Joshua Seftel

Biography

Joshua Seftel is an American filmmaker, director, and producer known for crafting socially conscious narratives that often focus on underdogs and bridge-building. A multi-award winner, he has successfully oscillated between hard-hitting documentaries, commercial directing, and viral digital content throughout his career. In January 2026, Seftel received his second Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Short Film for "All the Empty Rooms". The film, released on Netflix in December 2025, follows CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they visit the families of school shooting victims to photograph the bedrooms the children left behind. Executive produced by Adam McKay and Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, the documentary has been praised for reframing the gun violence debate through intimate, human grief rather than politics. This nomination follows his previous Oscar nod in 2023 for "Stranger at the Gate", a short film about a US Marine who planned to bomb a mosque but was instead embraced by the community. Both films are spiritual extensions of his long-running, Emmy-nominated series "Secret Life of Muslims", which aims to combat Islamophobia through storytelling. Seftel is also a beloved figure to the audience of CBS Sunday Morning, where he regularly produces and appears in segments featuring his elderly mother, Pat Seftel. Their conversations, which began as a way to stay connected via iPad, have evolved into a recurring feature tackling pop culture and current events.