Oregon-made film 'My Dead Friend Zoe' set for world premiere at SXSW

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – An Oregon-made film is slated to premiere at South by Southwest (SXSW) in March, exploring parts of the veteran experience while supporting veteran organizations across the United States.

"My Dead Friend Zoe" is a dark comedy following the story of a female Afghanistan veteran and her relationships with her dead best friend from the Army, and her estranged Vietnam veteran grandfather.

The film stars Sonequa Martin-Green, and Natalie Morales, along with Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Gloria Reuben.

“It’s a film about friendship, family, loss, humor, and heart, and based on a lot of my experiences during and after the military with PTSD and the whole veteran experience,” "My Dead Friend Zoe" Writer and Director Kyle Hausemann-Stokes told KOIN 6 News.

Enlisting in the military one month before 9/11, Hausemann-Stokes served five years in the U.S. Army and received a Bronze Star in Iraq.

As a veteran, he champions efforts supporting mental health, gun safety, and his fellow veterans -- co-founding Veterans in Media & Entertainment, a nonprofit organization that connects current and former members of the military to jobs in the entertainment industry.

Now, he's making his feature film debut with "My Dead Friend Zoe."

“I hope that people come away from this film seeing veterans in a deeper or more nuanced way. I think so often, in film and TV, we’re portrayed in these extremes of this larger-than-life hero that’s literally in combat or war. On the other end of the spectrum, we’re broken veterans with some kind of anger, or alcohol or drug addiction, and it doesn’t really portray all the middle parts, which is where most of us live,” Hausemann-Stokes said.

“I’m excited for people to come out of the film seeing veterans for the humans that we are, for the huge asset that we are to society and to the country,” he furthered.

"My Dead Friend Zoe," was originally set to film in the Midwest, where Hausemann-Stokes is from, before a last-minute decision to film in Oregon.

"We both found unanimously that it was just a fabulous experience [to film in Oregon,]" said Paul Scanlan, co-founder and CEO of Legion M, one of the production companies behind the film.

The movie was filmed around Portland, Forest Grove, and Molalla during the summer of 2023, and inspired Hausemann-Stokes and Scanlan to film future projects in Oregon, crediting the state's "outstanding" film tax incentives and its friendliness towards independent filmmaking.

“My very first location scout to Portland, going through the airport, spoke to how film-friendly it was,” Hausemann-Stokes said – noting the movie posters showcasing Oregon-made movies inside Portland International Airport "really gave me this pre-confidence that we were going to be okay there.”

“I’ve done a lot of commercials and a few TV shows that have taken me all over the world, but Portland was one of my favorite places, one of the most accommodating,” Hausemann-Stokes said.

The filmmakers enjoyed Oregon's diversity of locations for the film, from industrial areas in Portland to a rodeo in Molalla, where they found a sense of community both on and-off set, along with another military connection.

Scanlan recalled one of his favorite memories shooting the film was when the director of the Molalla rodeo -- who is also an Army veteran like Hausemann-Stokes -- allowed them to film the rodeo as long as the community could honor the film director for his service.

“The only way he would allow us to film there is if I agreed to be honored at this rodeo, which included putting me in the back of a pickup truck and driving out into the middle of the rodeo with pyrotechnics, and music, and I'm just I'm behind the camera guy, and there's all these people there cheering and it was pretty surreal,” Hausemann-Stokes said.

The film also brought community members together for a scene at a Molalla park featuring a craft fair during a Fourth of July celebration. The scene brought local artisans together to showcase a variety of goods from tie-dye shirts, and bird feeders, to popcorn and caramel apples.

"Everybody heard that this was a film about veterans, and it was so special to see all those people come out and support us like that," Hausemann-Stokes said.

That support is also shining a light on veteran organizations across the United States -- including The Mission Continues, the Bob Woodruff Foundation, and EveryTown for Gun Safety: Support Fund -- who are impact partners of the film.

The filmmakers also partnered with Radiant Media Studios who brought Kansas City Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce to the project as an executive producer. The studio also provided extra funding with green energy tax credits -- marking the first film to be funded with the tax incentive, as reported by Variety.

"My Dead Friend Zoe" premieres at SXSW March 9, in Austin Texas.