Charlie Kaufman 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 can exclusively reveal that Kanopy — the ad-free streaming service free for many library cardholders to use — has signed on as a producer and the exclusive library and educational distributor of the film.
“How to Shoot a Ghost” is directed by Kaufman and written by the poet Eva H.D., who previously wrote Kaufman’s 2023 short “Jackals & Fireflies.” Per an official synopsis, the film “follows two newly deceased young people who meet in the streets of Athens, amid the pulsing cityscape and the ghosts of its history. One is a translator, the other a photographer; they were outsiders in life, and in death, they struggle with the residue of their longings and mistakes. They wander the city together, finding consolation in the rugged beauty of existence and its aftermath.” Josef Akiki and Jessie Buckley star.
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The collaboration with Kaufman marks the latest ambitious expansion for Kanopy. The service, which launched in 2008 and is now available to over 50% of library cardholders in the United States, released its first original feature film, the book-banning documentary “Banned Together,” in April 2025.
“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 in a statement. “Kanopy’s partnership with universities 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 GM 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.”
Kaufman’s last feature directorial effort was the acclaimed 2020 Netflix film “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” starring Buckley. He is currently attached to direct Eddie Redmayne and Tessa Thompson in a film adaptation of Iddo Geffen’s short story “Later the War.”
