First Trailer for Charlie Kaufman’s ‘How to Shoot a Ghost’ Short Film

First Trailer for Charlie Kaufman’s ‘How to Shoot a Ghost’ Short Film

by Alex Billington
August 29, 2025
Source: YouTube

“What do you want to remember?” Kanopy has debuted the official trailer for a film titled How to Shoot a Ghost, a brand new short film created and directed by the distinct filmmaker / writer Charlie Kaufman. His latest since the film I’m Thinking of Ending Things in 2020. His new film is a 27 minute short that is premiering at the 2025 Venice Film Festival underway right now. The original intro at the fest: “Following two recently dead people who wander Athens as ghosts, the film explores mortality: as it interacts with the urge toward belonging, and our human desire to leave something, some trace, behind; and our twin desire for self obliteration. Street photography, historical footage, and old home videos interlaced with the body of the film, underscore how the ‘now’ will become the ‘then’, how those of us living today become the ghosts of tomorrow.” The short stars a nearly unrecognizable Jessie Buckley (also in Hamnet) with blue hair and a nose ring. Along with Josef Akiki as the other ghost. Shot on location in Athens, Greece. This looks quite good. Not just a simple story about ghosts wandering around a city, it’s much deeper than that. Check it out.

Here’s the main official trailer for Charlie Kaufman’s short film How to Shoot a Ghost, from YouTube:

Intro via Venice: “Two newly dead young people meet in the streets of Athens, amid the pulsing cityscape and the ghosts of history. One a translator, the other a photographer, they were outsiders in life; in death they struggle with the residue of their longings and mistakes. They wander the city together, finding consolation in the difficult beauty of existence and its aftermath.” How to Shoot a Ghost is a short directed by iconic Oscar-winning American writer / filmmaker Charlie Kaufman, director of the films Anomalisa, Synecdoche New York, and I’m Thinking of Ending Things previously, and writer of scripts for Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The screenplay is written by Eva H.D. Produced by Isabelle Deluce & Emily McCann Lesser. The film premieres at the 2025 Venice Film Festival in the Out of Competition section. No other release dates are set yet – stay tuned for updates. Who’s interested?

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