Life, laughter, mortality, and self-reflection collide in André Is an Idiot, a documentary that follows advertising creative André Ricciardi as he confronts his own impending mortality with humor, curiosity, and unvarnished honesty.
Ricciardi, the irreverent, self-deprecating subject of the film, calls himself an “idiot” for skipping a colonoscopy at age 50, a decision that led to a terminal colon cancer diagnosis and, ultimately, this extraordinary cinematic tribute to his life and worldview. Throughout the film, Ricciardi’s candid wit, fearless humor, and wild ideas, from planning his last words to musing about donating his body to television, make for a documentary that is as hilarious as it is deeply human.
Directed by Tony Benna, André Is an Idiot made its official debut in the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Documentary Competition, where it won both the Audience Award and the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award. Following Sundance, the film continued its festival run with screenings at events such as the Mill Valley Film Festival, where it won the Audience Favorite for Documentary, and the Hamptons International Film Festival, scoring the Special Documentary Jury Prize for Impactful Storytelling.
It is scheduled for theatrical release beginning March 6, 2026, in limited release, before rolling out to other cities, via Joint Venture.
André Is an Idiot tells the story of André Ricciardi, a brilliant, eccentric advertising creative who learns he has terminal colon cancer, a condition that could have been detected if he’d gotten a routine colonoscopy. Instead of retreating in fear, Ricciardi chooses to document his journey toward the inevitable with humor, bravery, and unfiltered self-reflection. What emerges is less a traditional illness documentary and more a celebration of life’s absurdity, humor, and resilience, as viewers accompany André through doctor visits, treatment, introspection, and wild creative ideas. Using a blend of verité footage, personal diaries, and imaginative stop-motion animation, the film explores how one man chooses laughter over fear and joy over resignation.
Among the early critics’ reviews, POV magazine called the movie, “one of the most moving, most hilarious, most tragic, most wonderful works of non-fiction filmmaking in many years.” Collider review described it as ‘not your typical dry, straightforward documentary,’ adding, “André Is an Idiot is both a celebration of one man’s life and a reflection on the notion of death in general. The film lets us get to know him and all his eccentricities, like the way he keeps weed in a jar to use as currency in case there’s an earthquake and the fact that, when his daughter was in the hospital, he bonded with her by reading her a book about the Manson murders.”
Watch the official trailer for André Is an Idiot above.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.