"I Went Outside with the Idea that, 'This is My Last Day'": Charlie Kaufman and Eva HD on Their Venice-Premiering How to Shoot a Ghost

"The paradox created by the juxtaposition of those words and that image animates How to Shoot a Ghost, Charlie Kaufman's new Venice-premiering short film, written by HD, that sensuously and melancholically tangles with ideas around history, memory, cities and where consciousness goes when the body dies. Set in Athens, Greece, it stars Jessie Buckley (returning from Kaufman's previous feature, I'm Thinking of Ending Things) and Joseph Akiki as two foreigners in the city who have both met violent, untimely ends."

"The two drift through the city streets, discovering each other and co-mingling with the city's other ghosts while gazing with a kind of empathetic wonder on the city's living residents going about their days - playing chess, shopping, in libraries, in clubs. The ancient city's history is present too in all these places and faces, as voiceover and archival footage interweave discussions of Thucydides and his Peloponnesian War writings with footage from the 1967 coup, among other moments."

How to Shoot a Ghost is a short film written by Eva HD and directed by Charlie Kaufman, premiering in Venice. The film opens with the poet Eva HD taking a photograph followed by a Toni Morrison quote about life's beauty becoming enough, creating a paradox between observation and acceptance. Set in Athens, the narrative follows Jessie Buckley and Joseph Akiki as two foreigners whose violent, untimely deaths freeze unresolved family relationships. They drift through city streets, co-mingle with other ghosts, and observe living residents. Voiceover and archival footage weave ancient history and 1967 coup material into present-day scenes, while cinematography finds the sublime in darkness. The film marks a second collaboration between Kaufman and Eva HD rooted in photographs of Athens.

Read at Filmmaker Magazine