Filmmaker David Osit (MFA 2011 Social Documentary Film) took home the Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary trophy at the 38th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards, held on Thursday, October 5, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan. Osit and his co-director Malika Zouhali-Worrall won for Thank You for Playing, their 2015 documentary about one family's personal tragedy and the comforts and complications of turning to art for help. In addition to serving as co-director, Osit was the film's producer, editor, cinematographer and score composer on the film; he is the first MFA Social Documentary Film alumnus to receive an Emmy.

Thank You For Playing follows a young family, the Greens, as parents Ryan and Amy confront the terminal cancer diagnosis of their one-year old son, Joel. Searching for a way to cope with the illness, express the emotional turbulence they faced and honor Joel, Ryan, a programmer, created That Dragon, Cancer, a video game based on their experience. That Dragon, Cancer strives to evoke in an interactive environment the uncertainty, hope, loss and frustration implicit in such a harrowing situation as raising a child who has been given only months more to live. The film, which also received Emmy nominations for Best Documentary and Outstanding Editing, premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival and subsequently made the festival rounds. It had a limited theatrical release in 2016 and was broadcast nationally in October 2016 on POV, the country's longest-running independent documentary television series, on PBS. Currently it is available on iTunes, Amazon, Vimeo and other streaming services.

SVA recently spoke with Osit about the making of the film, and the effect the video game and the Greens have had on his own work. A condensed, edited version of that conversation appears below.

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