalNew York, NY
United States
August 10, 2025
BEST OF FESTIVAL -
Richmond International Film FestivalRichmond, VA
United States
September 23, 2025
Virginia Premiere
Honorable Mention Selection -
Harlem International Film FestivalNew York, NY
United States
September 17, 2025
Harlem Premiere
Official Selection -
Pembroke Taparelli Arts and Film FestivalLos Angeles, CA
United States
August 31, 2025
LA Premiere
Official Selection -
AFIN International Film FestivalBrisbane, Queensland
United States
October 25, 2025
Australia premiere
Nominee - Best Feature Documentary -
Documentaries without Borders International Film FestivalRehoboth Beach, DE
United States
September 14, 2025
Official Selection -
Dallas
United States
April 26, 2026
Texas
Official Selection
Distribution Information
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Peter Pamela Rose -- Rock Rose ProductionsSales AgentCountry: WorldwideRights: All Rights
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.
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.
