2019-09-01 Emmy Magazine

118 EMMY

Academy News

OpenEmotions

AtAcademyHonors,

esteemedprograms

sparksorrowandjoy.

C

horeographerMarinda

dav i s has been told she

will probably not live

beyond age forty. She

has eight autoimmune diseases,

the result of being born heroin-

addicted to an addict mother. The

disorders have robbed her of her

ability to dance but have left intact

her creativity and spirit.

“I want people to look at me

and be able to put their own lives

in perspective,” she says. “What’s

in your way? Move it.”

Davis is featured in the

CW docuseries My Last Days,

profiling persons with terminal

illnesses who have learned to

keep living meaningfully even

as they are dying. The show was

one of seven saluted at the 12th

Television Academy Honors, which

recognizes programming that not

only entertains, but examines

important issues, informing and

inspiring viewers along the way.

Davis’s directive to move past

personal obstacles — seen in a

clip from the show — sparked one

of many emotional moments at

the ceremony, held May 30 at the

Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly

Hills and hosted by Niecy Nash. The

evening’s other honorees were:

• Alexa & Katie, a Netflix comedy
  created by Heather Wordham, tells
  the story of fourteen-year-old best
  friends: Alexa, who has a form of
  leukemia with a high cure rate, and
  the always-supportive Katie. Alexa
  is determined to live normally,
  even while undergoing chemo and
  its side effects.
  
  
  • A Million Little Things, a family
    drama series created by DJ Nash for
    ABC, follows a close-knit group of
    thirty-something friends as they
    cope with the unexpected suicide
    of one of their own.
  
  
  • I Am Evidence, an HBO
    documentary, looks at the
    hundreds of thousands of rape kits
    lying unprocessed in police storage
    facilities across the country,
    denying rape victims justice and
    allowing their perpetrators to
    remain free to attack again.
  
  
  • Pose, an FX series, is set in the
    1980s New York underground
    ballroom scene, where members
    of the LGBTQ community vie in
    ball competitions, cope with the
    HIV/AIDS epidemic and create
    their own kind of family. The
    show features the largest cast
    of transgender actors in regular
    and recurring roles, and employs
  
  
  
  

transgender writers, producers and

directors.

• Rest in Power: The Trayvon
  Martin Story, a Paramount
  Network docuseries, chronicles
  the events surrounding the 2012
  death of Trayvon Martin, a black
  teen in south Florida who was shot
  and killed by Neighborhood Watch
  proponent George Zimmerman
  as he was walking home.
  Zimmerman pleaded self-defense
  and was acquitted in a case that
  sparked heated discussions about
  race and justice.


• RBG is the first documentary
  about a sitting Supreme Court
  justice. Justice Ruth Bader
  Ginsburg, now eighty-six, is only
  the second woman to be named
  to the country’s highest court. The
  CNN doc is from director-producers
  Julie Cohen and Betsy West.
  —Libby Slate

Grace Park, Christina Moses, James Roday, Christina Ochoa, David

Giuntoli, Allison Miller and Ron Livingston of A Million Little Things

Julie Cohen and

Betsy West of RBG

Benjamin Crump

with Sybrina Fulton

of Rest in Power: The

Trayvon Martin Story

Ahmed Musiol and

Farhoud Meybodi of

My Last Days

Trish Adlesic and Geeta Ganbhir of I Am Evidence

Host Niecy

Nash

Eddie Shin, Jolie Jenkins, Paris Berelc, Isabel May, Tiffani Thiessen and

Emery Kelly with Finn Carr (front) of Alexa & Katie

Janet Mock, Steve Canals

and Our Lady J of Pose