All the Empty Rooms - Comments & Tips

“I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights” Charlie Kirk

Well this probably now holds the record for "most amount of time I spent crying relative to length of the film" I honestly think I was either on the verge of tears or full blown crying for about 60% of this. I lost it when [spoiler]the 15 y/o girls dad was reading her "letters to her future self" and had to keep pausing because he was getting choked up.[/spoiler] It's a very touching doc

Oh my gosh. This is crushing. I cried within the first 3 mins. I can't imagine what it felt like for him to go through each of those spaces.

Another devastating, depressing gun violence documentary. 2025 (98th) Academy Award nominations: Best Documentary Short Film

There are films that are tough to watch, and the short documentary “All the Empty Rooms” is definitely one of them because of its subject matter. It centers on a project by journalist Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp, who photograph the rooms of children killed in school shootings. The aim is to shift public focus away from the perpetrators and onto the victims, which it does quite successfully. I found the whole thing very moving. It's just a shame that we don't get to see enough of the finalized project, which makes the film seem a bit unfinished. But it's definitely worth watching.

This documentary didnt need to be made. 26 years ago (to the date I write this), America could've done the right thing and remove firearms from sale to the general public when Columbine happened. And yet, here in 2025, we have just had another shooting, this time a university. I feel for parents, I truly do, but please dont pretend as a country you care, if you did, no old and out of date scripture would be worth more than your children's lives.