Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, the directors of the Oscar-winning KPop Demon Hunters, have agreed to serve as executive producers for the animated short film Living With a Visionary. The announcement arrives just before the documentary is set to premiere this week on The New York Times Op-Docs platform.
The film is a deeply personal reflection on a poet's fifty-year marriage to an art curator who is grappling with Parkinson's disease. Narrated by James Cromwell, the short was written, directed, and animated by Stephen P. Neary. It is an adaptation of John Matthias' memoir of the same name, exploring the relationship between John and his wife Diana as it is transformed by the effects of her medical treatment.
According to the film's synopsis, as Diana's medication causes vivid and often beautiful hallucinations, John, who has become her caregiver, must adapt to her imaginary world. The narrative offers a bittersweet look at how their bond evolves under these unusual circumstances. Neary produced the film alongside Mireia Vilanova.
The production process was labor-intensive and unique in its medium. The film consists of thousands of drawings that were illustrated by hand on intersecting layers of vellum. Neary created these illustrations over the course of three years, working at night and on weekends while maintaining a full-time job as a story artist and teaching classes at the California Institute of the Arts.
Living With a Visionary has already received significant recognition in the film community. It recently won the grand jury award for animation at AFI Fest. Earlier this year, the short was also honored with the short film jury award for animation at the Sundance Film Festival. These accolades have paved the way for its upcoming broadcast debut.
Neary is well-known in the animation industry as the creator and showrunner of The Fungies! on Cartoon Network and HBO Max. He also served as supervising producer on the Annie-nominated show Clarence. His credits as a story artist include major productions such as KPop Demon Hunters, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Rio, and The Peanuts Movie.
Kang expressed her admiration for Neary's dedication in a statement. She noted that somehow, while working full-time on KPop Demon Hunters and raising a family, Neary found the time to make this heartbreaking and beautiful film. Kang admitted she is worried he does not sleep enough but expressed excitement for more audiences to see the work. She emphasized that the world needs unique stories in animation, often finding the most impactful ones come from least expected places.
Appelhans described the film as feeling like a sketch of the human soul, an assembly of lines that captures love, grief, hallucination, and connection. He shared that he got to live inside Cromwell's narration and experience the heartache of being alive alongside the enduring power of love, calling it a truly special piece of documentary filmmaking.
Neary expressed his gratitude for the support from Kang and Appelhans. He noted that while KPop Demon Hunters and Living With a Visionary are stylistically worlds apart, he believes there is a throughline of raw emotional honesty in both works. He stated that this honesty is capable of bringing a needed catharsis to viewers from a place they least expect it, which is animation.
Living With a Visionary joins eight other films on Op-Docs' 2026 slate that are considered awards contenders. The slate also includes The Revolution Against Death by Joshua Oppenheimer, as well as The Tuners and A Wolf in the Suburbs. An exclusive behind-the-scenes animation teaser for the film is available for viewing.
