Director: Charlie Kaufman
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Josef Akiki, Eva H.D.
How to Shoot a Ghost is a 2025 American-Cypriot fantasy short film directed by Charlie Kaufman, running 27 minutes. Set against the ancient streets of Athens, it follows two recently deceased strangers — a translator and a photographer — as they navigate the afterlife with quiet, aching grace.
What is How to Shoot a Ghost about?
Two young people, freshly released from the living world, find themselves adrift in Athens. One spent her life rendering other people's words across languages; the other trained his eye on what the camera could capture and what it inevitably missed. Strangers in life, they are doubly displaced in death — no longer part of the city's rhythm, yet unable to leave its corridors of memory and stone. Together they walk, argue, fall silent, and slowly recognize in each other the shape of longing that never fully resolves. The film refuses easy comfort, letting its characters sit inside the difficulty of existence even after existence has technically ended.
Cast & crew
Charlie Kaufman — the writer behind Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — makes a rare directorial turn with this short. Jessie Buckley, known for her emotionally precise performances in film and on stage, leads alongside Josef Akiki and poet-author Eva H.D., whose literary background brings an unusual texture to the ensemble.
Context & significance
For Persian-speaking viewers in the diaspora, short films by major auteurs rarely reach streaming platforms, making this an uncommon opportunity. Kaufman's work has long attracted Iranian cinephiles drawn to his brand of melancholy introspection — a sensibility that resonates with the Iranian art-cinema tradition of Kiarostami and Panahi. Athens itself, a city layered with empire, exile, and erasure, carries a symbolic weight that speaks across cultures shaped by displacement. The film is available with Persian dubbing, making it fully accessible without needing to follow English subtitles. Its 27-minute length makes it an ideal single sitting for viewers unfamiliar with Kaufman's more demanding features.
Where & how to watch
How to Shoot a Ghost is available on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles. Watch on the web, your TV, or your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, no extra download required. Start and cancel anytime.