LETTER FROM THE EDITOR / April 2024 / Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner
Image courtesy of Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner
Hello, friends.
I'm writing this letter fresh out of an American Cinematheque screening of Femme, a movie I've been waiting a long time to see. I don't think I breathed a single breath in the last twenty minutes; it was that good.
I can't recall if I mentioned my renewed love of movies last Pop Culture issue, and I'll be honest with you, my love—I'm too tired to look. But I will say last year I started going to the movies on my own (starting with an inspired afternoon showing of Gummo at the New Bev), and my husband and I started doing themed movie months (this month’s theme was “Two Dudes Having a Bad Time”, so, like, The Lighthouse, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, etc), and these two things were instrumental in getting me excited for cinema again. For years I was bored with it all, or burned out, or maybe just depressed (this happens often), but now I find myself excited for MEDIA.
And I'm excited to read about media, too. From the always illustrious features in Fangoria to essays by Travis Woods (who I think might be the best film writer out there right now), to the very submissions you'll find in this (huge!) issue of our sweet little journal, reading about pop culture is a goddamn motherfuckin DELIGHT.
Pop culture permeates every facet of my being. I speak in Simpsons references, I study Frank Henenlotter films to create trivia questions, even my WIP, a novel about a woman who makes poor dating choices, is rife with sections about movies. Pop culture is important to me, and it's clearly important to everyone else too.
In this issue, our favorite of the year, you'll find almost fifty (is it fifty?) features from…a lot of writers!... about everything from Taylor Swift to Firefly to a Kevin Smith Cruise. We have returning authors and newbies and we're so happy, so happy, to showcase this eclectic collection of thoughts, critiques, and praise for music, television, and film.
As usual I need to thank my beloved staff; editors Chris Pruitt, Sean Woodard, Ashley Perez, Jeanne Obbard, Joey Gould, intern Nina Fillari, and founder Matt Guerrero put so much time and effort into reading and voting on subs as well as building the issue. This issue is a labor of love; we hope you'll love it.
Submissions will reopen in May through July. We'll be announcing a new Cherry Dress release soon; keep an eye out for that. Otherwise, I'll leave you to it; I recently fell in love with Klute, so I have to go watch it again so I can make it my entire personality.
Love always,
Kolleen CH
