Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation, Being John Malkovich) "is preparing to take his new short film How to Shoot a Ghost to the Venice International Film Festival next month, but it won't be long before cinephiles with public library cards get a chance to watch it," IndieWire reported. Josef Akiki and Jessie Buckley star.
Kanopy, the ad-free streaming service, has signed on as a producer and the exclusive library and educational distributor of the film. Launched in 2008 and available free to more than 50% percent of library cardholders in the U.S., Kanopy released its first original feature film, Banned Together, in April.
Directed by Kaufman, How to Shoot a Ghost is written by the poet Eva H.D., who wrote Kaufman's short Jackals & Fireflies (2023). The film follows "two newly dead young people [who] 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," according to the official synopsis.
"Given the crisis of education in this country, it remains as important as ever for citizens to continue to have barrier-free access to the wealth of free resources that libraries have always offered," Kaufman said. "Kanopy's partnership with university and public libraries ensures that a rich digital archive of cinematic work from all over the world--from the newest documentaries to the collected adventures of Buster Keaton--will be available to a new generation of cinephiles."
"Kanopy is proud to continue our work of supporting impactful artists with How to Shoot a Ghost," Kanopy general manager Jason Tyrell added. "We are thrilled to join this incredible producing team and help bring an exciting new cinematic vision to Kanopy audiences via our extensive streaming platform. Charlie's love of film craft and singular storytelling sensibilities, coupled with Eva's elegant poetry, weave together into a richly historical and literary work that deserves to be platformed. We are eager to share this project with Kanopy's patrons and educators."