When the local ghost hunter is called out to a job, he finds there has been a misunderstanding: it’s not a ghost, but a goat that’s been haunting the premises. He must now contend with the militant local animal catcher to get to the bottom of this!

Filmed as part of an Advanced Diploma of Screen and Media at AFTT, YOU’VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME is a playful, humorous, and heartfelt venture into heavier topics such as grief and bereavement.

Director’s Statement

While post-production was completed in 2024, YOU’VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME was shot all the way back in 2022 as a student project. The film was written and directed by myself (Kristina), and was produced by my friend Sam, whose amazing charisma, logistical ingenuity, and genuine connections with the people around him catapulted the project into something far bigger and better than I could have engineered on my own.

Beneath its silly veneer, You've Gotta Be Kidding Me is a film about grief, friendship, and the difficult-to-navigate, non-linear process of moving on. The aim was to tell a story that dipped its toes in the heartfelt and profound, and to find humour in tragedy. At the time in my life when I wrote the script, it was an abstract metaphor for something that seems so inconsequential at this point, I can't even recall what it was.

In October 2022 early in post-production, the film tragically took on a new, more literal meaning, when Sam passed away suddenly due to pre-existing medical complications. He was 28 years old.

This drastically changed the entire post-production process. This was now a film about Sam. Sam's influence was behind every cut, embedded in every music choice and sound effect. But Sam had really been the star all along; his essence entwines the entire film, from the hilariously terrible motivational posters in Jason's office (all those laughs we shared building that set together), to the cheeky yet heartfelt quips through which the characters stir each other up.

My memories of my friend are inseparable from what we created together, and this film is something I'll treasure forever. A few months ago I had the honour of sharing the finished product with some of Sam's family, and we all can't wait to share this film with the rest of the world.

This one's for you, Sam! We love you.