Joshua Oppenheimer’s new short film on the quest for immortality lands in December via New York Times Op-Docs and MUBI — a quiet, devastating look at what we’re willing to sacrifice to stay alive.
The New York Times’ Op-Docs has acquired The Revolution Against Death, the new short documentary directed by two-time Oscar nominee Joshua Oppenheimer. The film, which premiered at Finland’s Tampere Film Festival and recently screened at Telluride, captures the atmosphere of the annual Revolution Against Aging and Death Festival — a gathering where scientists, tech billionaires, and longevity enthusiasts converge in pursuit of immortality.
It will be co-released globally in early December by Op-Docs and MUBI. No red carpet. No studio rollout. Just Oppenheimer, once again, turning his unflinching gaze on human obsession, this time not on violence or political terror, but on the quiet dread of dying.
In a statement, he wrote that he was drawn to the festival because he has been haunted by fear of death since childhood. “I recognized myself, clinging white-knuckled to the hope that I might defeat death,” he said. “In the years that followed, I discovered that because nothing lasts, everything matters.
And eternity lies in change itself.” The film is described as a visceral portrait of aging, death, and the relentless drive to overcome them. At sessions, “fear is in the air, of illness, of invisibility, of dying alone,” according to a release. Alexandra Garcia, executive producer of Op-Docs, called it a “haunting, observational look at the fundamental human conflict between the reality of death and the relentless drive for immortality.” The platform, known for its 450+ short films that have sparked global conversations and earned awards including an Oscar, Emmy, and Peabody, now adds Oppenheimer’s work to its 2026 slate of potential award contenders.
That includes Living With a Visionary, a Sundance-winning animated short. The Tuners, a Kraków Silver Dragon winner. And A Wolf in the Suburbs, which premiered at SXSW. Oppenheimer, a MacArthur Fellowship recipient, made his fiction debut in 2024 with The End, a post-apocalyptic musical thriller starring Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, and George MacKay.
The film screens Saturday at the Chicago International Film Festival and next month at IDFA in Amsterdam, the world’s largest documentary event. Whether it becomes another landmark in Op-Docs’ legacy depends on how deeply it lands. Not in spectacle, but in silence.
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