Going into the 98th Academy Awards, Joshua Seftel knew his short documentary film “All the Empty Rooms,” had a one in five chance of winning.
The Schenectady-born and raised filmmaker had been here before three years ago for his Oscar-nominated film “Stranger at the Gate.” This time, the pressure felt different, and not because pundits thought “All the Empty Rooms” was a front-runner in this year’s race. Seftel had the family of his film’s subjects — four children murdered in school shootings — in the audience with him.
“We didn’t want to disappoint the parents,” Seftel recalled, dialing in between flights. “I said to one of the parents Gloria Cazares, ‘How would you feel if we didn’t win?’ And she said, ‘Well, I’ve become very used to disappointment in my life.’ And that broke my heart.”…