Dead Serious
From the Archives
•
Comedy, Short Films, 04-Feb-2026
A mother surprises her adult children with a trip to the cemetery where she wants to be buried. Lizi Latimer and Myriam Schroeter direct “Dead Serious,” a dramatic comedy reckoning with mortality and family ethnicity. The bickering millennial siblings Liv and Matt wait for their mom in the car. When she arrives, Debbie changes the plans—setting route to a Jewish cemetery where she’s preemptively purchased a burial plot. The siblings, raised by their mom as Buddhists, have a hard time wrapping their heads around the sudden desire to shift cultural identities. The trio of performers capture a convincing family dynamic with sharp characterizations and quick-witted squabbling. When the mother snaps back at her children, we reach a monologue of unexpected poignancy. -JM. Directors: Lizi Latimer & Myriam Schroeter. Cast: Jessica Hecht, Elise Kibler, Zane Pais. Director of Photography: Alexander Dynan. Editor: Amandine Thomas. Producer: Raven Jensen. Production Designer: Carol Kim. Costume Designer: Lizzie Donelan. Sound Designer: M.B. Al-Rahim.
Up Next in From the Archives
-
Clique Bait
At an international school in Hong Kong, a high school girl spreads a video sexualizing her childhood friend. Directed by and starring Anna Mikami, “Clique Bait,” finds a group of teenage girls caught between worlds, reacting unpredictably to the pressures of school, fixations on outward appeara...
-
On My Way
Told as a series of texts between two friends dreading their planned hang, “On My Way,” directed by Mary Dauterman, is a 90 second comedy about not wanting to leave the house. We watch in split screen as the two young women — one snacking and watching TV, the other lounging comfortably in bed — p...
