I learned many things helping Kiki make her short film, The Game Camera, and I’ll share two of the more curious lessons here. First, I learned that the writer’s job is pretty much to keep out of everyone’s way once the production begins. I have almost no photos of myself on-set, and the image here (with Kiki, still wearing the clothes of the film’s protagonist) was taken just after the last day of shooting wrapped.
Second, while short films are rarely mentioned alongside high-profile features and TV series in the mainstream media, it was cool to pick up the Summer 2025 issue of the journal Kansas History and see The Game Camera reviewed one page before Wicked, and one page after the fantastic HBO series Somebody Somewhere.
The reviewer called Kiki’s film “a spellbinding, bittersweet meditation on loss, mourning, and the challenges of moving on after bereavement.”
“Beautifully shot and evocative in its symbolism,” the review added, “The Game Camera will leave viewers reflecting on its visuals and themes long after the final credits.”
Kiki’s short film is still out on the film festival circuit (and has been screened in places as far flung as Australia, Greece, and NYC’s Museum of the Moving Image), but you can catch glimpses of it if you stream Kansas Never Plays Itself, my new video video essay about how places are (mis)represented in movies.