magazine

Peter Johnston on Jeopardy! “What is MAGIC TOWN?” For me, the clues that prompted this response took my whole life to uncover. Film, trivia, and magic have always been triple …

Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild], courtesy of Sundance Institute In 1990, a federal law was passed requiring the return of Indigenous human remains and sacred items to their rightful communities. More than three …

The Plague The awkwardness of puberty is exacerbated by a cruel social game in The Plague, the feature debut from writer-director Charlie Polinger. Set in 2003, Ben (Everett Blunck), a …

The History of Concrete, courtesy of Sundance Institute. The History of Concrete, John Wilson’s first feature-length film, is far stranger and more compelling than the title suggests—and a perfect continuation …

Shave and a Haircut (Angelo Madsen) On November 12, 2025, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) “gutted” Video Data Bank (VDB), the essential moving-image art distributor, archive …

Every Contact Leaves a Trace Every Contact Leaves a Trace, its title alluding to a basic principle of forensic science, is the latest cinematic exploration from experimental filmmaker and poet …

The White House Effect Bonni Cohen, Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk’s The White House Effect is an intriguing all-archival trip back in time to the precise moment in US politics …

Our recent Home Cinema Week celebrations got me thinking about a fairly regular complaint, or at least irritation, that we get from a particular (small, thank goodness) tranche of What …