Father Figures
Director and Producer Emma D. Miller, Producers Colby Day and Florrie Priest
When a retired theater director begins creating internet videos featuring intimate conversations with his growing collection of ventriloquist dummies — including characters modeled after Jewish family members — his daughter attempts to repair their relationship by exploring the psychological depths and possibilities of his strange new hobby.
Emma D. Miller
Director, Producer
Emma D. Miller is a Gotham Award and Cinema Eye–nominated director and producer, and the founder of Marcona Media. Her projects have been supported by Sundance Institute, Ford Foundation, Field of Vision, Impact Partners, and Anonymous Content, among others, and have screened at festivals including Venice, Toronto, SXSW, and CPH:DOX. She is the director of the short documentary The School of Canine Massage (SXSW 2024), a Vimeo Staff Pick. She is the producer of Elizabeth Lo’s Mistress Dispeller (Oscilloscope Laboratories), winner of 20 festival awards, as well as Iliana Sosa’s What We Leave Behind (ARRAY Releasing/Netflix), a New York Times “Critic’s Pick.” Emma is also the co-producer of Love+War (National Geographic Documentary Films / Disney+). Other credits include Showtime’s Couples Therapy, the Oscar-nominated short “Knife Skills” (The New Yorker), and the Oscar-shortlisted, Sundance award-winning feature Unrest (Independent Lens/Netflix). Emma is a 2023 Sundance Producers Fellow and 2024 JFI Filmmaker in Residence, and was named one of DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40″ and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” She is currently directing her feature debut, Father Figures.
Colby Day
Producer
Colby Day wrote the Netflix film Spaceman (Berlinale 2024), starring Adam Sandler and Paul Dano, and wrote and executive produced the upcoming feature In the Blink of an Eye (Searchlight Pictures), directed by two-time Oscar winner Andrew Stanton. He was executive story editor for the upcoming season of Apple TV+’s For All Mankind. Colby wrote, directed, and produced the short film Lead/Follow (Austin Film Festival), and produced Emma D. Miller’s short documentary The School of Canine Massage (SXSW 2024). He is the founder of Not Impossible Productions.
Florrie Priest
Producer
Florrie Priest began her career at Rise Films, during which time she worked on Mayor, Once Upon a Time in Londongrad and Emmy-winning George Carlin’s American Dream. She co-produced the BAFTA- and Oscar-nominated All That Breathes, the first film to win the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and Best Documentary at Cannes. Florrie is the producer of Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s Middletown (Sundance 2025) and is currently co-producing Toby Bull’s Re-Evaluation with Kat Mansoor’s Snowstorm Productions.