Hello, Beyond friends near and far! Here’s a quick roundup of some fun conversations we’ve had this month about our non-profit video library, video-store history, and home-video culture.
Two Beyond co-owners, Kevin and Eric, guested on a recent episode of The Female Gayze podcast. It was awesome having having Ashley and Tina visit us from the D.C. area and have a safe, full-vaxxed in-store conversation about Beyond, our earliest video-store memories, and Cheryl Dunye’s pioneering film The Watermelon Woman. Dunye’s feature debut was itself shot in a video store—Philly’s late, great indie chain TLA—and offers a loving portrait of video stores as important places for fostering friendship, community, diversity, and even academic research. Naturally, we carry The Watermelon Woman at Beyond. Look for it and other work by Dunye in our ever-growing LGBTQ section!
Next, Eric conducted an e-interview with Justin LaLiberty, the passionate and knowledgeable (not to mention Letterboxd-famous) film archivist on staff at cult-film specialists Vinegar Syndrome. Fans of that label and the state of home-video in general should be sure to check this one out! Beyond proudly carries dozens of VS titles; if you’re new to their work, this piece shouts out quite a few great starting places.
We have a pretty great collection of Vinegar Syndrome titles at Beyond, including most of those mentioned in our interview with Justin… but if you’re feeling generous, here’s our Vinegar Syndrome-specific wish list. They happen to be having a big sale this weekend (Friday May 28-Monday May 31).
Beyond Video 