Teaser for Magical Thinking (In Production) by Laura Parnes

Magic Thinking

2023-2026

Magic Thinking is a multi-platform project steeped in the current moment where climate catastrophe, the COVID pandemic, and the rise of fundamentalism combine to contribute to an apocalyptic aura. With this aura, magical thinking can become a survival strategy.

    “In the search for certainty, many are willing to bend the rules of logic to find a story that can save us. And there are so many options to choose from: from wellness influencers who promise you can yoga your way past a pandemic to preppers who declare at least you and yours can be safe with the right arsenal and emergency meal kits. In the past few years, I have become fascinated with how the cultish stories spun by ‘wellness’ devotees have come to mirror the extremism seen on the far right.

     I focus my work on people on the margins of the mainstream, but never before have ideas once discounted as crackpot conspiracy theories had more currency and power than in our present moment.

    Magic Thinking is a film installation that follows the relationship between Doug (Becca Blackwell), a human optimizer, and Nancy (Laine Rettmer), a meditation class teacher, as they grasp for certainty in the face of unrest. Their spiritual journey is tainted by hyper-masculine self-help gurus, burned-out ex-climate activists, psychedelic-pushing big tech entrepreneurs, and viciously Darwin-obsessed wellness influencers. As they search for truth, the limits of self-actualization for collective survival become increasingly clear.

    I think of Magic Thinking as a sister project to my earlier work, Blood and Guts in High School, a series of video installations based on Kathy Acker's brilliant punk feminist book of the same title. Like Blood and Guts, Magic Thinking combines cinematic strategies such as continuity and dialogue with highly stylized sets and performances to create a non-linear narrative.

    As I was developing this project, I was inspired by the plays of Sarah Kane, who, like Acker, was a transgressive writer and counterculture hero. Kane's interest in juxtaposing personal power struggles with contemporary historical events is evident throughout her work—as it is in this project.

    The radical vision of these writers is a source of inspiration, and their work has never been more relevant. We need critical narratives to parse our world, and we need artists to tell these stories, especially if we hope to do anything tangible to respond to the crises we face.”


-Laura Parnes, Director

Still from Magic Thinking by Laura Parnes
Still from Magic Thinking by Laura Parnes
Still from Magic Thinking by Laura Parnes
Still from Magic Thinking by Laura Parnes

  • STARRING

    Doug… Becca Blackwell
    Nancy… Laine Rettmer

     CAST
    Joan… Alissa Bennett
    Soldier… Tom Cole
    Mr. Champion… Jim Fletcher
    Mold… Lawrence Green
    Stephanie Barber
    Drae Campbell
    Christen Clifford
    Macauley DeVun
    Heather Dewey-Hagborg
    Nancy Hagen
    Ryan Harman
    Andrew Haynes
    Leon Heist
    David Everitt Howe
    Craig Hunter
    Baseera Khan
    Jesse Lenat
    Erik Levine
    Sidian Liu
    Alison Nguyen
    Elizabeth Senja Spackman
    Stephanie Vella
    and Robert Jay Lifton as himself

  • PRODUCTION
    WRITER/DIRECTOR/EDITOR
    Laura Parnes

    DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY
    Jeffrey Akers
    Jose Soto 
    Liz Zito

    COSTUME DESIGN AND STYLING
    Andrea Lauer Studio
    ASSISTANT STYLIST
    Ella Matza

    WARDROBE
    Ayla Argentina

    HAIR, MAKE UP AND SPECIAL FX FABRICATOR
    Caroline Mills
    MAKE UP
    Magdalena Buczkowska

    PHOTOGRAPHER
    Laure Leber
    Alison Tyne
    PHOTO TECHNICIAN
    Raimund Koch

    SOUND RECORDIST
    Adam Wolcott Smith
    Julian Zhender 
    SOUND ENGINEER FOR PODCAST
    Erik Levine

    ASSISTANT CAMERA
    Maya Dixon

    PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
    Joshua Howard

     LOCATION MANGER
    Lato Buchanan

    POSTPRODUCTION

    COLORIST

    Michael Lantz

    SOUND MIX
    Quentin Chiappetta, Media Noise, NYC

    COMPOSER
    William Basinski 

    MUSIC
    O, My Daughter, O, My Sorrow, Passio, Punch and Judy, Transfiguration and Fin
    From Lamentations
    Written and Performed by William Basinski, 2020

  • SHOT ON LOCATION AT

    Bodied Fitness Club, NYC
    Felix Levine Podcasting, Brooklyn
    FourOneOne Projects, Brooklyn
    International Objects, Brooklyn
    PARTICIPANT Inc, NYC
    Pioneer Works, Brooklyn
    AND AT THE HOMES OF
    Leah and MacCauley DeVun
    Lisa Kirk
    Philip Stanton

    WITH GREAT THANKS TO
    Phyllis Baldino
    Tom Cole
    Leah and MacCauley DeVun
    Gabriel Florenz
    Lia Gangitano
    Bailey Georges
    Ggrippo
    Nate Heiges
    David Everitt Howe
    Lisa Kirk
    Bruce LaBruce
    Erik Levine
    Felix Levine
    Robert Jay Lifton
    School of Visual Arts, MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media
    Seagull Hair Salon
    Mari Spirito
    Elisabeth Subrin
    Shaun Surething
    David Watson
    Liz Zito

    WRITTEN AND CONCEIVED AT

    Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, New York, and MacDowell in Peterborough, New Hampshire

