Bronx-based production company Wabi Sabi Productions announced Friday that it has been nominated for an Astor Award in the category for best documentary at the Triborough Film Festival, which began in late January and wraps this weekend.
The awards, which will conclude the local film festival presented by the Queens nonprofit, the Astoria Filmmakers Club, will honor films that exemplify artistic excellence, cultural significance and a “deep connection to New York City,” according to the festival’s entry page.
The documentary, “Dancing With Waves,” follows Alice Judge, founder of the New York City-based New Wave Dance Youth and Community Development Inc., and her young dancers as she mentors and inspires them to become confident and strong adults.
“Someone gave me the opportunity to express myself when I was younger, and I wanted to do the same thing with other kids,” Judge says in the documentary.
The dance program offers ballet, cultural dance, jazz, hip-hop, modern, majorette and praise dance to children and teens, pairing physical, artistic expression with community stewardship. Dancers in the program do more than perform; they participate in charitable events like food giveaways, toy drives and book bag giveaways.
Wabi Sabi Production’s founder and CEO Emmitt H. Thrower directed the documentary and serves as Vice President at New Wave Dance. Thrower said he wanted to highlight New Wave Dance because he thought more people could benefit from the youth development program.
“It [the dance program] had a way of developing these young people beyond dance, but also in the complexities of dealing with life and their daily problems and stresses,” Thrower said.
The filmmaker is no stranger to life’s complexities. He was a former NYPD police officer who moved to the Bronx in 2001 after a stroke left him bedridden and grappling with the loss of his identity, according to his autobiography. Thrower was a stage performer, but after his stroke he found himself unable to physically perform at the same level that he once had.
Thrower said that he began to see himself in his chosen home – both he and the Bronx, healing and blossoming together.
“It was a painfully measured process recovering to a semblance of my previous state,” Thrower said in his autobiography. “My personal transformation was much like the metamorphous of the Bronx itself, slow and methodical.”
It took around five years for Thrower to recover from the stroke, but his life and identity were forever changed. Thrower pivoted to a career largely behind the camera, dedicating himself and Wabi Sabi Productions to producing and sponsoring film, theater and performances addressing social, economic and cultural issues that impact underserved communities.
He said filmmaking helped him elevate voices that would otherwise not heard.
“You put your ego aside and you tell their story the way they’re telling it,” Thrower said. “And whatever story comes up, that’s the story I create.”
Thrower’s film, “Dancing With Waves,” played at the third Triborough Film Festival on February 1 in Queens. The nonprofit that presents the festival, the Astoria Filmmakers Club showcases work from local filmmakers, offering them networking opportunities and chances to improve their skills.
The group’s founder and curator of the festival, Phil Cappadora, said they nominated Thrower’s film for “best documentary” because it explored the universal themes of art and self-expression.
“Dance is the language on how to find interpretation and get you closer to God himself,” said Cappadora. “And sometimes you just need that common denominator.”
“Dancing With Waves” will compete with four other documentaries at the Triborough Film Festival to be named “best documentary.” The Astors will be awarded on Sunday Feb. 9 at Culture Lab LIC starting at 7 p.m.
