Monochromator #2
155 x 235 mm, 160 pages
Berlin & Seoul (English-language)
First published 2024
Editor-in-chief: Alex Heeyeon Kil
Design: Cleo Tew & Alex Walker
Monochromator is a smart new addition to our cinema shelf. Each issue will deconstruct selected films under a shared monochrome—or a single shared theme—to reconstruct them for social relevance. They put the cinematic, the cultural, the artistic and the political in dialogue.
Following their ‘Barbenheimer’-themed debut, this second issue pairs Jonathan Glazer’s Zone of Interest with Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary The Act of Killing. Published amidst the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the choice of films seeks to ‘examine how the realities of violence are constructed on screen, deconstructing the political powers embedded in the act of representation.’
Divided into three parts—Refraction, Wavelength, and Interference—this second issue responds to the choice of centring genocidaires onscreen, how atrocities are depicted and understood, and the art of propaganda. In addition to essays, you’ll find conversations with director Joshua Oppenheimer himself and Berlin‘s Palestine solidarity collective 3ezwa, plus two visual contributions from Gaza and Indonesia.
On the Journal
At Work With editor Alex Heeyon Kil: ‘One of the questions we grappled with the most while working on the general concept and identity of the magazine, is whether we were a film magazine or not. Still, the answer shifts, and I think this fluctuation of our identity is actually the key.’
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