    SPECIAL THANKS TO

    Peggy Ahwesh
    Jeffrey Akers
    Becca Albee
    Elaine Angelopoulos
    Phyllis Baldino
    Lucas Blalock
    Stephanie Barber
    Elizabeth Barnes
    Chloe Bass
    Marcia Bassett
    Adam Bell
    Alissa Bennett
    Janet Biggs
    Mary Billyou
    Robert Boyd
    Torsten Zenas Burns
    Peter Burr
    Leslie Brack
    Jill H. Casid
    Patty Chang
    Jiwon Choi
    Quentin Chiappetta
    Jim Christensen
    Natasha Chuk
    JP Cohen
    Ben Coonley
    Tom Cole
    Tom Colley
    Liz Collins
    Cecelia Condit
    Howard Covitz
    Christen Diane Clifford
    Nicholas Croft
    Jody Culkin
    Jennifer Dalton
    Cheryl Donegan
    Furen Dai
    E.V. Day
    Liz Deschenes
    Jenn Dierdorf
    David Dominique
    Cecilia Dougherty
    Esther Drill
    Mark Alice Durant
    Nicole Eisenman
    Marianna Ellenberg
    Jonathan Essa
    eteam
    Anoka Faruqee
    Johanna Fateman
    Thalia Feilen
    Barbara Ferguson
    Jim Finn
    Gibson Frazier
    David B Frye
    Coco Fusco
    Kerry Gaertner Gerbracht
    Lia Gangitano
    Matthew D Gantt
    Tamara Gayer
    Bailey Georges
    Kathleen Goncharov
    Jackie Goss
    MK Guth
    Andrea Gibbons
    Daniel Gibbons
    Robin Graubard
    Sam Green
    Heather Dewey-Hagborg
    Ed Halter
    Kara Hammond
    Bang Geul Han
    Michelle Handelman
    Jane Ursula Harris
    Hal Hartley
    Kirsten Hassenfeld
    Liselot van der Heijden
    Eric Heist
    Randall Heath
    Barry Hoggard and James Wagner
    David Everitt Howe
    Every Ocean Hughes
    Maura Jasper
    Amy Jenkins
    Yusheng Jiang
    Jiuxun Jin
    Jongsma + O'Neill
    Claudia Joskowicz
    Ruth Kahn
    Craig Kalpakjian
    Ariel Kavoussi
    Victoria Keddie
    Colleen Keegan
    Tooraj Khamenehzadeh
    Hedi El Kholti
    Lisa Kirk
    Tatiana Kronberg
    Justine Kurland
    Алексей Ковалёв
    Carolyn Lambert
    Laura Larson
    Rachel Law & McKenzie Wark
    Elke Lehmann
    Michelle Leftheris
    Erik Levine
    Siobhan Liddell
    Joan Linder
    Pamela Lins
    Jen Liu
    Jennie Livingston
    Natalie Moore
    Lorenzo De Los Angeles
    Rachel Lowther
    Kristin Lucas
    Mary Lum
    Scott Macaulay
    Abina Manning
    Aline Mare
    Margo Margolas
    Shelley Marlow
    Ru Marshall
    Darrin Martin
    Erik Moskowitz
    Elise McCave
    Shane McCarthy
    Challises McDonough
    Liza McLaughlin
    Emma Rose Milligan
    Mike Monteiro
    Morgan Mueller
    Rory Mulligan
    Linda Nagaoka
    Alison Nguyen
    Thu Nguyen
    Tommy Nguyen
    Alice O'Malley
    Matthew Papa
    Adam Parnes
    Aric Parnes
    Linda Parnes
    Milton Parnes
    Mary Patierno
    Bari Pearlman
    Marsha Pels
    Veronica Gonzalez Peña
    Christian Perez
    Ann Pibal
    Barbara Pollack
    Jeff Preiss
    Scott Propeack
    Anna Prokop
    R.H. Quaytman
    Robert Ransick
    Jennifer Reeder
    Calvin Reid
    Steve Reinke
    Sara Reisman
    Lynne Sachs and Lizzie Olesker
    JD Samson
    Rafael Sånchez
    Tara Sansone
    Ellen F Salpeter
    Amelia Saul
    Heidi Schlatter
    David Schlaegel
    Seagull Hair Salon
    Alexandro Segade
    Robert Seng
    Enat Sidi
    Abigail Simon
    Anthony Banua-Simon
    Cook Shaw
    David Shaw
    Dinny Shaw
    Amy Sillman
    Shelly Silver
    Karina Aguilera Skvirsky
    Guy Richards Smit
    Jonathan David Smyth
    Elizabeth Senja Spackman
    Chelsea Spengemann
    Jeanette Spicer
    Mari Spirito
    Philip Stanton
    A.L. Steiner
    Alex Stevens
    Deborah Stratman
    Patty Suarez
    Elisabeth Subrin
    Chris Sullivan
    Sur Rodney Sur
    Shaun Surething
    Jude Tallichet
    Kazumi Tanaka
    Catherine Taylor
    Gail Thacker
    J Tolentino & Stosh Fila/Pigpen
    Momoyo Torimitsu
    Amanda Trager
    Cat Tyc
    Nicola Tyson
    Zachary Vanes
    Miguel Ventura
    Wendy Vogel
    Stephanie Vella
    Jeffrey Walkowiak
    Michael Waugh
    Jennifer and Kevin McCoy
    Amy Weil
    Allen Weiner
    Matthew Weinstein
    Christopher Wilcha
    Lauren Wittels
    Matt Wolf
    Ana Wolovick
    Natalie Zaman
    Tianyi Zhang
    Marina Zurkow