Kaufman @ Kanopy

The photos you see here of Lebanese performance artist Josef Akiki (via) are not from the movie I'm about to talk about. But since the dude looks hot in these pictures I said to myself, "Hey, be yourself, post those shirtless pictures of the actor that you found." And if there's anything writer-director Charlie Kaufman's taught me it's to walk to the beat of my own drummer, and since it's Charlie we're here to actually talk about I'm gonna listen! Aaaaaanyway point being IndieWire is reporting that the once-in-a-generation genius behind Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synecdoche New York has a new short film called "How To Shoot a Ghost" premiering in Venice! The film stars Jessie Buckley (who gave a rapturous performance in Kaufman's last film I'm Thinking of Ending Things) alongside SEXY Mr. Akiki seen in these photos, it's 27 minutes long, it was co-written by the poet Eva H.D (whose book of poetry is featured prominently in ITOET), and here is what it is about:

"[The film] follows two newly deceased young people who meet in the streets of Athens, amid the pulsing cityscape and the ghosts of its history. One is a translator, the other a photographer; they were outsiders in life, and in death, they struggle with the residue of their longings and mistakes. They wander the city together, finding consolation in the rugged beauty of existence and its aftermath."

All of that's awesome obviously -- any new Charlie Kaufman work is cause to bang pots out our windows and to run naked down our streets. But the real gem of news here is that the film's been produced by the public library streaming service Kanopy and it will distributed by them. Once upon a time I would've been angry about this news because Kanopy stopped being available in the NYC public libraries after a very brief test that collapsed the system like a decade ago. But then about six months ago I registered at the small library in my hometown in upstate New York so now I have Kanopy and I don't have to be annoyed! Please clap.