jamie kripke shoots his own funeral

Inspired by the “profound truth” that “the artist’s best career move is death,” Jamie Kripke decided to stage his own funeral.

The idea was to step up the idea of the traditional mailer to advertise his work, creating a sort of subversive “commercial.”

“At first I thought it would be funny to stage my death as an elaborate hoax, complete with fake news, photos, and a proper obituary—to play with the idea that artists only become famous once they’re dead,” Jamie wrote on his blog, where you can read the entire (entertaining) backstory.

The result is the above video, a collaboration between Jamie and his partner Evan Fry, and produced by Postmodern in Denver. Evan directed while Jamie was lying in the casket.

Jamie premiered the video to a group of 50 or so friends and family, including his parents. “I had been wondering myself what the response might be. And to be honest I expected crickets / awkward silence. But the response at the opening was awesome! Huge cheers all around. Everyone loved it,” he reported.

Let us know how you reacted in the comments. Regardless of the nature of the response, this video is likely to get quite a lot more attention!

Executive Producer — Ben Seymour / Postmodern
Producer — Krisi Olivero / Postmodern
Director — Evan Fry
Director of Photography — Jon Firestone
1st AC — Carl Otto
Grip — Dylan Rumney / Light Factory
Gaffer — Jason Tahara / Light Factory
Still Photographer — Jon Rose 
Editor — Bandera Cruse / Postmodern
Audio Engineer — Mike Cramp / Postmodern
Colorist — David Baud / Postmodern
Music — Paul Spaeth
Production Assistant — Eva Weinberg
Make-Up — Michael Long / Fairmount Cemetery