My Dead Friend Zoe | Interview with Kyle Hausmann-Stokes

My Dead Friend Zoe is a 2024 American comedy-drama film written by Kyle Hausmann-Stokes and A. J. Bermudez, directed by Hausmann-Stokes and starring Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Gloria Reuben, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Morgan Freeman, and Ed Harris.

It premiered at South by Southwest on March 9, 2024, and was theatrically released in the United States on February 28, 2025.

Kyle is an award-winning director and writer based in Los Angeles. Like all filmmakers, he got his start as a paratrooper in the US Army. He served 5 years in the US Army and was awarded the Bronze Star for his service as a convoy commander in Iraq. Kyle is a graduate of USC's School of Cinematic Arts and co-founder of the nonprofit organization Veterans in Media & Entertainment. He's directed films for Google, IBM, US Air Force, UPS and the US Dept of Veterans Affairs.

Film synopsis:

Merit is a U.S. veteran who's at odds with her family thanks to the presence of Zoe, her dead best friend from the Army. Her cozy yet dysfunctional friendship with Zoe keeps the duo insulated from the world, until her estranged grandfather -- holed up at the family's ancestral lake house -- begins to lose his way and needs the help he refuses.