‘All the Empty Rooms’ Trailer – Documentary Looks at Personal Toll of School Shootings

CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp travel across the country, memorializing the bedrooms of kids lost to gun violence, in the short documentary film All the Empty Rooms.

The trailer pairs quiet, empty rooms – frozen in time – with emotional voiceovers, photographs, and moments of stillness that speak louder than any statistic.

Directed and produced by Joshua Seftel, All the Empty Rooms made its world premiere at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival, then screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, and will start streaming on Netflix on December 1, 2025.

In the documentary, veteran CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp embark on a seven-year-long project to document the empty bedrooms of children killed in school shootings. Hartman steps away from his heartwarming human interest stories and, unbeknownst to his network’s bosses, pursues a piece on absence, memory, and the unseen ripples of America’s gun violence epidemic. As these senseless incidents claim more young lives than any other cause in America, these quiet bedrooms reveal truths more powerful than statistics ever could.

Joshua Seftel reflecting on the film told The Hollywood Reporter, “After returning home, I came away with a new perspective on family and life in America. It’s impossible not to feel a greater sense of gratitude toward my children and a burning desire to change the course of this crisis. Through this film I hope we’ve opened a door for all of us to step out of the numbness and rekindle an urgency to do something.”

Watch the official trailer for All the Empty Rooms above.