CW: This episode contains discussion of sexual assault and violence, including abuse of minors, in relation to recent revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein case. Listener discretion advised.   

Some Big News Weeks led us to a slightly unwieldy conversation about several topics alongside Joel Schumacher's 1999 thriller 8mm. Written by Se7en scribe Andrew Keving Walker and boasting a rich ensemble cast including Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, Catherine Keener, James Gandolfini, and Peter Stormare, the film explores elite depravity, snuff films, and the dark core of the American dream where desperate people's lives become a commodity.

We first begin with some thoughts on recent events at the Berlin Film Festival and offer our definitive answer to the question on everyone's lips, "Is cinema political?" Then, we venture into Schumacher's film, a not-very-good grisly crime thriller with some resonant considerations about the brutalization of young women within the machinery of capital. Finally, we share some personal thoughts on the most recent releases from the Epstein Files, what they tell us about the nature of power in the world, and offer up an alternative movie title for those thinking more deeply about the case's reverberations.
 
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish.