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Joshua Seftel

@jrseftel

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🎬 Director @alltheemptyrooms🏆 Academy Award® Winner 2026 🌞 Commentator: CBS Sunday Morning (with my mom)
Follow for posts about my mom, Pat

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We are honored to reveal our jurors for this year’s competition sections. The lineup of talent features many past DOC NYC alumni.

U.S. Competition: Sam Bisbee, Michael Premo & Elizabeth Woodward

International Competition: Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, Paola Mottura & Nicole Tsien

Shorts Competition: Molly O’Brien, Laura Nix & Marcia Rock

Metropolis Competition: Jacqueline Handy, Christopher Radcliff & Hannah Rosenzweig

Archival Storytelling Competition: Carl Deal, Rachael J. Morrison & Sasha Waters

The Louie Awards: Violet Du Feng, Jaie Laplante & Joshua Seftel

Check our link bio to learn more about our jurors and programming!

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Had the immense honor of attending the annual @nyagv gala last night to watch @govkathyhochul sign Senate Bill S9629 (aka Francesco’s Law) and to acknowledge the unbelievable work NYAGV does for New Yorkers and beyond 🕊️

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Oscar-worthy advice from an Oscar-winning alum 🐘💙

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It was incredibly inspiring to be among so many advocates, researchers, and community organizers fighting for gun safety at the recent @stridesforpeace National Gun Violence Prevention Expo in Chicago.

One of the highlights was crossing paths with fellow storyteller @leonfordspeaks, an author, playwright, gun violence survivor, and CEO of @thehearfoundation.

When Ford was 19, he was shot and paralyzed by a police officer in a case of mistaken identity. That experience led him to dedicate his life to work centered on public safety, community, and healing, co-founding @hearfoundationpgh alongside a veteran public safety official. The first and only nonprofit of its kind in Pittsburgh, the foundation works to build a safer, more thriving community through collaboration.

Recently, Ford’s first play, The Weight of Forgiveness, premiered in Pittsburgh, drawing from a real conversation between Leon and the officer who shot him. We can’t wait to see what he does next.

Thank you to @stridesforpeace for bringing so many people and perspectives together and making connections like these possible.

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We were honored to join @march_fourth_ for their annual impact fundraiser in Chicago, where hundreds of advocates, volunteers, and survivors came together around a shared belief that mass shootings should never be accepted as a fact of American life.

The March Fourth team has been an incredible partner to us over the years, and we were inspired by the turnout and passion of everyone in the room. It was especially lovely to catch up with the Scruggs and Cazares families, parents of Hallie and Jackie from our film. The night was filled with hugs, laughter, and tears.

Huge thanks to March Fourth for bringing this community together, and for all the work you do to champion a safer future. Thank you for continuing to support our film. Grateful to be a part of your community.

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Talking about gun violence and grief is never easy, but for Congresswoman @RepLucyMcBath, it’s personal. Her son Jordan was shot and killed in 2012. He was 17 years old.

While we know it’s difficult, we’re grateful that All the Empty Rooms can help people understand what so many families live through after gun violence.

If you know someone who can’t or doesn’t want to watch our film, for whatever reason, we hope you’ll consider sharing Congresswoman McBath’s words with them.

Our sincere thanks to Congresswoman McBath for introducing our film at a recent screening at @emoryuniversity. Your story has had a huge impact.

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6-year-old Charlotte Bacon loved animals and dreamed of becoming a “doggy doctor.” When she was killed, her family set up a program called “Charlotte’s Litter,” making it possible for service dogs to visit schools and comfort children in need.

It wasn’t until 6 years had passed that Charlotte’s mom, JoAnn, opened Charlotte’s bedside drawer to discover the library book, “Dogs on the Job.”

“One of the last books she read was about working dogs, and here we had a whole program of working dogs,” said JoAnn, recounting the synchronicity.

Finding this book affirmed for JoAnn that they were on the right path with the program, which visited more than 90 schools. “It’s one of those things you can’t quite explain,” says JoAnn, “The soul knows what the soul knows.”

Charlotte’s book is now more than 13 years overdue from the Sandy Hook Elementary School library.

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Not every day you get to hold an Oscar. 🏆

Last night I was honored to be in the room for the Opening Gala of the inaugural National Gun Violence Prevention Expo, presented by @stridesforpeace at the Hilton Chicago. A room full of people who have given their lives to making our communities safer.

The highlight of my night was @junehott215 and I meeting director Joshua Seftel @jrseftel and executive producer Lisa Cortés @misscortes of @alltheemptyrooms , this year’s Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Short Film.

And yes, they let me hold the statue. 🙏🏾

The film follows CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp on a seven-year journey documenting the bedrooms of children lost to school shootings, rooms their families have kept exactly as they left them. It is dedicated to Alyssa, Charlotte, Dominic, Jackie, Luke, Gracie, Carmen and Hallie. Those quiet rooms say more than any statistic ever could.

I shared a bit of our story and the work we’re doing at @hearfoundationpgh back home in Pittsburgh, and I got to learn about theirs.

Congratulations to all of the 2026 honorees, and thank you to Maggie Baczkowski and the entire Strides for Peace family for building a national table for this work. The Expo runs through Saturday. Let’s keep going. 💙

If you haven’t watched All the Empty Rooms yet, it’s streaming now on Netflix.

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Tomorrow in Chicago: All the Empty Rooms director @jrseftel and executive producer @misscortes will be at the National Gun Violence Prevention Expo on September 24, for a conversation with @valwarnertv, @abc7chicago news anchor and host of @windycitylive.

Huge thanks to @stridesforpeace for hosting this event and bringing together people working to prevent gun violence. We’re grateful to be part of the conversation and to see our film’s impact continue far beyond the screen.

Link in our bio to RSVP.

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We are deeply honored to share that @riseuphealingcollective has been invited to open this year’s National Gun Violence Prevention Expo with an intentional experience of yoga, meditation, breathwork, and wellness.

Hosted by @stridesforpeace , this powerful three-day gathering brings together community leaders, advocates, researchers, educators, changemakers, and national voices working across the spectrum of gun violence prevention, harm reduction, restorative practices, social-emotional learning, and community safety.

And before the conversations begin… we’re creating space to breathe.

Our role is to help ground the room, center the collective, and set intentions for the days ahead—reminding everyone that violence prevention isn’t only about what happens in our communities externally. It’s also about how we care for ourselves, regulate our bodies, heal our communities, and build cultures rooted in connection rather than violence.

For us, this is bigger than an event.

It represents the kind of culture we believe Chicago can continue to build—where healing, mindfulness, movement, mental wellness, restorative justice, and violence prevention exist in the same conversation.

We’re grateful to be trusted with such an important responsibility and excited to share this space with so many leaders doing transformative work across our city and beyond. 🙏🏾

📍 Hilton Chicago
📅 September 24–26, 2026
🎟️ National Gun Violence Prevention Expo | Strides for Peace

Come support, connect, learn, and experience the healing with us.

Chicago, let’s keep changing the culture—one breath, one conversation, one community at a time. 🕊️🌱

#riseup #gunviolenceprevention #chicago #expo

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What an incredibly powerful evening at Emory University. We were deeply honored to meet acclaimed filmmaker Joshua Seftel and for our co-founder, Sasha, to be part of this amazing group of panelists and experts.

Watching Sasha bravely share her voice as a survivor alongside pediatric trauma doctors, emergency medicine physicians, and state advocates was a profoundly proud moment. It takes all of us, including survivors, family members, medical professionals, creators, and community members, standing together to advocate for change and protect our schools. Change does happen when we all work together.

A special thank you to Emory University and the Georgia Clinicians organization for hosting this vital space to remember, listen, and take action. Thank you to every single person who showed up to bear witness alongside the families in attendance. To our friends from across the state and across state lines, we thank you for your continued work. Shout out to State House 119 Candidate Catherine Morris for standing alongside our community to acknowledge the importance of this work.

Continue to have conversations. Continue to talk to your friends, family members, and neighbors that something more must be done to make sure that no other community goes through what ours has.

We must hope and take action to create the world our future generations deserve. Our work continues for a safer and more united Georgia.

We encourage you all to please watch ALL THE EMPTY ROOMS on Netflix.

#ChangeForChee #AllTheEmptyRooms #SchoolSafety #CommunityHealing #ProtectOurKids

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In the six months since All the Empty Rooms won the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Short Film, the statues have spent much of their time where they truly belong: with the families who trusted us to share the stories of their grief.

In Uvalde, Texas, that meant bringing the award home for Jackie Cazares. Hear from Jackie’s mom, Gloria (@ghcazares), about that experience.

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Jackie Cazares was one of 19 students and two teachers killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022.

Follow @livesrobbed to stay connected to Jackie’s story and the work Uvalde families do to honor the lives lost that day.

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