03/16/26 01:22:00
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03/16 13:20 CDT Warriors coach Steve Kerr part of Oscar documentary short win
with 'All the Empty Rooms'
Warriors coach Steve Kerr part of Oscar documentary short win with 'All the
Empty Rooms'
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
Golden State coach Steve Kerr is now an Oscar winner.
Kerr was one of the executive producers for "All the Empty Rooms," which won
the Oscar for documentary short.
The 35-minute film chronicles how broadcast journalist Steve Hartman and
photographer Lou Bopp told the stories of how families have memorialized the
bedrooms of children killed in mass shootings. Kerr --- whose father, then the
president of American University in Beirut, was shot and killed in 1984 --- has
long spoken out about a need for common-sense gun regulation.
"I didn't have anything to do with the making of the film," Kerr said Monday.
"But I am very proud to be associated with it."
Kerr --- a nine-time NBA champion as a player and coach, who also coached USA
Basketball to Olympic gold at the 2024 Paris Games --- said he did not hesitate
when asked to be part of this project.
"They called me about a year ago and asked if I would like to be an executive
producer, which meant basically put my name on it and help promote it," Kerr
said. "It was a no-brainer, just given my passion for the issue. And then after
watching the film, I was just blown away by how beautiful it was and poignant
it was. It was an easy decision."
Kerr did some screenings for Netflix in recent weeks and wrote an op-ed for the
Los Angeles Times earlier this month about the film, detailing how he was drawn
to the way director Joshua Seftel and others involved in the project told the
stories of the families who have lost children in school shootings.
"What mattered to me right away was how the film listens to families," Kerr
wrote in that piece. "It gives them room to speak about their children without
exploiting their stories into politics or spectacle. There's a dignity in that
choice, which is difficult to find in the way our country usually talks about
gun violence."
Seftel accepted the Oscar on Sunday night, then ceded the microphone to Gloria
Cazares, the mother of a 9-year-old killed in a school shooting in Uvalde,
Texas.
"My daughter Jackie was 9 years old when she was killed in Uvalde," Gloria
Cazares said on stage. "Since that day, her bedroom has been frozen in in time.
Jackie is more than just a headline. She is our light and our life. Gun
violence is now the No. 1 cause of death in kids and teens. We believe that if
the world could see their empty bedrooms, we'd be a different America."
Kerr is the second member of the Warriors to be involved in an Oscar win in
recent years: Golden State guard Stephen Curry was an executive producer for
"The Queen of Basketball," which won for short subject documentary in 2022.
Kerr was not at the Oscars --- the Warriors had a game Sunday night, and he
learned of the win in his family's group text --- and said he does not get a
statuette.
"I'm very passionate about the cause," Kerr said, "but I don't think this is
going to turn me into a filmmaker."
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