Producer reveals why he created ‘devastating’ Netflix film branded too painful to watch

A filmmaker has explained why he helped produce a Netflix short film described as 'devastating' by viewers.

With less than a month until 2025 ends, Netflix is still going strong with its latest additions, from captivating TV dramas to gut-wrenching documentaries.

It's the latter that has caught the attention of subscribers most recently, in the form of a short documentary about the victims of US mass shootings.

There have been 222 school shootings in the country so far this year, according to data from the K-12 School Shooting Database.

Oscar-nominee Joshua Seftel worked with CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman on the poignant movie, which is too tough a watch for some people.

Called All The Empty Rooms, the film follows Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they memorialize the bedrooms of children killed in school shootings.

Among the families involved is those of Dominic Blackwell and Gracie Muehlberger, who were both killed by another student in the 2019 Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita, California.

Joshua Seftel, pictured, worked with CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman on the documentary (Derek White/Getty Images for SCAD)

The families of nine-year-old Jackie Cazares, one of 19 children killed in the 2022 Uvalde, Texas school shooting, and Hallie Scruggs, who was the same age when she was killed in the 2023 Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, also feature.

Taking to social media, viewers described the documentary as 'an astonishing, deeply human masterpiece'.

Another called it 'heartbreaking but necessary,' adding: "Every frame and silence feels alive with emotions and says more than words ever could, every photos taken during the movie pulls you to listen not to what was said, but to what that wasn't said or spoken."

Over on Reddit, others revealed that he short film had them in tears, while for some, it was too much to stomach.

"It was a hard watch, tears through the whole documentary," one person wrote, adding: "Absolutely heartbreaking."

Filmed over seven years, the documentary explores the grief of those affected by gun violence (Netflix)

Another shared it was 'too painful' to watch.

Meanwhile, Seftel told Netflix Tudum exactly why he took produced All the Empty Rooms.

"The reporting on school shootings tends to focus on headlines and statistics, and I think that can make us numb," he began.

"It makes it harder for us to truly process what is happening on a human level. We don’t usually get to know the people who were affected by these acts of violence."

Seftel added that the reason he was drawn to make the movie was because it 'reframes the issue of school shootings by putting the focus on the children who were killed, and on the families who are clinging to the memory of their children through these empty bedrooms'.

"I believe that framing makes it harder for us to ignore this or to look away - that we will never again read a headline about a mass shooting without thinking of the empty rooms."

On the movie exploring the children's rooms, he added: "Each child in this film was an individual who had a rich and unique life, and I hope people will get a sense of what they liked to do, and what gave them joy.

"To me, this film is about loss, and to understand that loss, I think you need to understand the life that was there before."

All The Empty Rooms is streaming now on Netflix.