From Academy Award winning Director Eric Simonson

Going for Home

Going for Home documentary - Altadena Little League players and community members on the baseball field after the Eaton Canyon fire

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After the devastating Eaton Canyon fire leaves families displaced, a Little League team becomes an unlikely anchor—carrying a fractured community through loss, recovery, and an improbable season.

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2026
Release
82 Min
Runtime
English
Language
USA
Country

Going for Home is a feature documentary about a community searching for stability after losing nearly everything—and finding it, unexpectedly, on a Little League baseball field.

In the aftermath of the Eaton Canyon fire, the racially and economically diverse community of Altadena faces devastation on every front: homes destroyed, families displaced, and a long, uncertain road to recovery. Amid the chaos, one institution refuses to fold—the Central Altadena Little League. With fields damaged, players scattered, and parents stretched to their limits, the league makes a quiet but resolute decision: the season will go on.

What unfolds is far more than a sports story. Shot over nine months, Going for Home follows a season in which baseball becomes both refuge and reckoning, a place where children process loss without language, and adults wrestle with how to provide normalcy when normal no longer exists. As the team pushes toward an unlikely championship run, the film weaves together intimate, verité moments, postgame talks shadowed by insurance battles, and families redefining what "home" even means.

Going for Home movie poster - silhouette of a child watching the Eaton Canyon fire in the distance over Altadena

"A quietly powerful documentary that finds hope not in spectacle, but in communal resolve."

— Just for Movie Freaks

"Home-run worthy, powerful documentary, thanks to the passionate baseball loving kids… Covers all its bases by being a film for all audiences"

— Spoiler-free Reviews
Mar 4–14, 2026
Hollywood Reel Film Festival
Dates, times and locations TBA
Info
Sep 21–26, 2026
The Door Kinetic Arts Festival (DKAF)
Bjorklunden, Bailey's Harbor, WI
Dates and times TBA
Info
Feb 8 & 14, 2026
World Premiere
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Film Center, 916 State Street, Santa Barbara, Auditorium 4
Info

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Eric Simonson headshot

Eric Simonson

Director, Writer

Eric Simonson is an award–winning writer, producer, and director working across film, television, and theater. His documentary A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin won the Oscar for Documentary Short and received an IDA nomination for Distinguished Achievement. His film On Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom received an Academy Award nomination, an IDA Award, and an Emmy nomination. His documentary Studs Terkel: Listening to America earned an Emmy nomination. All three films later aired on HBO Max. In television, Simonson wrote and produced for Apple TV+'s Swagger, and for Amazon's The Man in the High Castle and Homecoming. He also wrote and executive produced Killing Reagan for Scott Free Productions and National Geographic.

Sue Cremin headshot

Sue Cremin

Producer

Sue Cremin is a television, film, and theater artist and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. Her work spans major studios, networks, and leading theater institutions nationwide. Her television credits include recurring roles on Chicago Fire & PD, Alaska Daily, FBI: Most Wanted, Westworld, Grey's Anatomy, and NCIS. Her film work includes The Unseen, The Fight That Never Ends, Killing Reagan, and the Sundance favorite The Tao of Steve. Sue starred in and co-produced the award-winning short film We Know You Have a Choice, earning multiple Best Actor awards. She received two LA Drama Critics Circle Awards for her performance opposite Alfred Molina in The Father at Pasadena Playhouse.

Gordon Gano headshot

Gordon Gano

Original Music Composer

Gordon Gano is an acclaimed singer-songwriter and composer best known as the founding member, lead vocalist, and principal songwriter of the pioneering rock band Violent Femmes. His songs—including "Blister in the Sun," "Add It Up," and "Gone Daddy Gone"—have become enduring staples of American music, blending raw emotion, wit, and acoustic urgency in a style that has influenced generations of artists. Beyond his work with the band, Gano has composed music for film, theater, and symphony, bringing the same narrative clarity and emotional directness that define his songwriting. His score for the opera The Litany of the Black Madonna premiered in Poland and has been performed internationally.

Mark Herzog headshot

Mark Herzog

Consulting Producer

Mark Herzog is an Emmy Award-winning producer and director who founded Herzog & Co. in 1995. Recent projects include The Witnesses and The Forgotten West Memphis Three for Oxygen, the Webby-winning podcast Chasing Cosby in partnership with the LA Times, and the second season of Dirty John: Betty for USA Network. In partnership with Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, Mark produced the 12-hour documentary series The Movies for CNN as well as the Emmy-nominated Decades series. Past highlights include the Emmy-winning Gettysburg, the PBS documentary Mission of Hope, the IMAX film Magnificent Desolation, The Work to Come: A Tribute to Ted Kennedy co-directed with Ken Burns, and the Oscar-winning documentary short A Note of Triumph.

Full Credits

Written & Directed byEric Simonson
Produced bySue Cremin
Photographed & Edited byEric Simonson
Original Music Composed byGordon Gano
Consulting ProducerMark Herzog
Executive ProducersJonathan Levin, Linne Radmin
Co-ProducersJack Kney, Corinne Marrinan
Post Production SupervisorsHutson Hayward, Christopher Leckie
Motion Graphics DesignerMatthew Sorgie
Additional PhotographyJack Kney, Sean Miller
Drone OperatorAustin Fonacier
Additional EditingKat McGinty
Assistant EditorHenry Simonson
ColoristHutson Hayward
Supervising Sound EditorsJared K. Neal, Zach Seivers
Co-Supervising Sound EditorBeso Kacharava
Sound Effects EditorRati Chkhetiani
Re-recording MixerJared K. Neal

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