EKKL Entertainment, a recently launched distributor focused on films that explore identity, belief, and belonging, releases She Dances, the feature debut of director Rick Gomez, in cinemas nationwide this Friday, March 27.
Co-written by Gomez and Steve Zahn, the film stars Steve Zahn (Anaconda, “The White Lotus”), Audrey Zahn (Wildcat), Mackenzie Ziegler (Shakey Grounds, Let Us In), Rosemarie DeWitt (La La Land), Sonequa Martin-Green (“The Walking Dead”), and Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon, “The Lowdown”).
The film premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, where it earned strong praise from critics and audiences alike.
Set during the Young Miss Southeast Regional Dance Finals, She Dances examines the complicated dynamics and unacknowledged emotional scars shared by a father and daughter as they navigate a shared loss and attempt to reconnect.
In preparing for their roles, Steve and Audrey Zahn spoke of the personal resonance the story held for them. The film’s depiction of competition and camaraderie in the dance world offered a lens not just into the intensity of performance, but into the ways people struggle to express grief, communicate openly, and bridge generational divides.
Ahead of the film’s nationwide theatrical release, CinemaChords spoke with co-writer and star Steve Zahn and Audrey Zahn about the film’s genesis, its portrayal of competition and camaraderie in the cutthroat dance world, and how it blends humour with heartfelt emotion to explore intergenerational grief and the challenges and importance of honest emotional connection.
