On Ephemera (and the A24 Zine)
Claire Denis’ SEEDS zine, red picture of red food on a red table cloth. Red text from the zine’s second page. A24, claire denis, issue 09
Somehow I’ve resisted becoming a collector of ridiculous things, until fairly recently. I’ve bought limited edition box sets from bands, and plenty of books, but never something sequential. Never something that l, when a new edition is released, just buy without checking what it’s about or how it looks. It’s not a subscription. I don’t blindly receive a year's worth of ephemera slowly - I have to go to the webstore and look. Actively.
A24’s zine, which comes out at an undetermined cadence, is one of the best pieces of movie memorabilia for me. It combines a number of very special elements into one $5 package. A24, if you are not familiar, is the fantastic production studio behind things like: The Lighthouse, Euphoria, and the highly anticipated The Green Knight. Their mech game is extremely strong. They have great pins, they have great shirts, they have great mugs and coffee and puzzles. They have a great zine.
One particularly good example is issue 09, “SEEDS,” which was edited by Claire Denis and not only has writing from Nick Cave and a beautiful cover, but also came with a small paper card that was meant to be buried in the ground so it could grow flowers. Where else could you read comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham interviewing young internet celebrities about how weird being famous on the internet is? Or a Toni Collette fanzine made by actor and comedian John Early, wherein he confesses not only his fascination (expelled from him through a fan website he ran for many years) but also the moment he realized he had outed himself online for everyone to see? Jonah Hill has a zine promoting his film Mid90s called “Inner Child;” The cast of Moonbase 8 interview real astronauts about how to poop in space (obviously); Greta Gerwig displays religious lady saints in stained glass; Rose Glass lays out how to be “saved” at various points in history; and Rami Yossef talks to friends and fellow actors about Ramadan.
A24 zine edited by Bo Burnham. Colorful images on both sides from different internet creators. On the left, Lights Camera Jackson lists Best Movies about the internet. On the right, Jeondays shows her zine work
So many of the zines are wealths of insight and special moments because A24 put a team of graphic designers behind creators and allowed them to do whatever they wanted. Some are short, others are longer; some are wild with color, others are blocks of text. They’ve changed to a more traditional A4 print size in the last year, which I thought might be to the zine’s detriment. But, of course, it didn’t matter. I bought them just the same. I read them. They live on the same display shelf over all my other books - closer to the artwork than the computer or the TV - so I can always see them. I bought bags and boards; I had the shelf custom made by a friend. I became that guy, gladly.
Toni Collette fan website picture on the front of the zine, which is Toni from a very early movie and a heart drawn around it. Peach color cover. Red writing
Ephemera can be exhausting. Collecting things can be traps for consumerist propagation and a waste of resources and time and money and just waste in general in a world where things should really not be wasted. But it can also be rewarding and insightful. These zines are not just movie promotional materials. People worked on them in a way that feels authentic. The guest editors are not just promoting something - they’re free to do whatever they want! And they do. Because they’re nerds too.
As much as I produce products to be read or bought or sold, I struggle with the act of putting waste out into the world. I think much harder now about what should be printed. Not just important things, but fun things and serious things and scary things. Things people will enjoy, that look nice. Things that someone has worked on; that I’ve worked on; that my friends have worked on with me; and things I couldn’t have done without their help and their kindness and their critique.
Not everything is ephemera, but the ephemera you have should be something. A24 nails it for me with these zines. I hope you check them out.