The National Geographic documentary film “Sally” will be premiering on National Geographic on June 16 and streaming on Hulu and Disney+ on June 17.
“Sally” is directed by Milwaukee native Cristina Costantini, and it focuses on the full, complicated picture of the historical trailblazer Sally Ride. The film explores Ride’s path to being the first American woman in space, and her secret relationship with life partner Tam O’Shaughnessy.
“Sally” was the opening night film of the 2025 Milwaukee Film Festival, where the UWM Post interviewed Costantini and O’Shaughnessy.
UWM Post: Why did you decide to make a feature documentary about Sally?
Cristina Costantini: Sally Ride was my hero as a kid. She did incredible things for women throughout her life. Seeing a woman go to space at that time and break the highest glass ceiling taught a lot of girls, me included, that if she can do that, we can do big things, too. I’ve always been inspired by Sally. When she passed away, I learned with the rest of the world that she was survived by a female life partner of 27 years, Tam O’Shaughnessy. That’s when I started to think this story is way more interesting than I initially thought. The day I met Tam, I knew that we had a special film. Sally surrounded herself with amazing people, and it was such a joy to make this film because I got to spend two years with some of the coolest people I’ve ever met, including Tam.
UWM Post: Tam, what was your influence on the film?
Tam O’Shaughnessy: I always wanted a documentary made about Sally. After I got a call from National Geographic, the Story Syndicate and the producers of the film, I met Christina. I just knew that we had a winning group of people. I would say my influence was that I helped put together a list of potential people for Christina to interview. I spent a long time with Christina talking about Sally and the era that we grew up in, and our relationship. Sally saved everything; She was nearabout a hoarder. I gave a lot of memorabilia, photographs and videos to help support the film.
UWM Post: What does this film show us about Sally’s life that the history books haven’t already covered?
Costantini: I think Sally was more complicated than most of us knew. Part of what interested me about the story is about people who are brave enough to live their lives in public and people who end up becoming symbols. I think there’s always people behind them that you don’t see or know about. Sally was brilliant and complicated in lots of ways. Part of my desire to make the film was to tell the story of a real person. I think oftentimes we like to whitewash things after someone passes away and say they were perfect in every single way, but to me, that’s inaccessible for a hero. I’m even more inspired by Sally knowing that she was a complicated person, a real person. She wasn’t always perfect. She made some mistakes. Sometimes she hurt people, but she was brilliant, and she was heroic. She’s a real role model, regardless of and because of her complexity.
O’Shaughnessy: As a role model, Sally always lived her life exactly how she wanted to live it. I hope that the audience takes away from the film to be brave in their own lives. Don’t let anyone tell you how to live your life or who you should love and just go for it.
UWM Post: How are you guys enjoying Milwaukee so far?
O’Shaughnessy: Oh, I love it. I’ve been here before because I used to play tennis. There was a big tennis tournament here that I played ages ago. It’s a beautiful city. I love the water, the river and the lake. I love the architecture; it’s a beautiful place. I think it’s so cool that there’s under a million people that live here. It’s a great size where there’s enough stuff going on to be active, but it’s also small enough that traffic isn’t horrendous.
Costantini: And I’m from Milwaukee, so I was born and raised here. I live in LA now, but it’s really wonderful to be back. Especially to be at this theater, which is the theater that made me want to be a filmmaker. To have a film showing here really means the world to me.
UWM Post: Is this the first film you’ve had at the festival?
Costantini: No. I had a film called “Science Fair,” a film called “Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado” and a film called “The Originals.” Milwaukee film has been very good to me. I’m a huge fan of Milwaukee Film and everything they’ve done for the film community here. This includes restoring this beautiful theater and the Downer Theater, both of which were the places I went to as a kid to watch movies basically every weekend.
UWM Post: Thank you for your time. It was great to meet you both.
O’Shaughnessy: That [journalism] is a great career. Keep at it.