Film

Creativity and the arts Spirituality and transcendence

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Photo of a person admiring art in a gallery framed by a large red sculpture, with a wooden floor and a dark wall background.

Altered states

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A touch of absurdity can help to wrap your mind around reality

And now for something completely different: how a dose of the surreal or absurd helps to make sense of our place in the world

by David Robson

Black-and-white photo of a pensive woman in a herringbone coat and cloche hat, holding a handkerchief to her lips.

Personality

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Dietrich showed how adopting a persona can reveal one’s true self

Kaloprosopia – the art of crafting a persona, as Marlene Dietrich and David Bowie did – can help us access a truer self

by Sam Mills

A man and a woman sitting at a café table, both looking off to the side, with a glass of wine and ashtray on the table.

Film

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How to find great films to watch

Bored with Hollywood and Netflix? Becoming an adventurous and informed explorer of the cinema world is in everyone’s grasp

by Geoff Andrew

Person in headphones creates sound effects in a cluttered studio, watching a TV screen.

Creativity

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Meet the artists who create sounds for movies – and have so much fun doing it

A film by Jeremy Benning

A young couple in handcuffs lean against a 1950s police car beneath a brooding prairie sky

Mind and brain

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What films and literature reveal about the voice in your head

Inner speech is mysterious and hard to study. But movie voiceovers and introspective novels offer fresh ways to understand it

by Shayla Love

A woman in a period dress with pearls watches over a sleeping child in bed, against a historical maritime painting.

Rituals and celebrations

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In the cinema, my father’s unspeakable childhood finally surfaced

Not too distant and not to close: how rituals help us process trauma, and why watching Anna Karenina helped heal my father

by Christiana Spens

Abstract painting with flowing black, white, and red colours, creating a dynamic, wave-like pattern resembling a fluid motion.

Artists and art history

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An artist’s serene moving paintings probe the surface of reality itself

Films by Susi Sie

Three men stand around a computer, with one holding a mouse and speaking into it, and one wearing an “I Quit Smoking” badge.

Technology and media

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What the journey from Star Trek to Siri says about our culture

The talking computer in Star Trek takes the culture and technology of the present and dreams up future possibilities

by Liz W Faber

A man with a serious expression sits at a table, eating, wearing a black and white polo shirt, with a bottle and food items in the foreground.

Stories and literature

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What is it about film and TV antiheroes that’s so captivating?

They’re entertaining, of course – but research highlights a deeper psychological reason viewers are drawn to the bad guys

by Ana Gantman & Jordan Wylie

Photo of a boy riding a rearing horse while a girl in colourful clothing holds the reins, with a clear sky and dry landscape.

Childhood and adolescence

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No flock of sheep nor arranged marriage will temper Asho’s Hollywood dreams

Directed by Jafar Najafi