2025·Documentary·34m
7.5
★
A journalist and a photographer set out to memorialize the bedrooms left behind by children killed in school shootings.
Directed by Joshua Seftel
classroom
gun violence
school shooting
mass shooting
newspaper correspondent
documentary short
Rank
#47 in 2025·#1337 overall
Trailer
IMDB
N/A
Where to Watch
Crew
Joshua Seftel
Director
Erin Casper
Editor
Stephen T. Maing
Editor
Joshua Seftel
Producer
Regina K. Scully
Executive Producer
Geralyn White Dreyfous
Executive Producer
Adam McKay
Executive Producer
Kevin J. Messick
Executive Producer
Lisa Cortés
Executive Producer
Melony Lewis
Executive Producer
Sigrid Dyekjær
Executive Producer
Kim Magnusson
Executive Producer
Popular Reviews
446 reviews
Andrew Warren
8.0★ · 03/15/26
Oscar Nominated Best Documentary Short Film
A painful watch, but in the best way possible. I caught myself breaking down into tears while in the break room at work. All the Empty Rooms is a powerful short documentary following CBS reporter Steve Hartman, who develops a story on the rooms of children who were victims in school shootings.
Hartman handles this in true Steve Hartman fashion, with the utmost respect. Hartman was the reporter who would develop stories that gave us faith in humanity, but he felt that there was no way to make a positive twist on school shootings. Which is why he takes a different approach, an approach we should all take. And that’s memorializing the children who were victims, instead of saying the name of the shooter. In this short documentary, Hartman talks with the families and takes images of various spots of these rooms. Each image tells the story of a soul that once called that place home.
Watching this documentary, it gave me a realization of the evil that exists in our world, and especially in my country of the United States. I cannot wrap my head around how someone can do such a thing, and that it’s a common occurrence that feels like it happens multiple times every year. How can there be that many people that want to murder innocent children? It’s haunting.
A painful watch, but in the best way possible. I caught myself breaking down into tears while in the break room at work. All the Empty Rooms is a powerful short documentary following CBS reporter Steve Hartman, who develops a story on the rooms of children who were victims in school shootings.
Hartman handles this in true Steve Hartman fashion, with the utmost respect. Hartman was the reporter who would develop stories that gave us faith in humanity, but he felt that there was no way to make a positive twist on school shootings. Which is why he takes a different approach, an approach we should all take. And that’s memorializing the children who were victims, instead of saying the name of the shooter. In this short documentary, Hartman talks with the families and takes images of various spots of these rooms. Each image tells the story of a soul that once called that place home.
Watching this documentary, it gave me a realization of the evil that exists in our world, and especially in my country of the United States. I cannot wrap my head around how someone can do such a thing, and that it’s a common occurrence that feels like it happens multiple times every year. How can there be that many people that want to murder innocent children? It’s haunting.
Oscar Nominated Best Documentary Short Film
A painful watch, but in the best way possible. I caught myself breaking down into tears while in the break room at work. All the Empty Rooms is a powerful short documentary following CBS reporter Steve Hartman, who develops a story on the rooms of children who were victims in school shootings.
Hartman handles this in true Steve Hartman fashion, with the utmost respect. Hartman was the reporter who would develop stories that gave us faith in humanity, but he felt that there was no way to make a positive twist on school shootings. Which is why he takes a different approach, an approach we should all take. And that’s memorializing the children who were victims, instead of saying the name of the shooter. In this short documentary, Hartman talks with the families and takes images of various spots of these rooms. Each image tells the story of a soul that once called that place home.
Watching this documentary, it gave me a realization of the evil that exists in our world, and especially in my country of the United States. I cannot wrap my head around how someone can do such a thing, and that it’s a common occurrence that feels like it happens multiple times every year. How can there be that many people that want to murder innocent children? It’s haunting.
A painful watch, but in the best way possible. I caught myself breaking down into tears while in the break room at work. All the Empty Rooms is a powerful short documentary following CBS reporter Steve Hartman, who develops a story on the rooms of children who were victims in school shootings.
Hartman handles this in true Steve Hartman fashion, with the utmost respect. Hartman was the reporter who would develop stories that gave us faith in humanity, but he felt that there was no way to make a positive twist on school shootings. Which is why he takes a different approach, an approach we should all take. And that’s memorializing the children who were victims, instead of saying the name of the shooter. In this short documentary, Hartman talks with the families and takes images of various spots of these rooms. Each image tells the story of a soul that once called that place home.
Watching this documentary, it gave me a realization of the evil that exists in our world, and especially in my country of the United States. I cannot wrap my head around how someone can do such a thing, and that it’s a common occurrence that feels like it happens multiple times every year. How can there be that many people that want to murder innocent children? It’s haunting.
2
Laura Jeppesen
i started crying as soon as they showed the spongebob room💔
i started crying as soon as they showed the spongebob room💔
1
Jacob LucibelloPRO
8.0★ · 02/27/26
Had to pause multiple times because I was crying my eyes out. This is so incredibly sad and powerful. Take 30 minutes to watch this and never allow yourself to become numb to the atrocities that happen all over the United States.
Had to pause multiple times because I was crying my eyes out. This is so incredibly sad and powerful. Take 30 minutes to watch this and never allow yourself to become numb to the atrocities that happen all over the United States.
1
Joshua Palmer
8.0★ · 02/23/26
She was so happy to start highschool while I treated it like my own personal hell. Perspective is everything and I'm so lucky to be alive and 4 semesters into my foreign languages major.
She was so happy to start highschool while I treated it like my own personal hell. Perspective is everything and I'm so lucky to be alive and 4 semesters into my foreign languages major.
1
kk
10.0★ · 02/09/26
the thought of school shootings being so prominent that we as an audience may grow numb to them horrifies me. i’ve never sobbed so much.
the thought of school shootings being so prominent that we as an audience may grow numb to them horrifies me. i’ve never sobbed so much.
1