Here is a teaser of the first episode of Helen's new podcast The Lack, which you can find in full here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-lack/id1561070699?i=1000515251963

53 - 'The Ego Is a Mournful Being Constituted by Lack' (ft. Carlos Padrón) - 'Border'

Mar 4th, 2021 1h 33m

Psychoanalyst Carlos Padrón joins Helen to discuss 'Border' (Ali Abbasi) and the dialectics of identity.

52 - A Shepherdess in a Fantasy Landscape (ft. Benjamin Studebaker) - 'Trumbo'

Feb 14th, 2021 1h 20m

Our most loyal guest, political theorist Benjamin Studebaker, returns to talk to Helen about cancellation, market contortions and AOC.

51 - What Lies Beneath (ft. Grafton Tanner) - 'The Social Dilemma', 'Videodrome'

Feb 5th, 2021 54m 23s

A conversation with author, academic and musician Grafton Tanner on the why the tale of the perils of Tech is a tale that is as old as time.

50 - Roomination (ft. Nina Power) - 'Theorem'

Jan 27th, 2021 1h 1m

In which philosopher, translator and cultural critic Nina Power joins Helen to talk about Pasolini's 'Thereom' (1968), touching on subjective destitution, nettle-eating witches and conceiving of the gender wars as a sibling rivalry.

49 - Super-weird Zombie Bear & a Freaky Slenderman Thing (ft. Elliott Morgan) - The Movie Movie Game

Jan 14th, 2021 1h 16m

Elliott Morgan of the Valleyfolk talks to Helen about their new (and incredibly addictive) Movie Movie Game.https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thevalleyfolk/movie-movie-game-0

48 - The Living Dead (ft. Jay Bakker) - 'Star Wars'

Dec 31st, 2020 1h 15m

Punk pastor Jay Bakker joins Helen to discuss 'Star Wars' (George Lucas et al.), family ties, contradiction, the problematic Camus and the political power of Grace.

47 - Cali-Complication (ft. Barry Taylor) - 'The Filth and the Fury'

Dec 23rd, 2020 1h 3m

Theologian, musician and cultural theorist Barry Taylor joins us for a conversation about California, contradiction and counterculturalism in relation to Julien Temple's 'The Filth and the Fury'.

46 - Big Feet ... Large Shoes (ft. Bessie Rollins) - 'Notting Hill', 'Pretty Woman'

Dec 11th, 2020 1h 16m

Helen is joined by her sister Bessie for a discussion inspired by a chapter from Todd McGowan's 2016 book 'Capitalism and Desire'. We use his insight that 'Notting Hill' (Roger Michell) is a film about love and that 'Pretty Woman' (Garry Marsha

45 - 'So What You're Saying Is...' (ft. Benjamin Studebaker)- 'Barbarians', 'Industry'

Dec 4th, 2020 1h 35m

Parsing out truth and ideology, cause and effect, narrative shapes and emancipatory story forms with political theorist Benjamin Studebaker, in relation to 'Barbarians' (Netflix) and 'Industry' (HBO).

44 - The Prison of Your Mind (ft. Aaron Hickland) - 'The Shawshank Redemption'

Nov 27th, 2020 1h 4m

Actor Aaron Hickland joins Helen to discuss 'The Shawshank Redemption' (Frank Darabont) in relation to hope, lack and capitalism.

43 - Love Robots (special Q& A episode)

Nov 20th, 2020 1h 14m

Sex, alienation, capital. Helen answers your questions about Punk, 'A Ghost Story' (David Lowery), Cottage Core, 'political' art, 'The Vow' (Jehane Noujaim, Karim Amer), 'Blade Runner 2049' (Denis Villeneuve), the best countries at making movie

47 - Not In Freud's Name! ('Visual Pleasure' analysis part 2)

Nov 3rd, 2020 1h 18m

We get way too worked up about the second half of the essay ('Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' by Laura Mulvey), which can be found here: https://www.asu.edu/courses/fms504/total-readings/mulvey-visualpleasure.pdf

46 - Misleading Light ('Visual Pleasure' analysis part 1)

Oct 27th, 2020 1h 28m

Adrian and Helen read and analyze a canonical essay in so-called 'Lacanian' film theory - one that ushered in an oppositional, identity-based ethos to both how films are made and how they are talked about - showing that this 'theory' isn't Laca

42 - 'Cancelling Comedians while the World Burns' (ft. Ben Burgis) - 'Sticks and Stones'

Oct 21st, 2020 1h 21m

Philosopher and author Ben Burgis joins us to discuss his latest text with Zer0 Books ('Cancelling Comedians while the World Burns'), which is due to be released in the spring of 2021. We analyze Dave Chapelle's 2019 comedy special 'Sticks and

41 - The Hunt Squared - 'The Hunt', 'The Hunt'

Oct 20th, 2020 1h 26m

In this belated episode (recorded last month at the time of the presidential debate), we talk about 'The Hunt' (Craig Zobel), 'The Hunt' (Thomas Vinterberg) and Trump's enviable curves...

40 - What is War? (ft. James Greer) - 'White Tiger', 'Come and See'

Sep 18th, 2020 1h 14m

Writer, academic and veteran James Greer joins the podcast to discuss war and the human subject in relation to 'White Tiger' (Karen Shakhnazarov) and 'Come and See' (Elem Klimov).

39 - Witness The Shitness - 'The 13th Floor'

Sep 14th, 2020 1h 15m

Everything that's wrong with 'identity'.

Seminar Announcement - 13th, 15th October 2020

Aug 31st, 2020 2m 10s

The seminar will take place online on 13th, 15th October 2020 6-7:30pm Dublin time. You can sign up for the seminar here: https://gcas-eschool.ie/film-seminar-fall-2020

38 - 'What the f*** is Happiness?' (ft. Creston Davis) - 'Sorry We Missed You'

Aug 21st, 2020 50m 50s

Creston Davis (founder and CEO of the Global Center for Advanced Studies) joins Helen to discuss education, financialization, the rise of tech and the possibility for something new, all in relation to Ken Loach's latest film 'Sorry We Missed Yo

37 - When the Future Comes First (ft. Todd McGowan) - Todd's top film of each decade

Aug 2nd, 2020 1h 32m

Film and political theorist Todd McGowan joins us to discuss his favorite film from each decade of cinema history. Todd's most recent book, 'Universality and Identity Politics' has just been released. Previous works include 'Capitalism and Desi

36 - Circumcisionality - 'The Devil, Probably', 'Two Days, One Night'

Jul 29th, 2020 1h 9m

Adrian and Helen talk about 'The Devil, Probably' (Robert Bresson) and 'Two Days, One Night' (the Dardennes brothers), as well as solidarity, quilting points and 'intersectionality'.

35 - The Tentacles of Capital - 'Athlete A', 'Irresistible'

Jul 14th, 2020 59m 46s

Apologies for the subpar audio quality. This is from our live recording on Instagram. We discuss 'Athlete A' (Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk) and 'Irresistible' (Jon Stewart). The recording cuts out very abruptly at the end. We intend to record once a

Instagram Live Announcement - July 11th 7pm UK/ 1pm Central/ 11am PST.

Jul 10th, 2020 1m 11s

Quick announcement that we will be recording an episode live on Instagram tomorrow July 10th 7pm UK/ 1pm Central/ 11am PST. We'll be discussing 'Irresistible' (Jon Stewart) and 'Athlete A' (Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk). @errorspell @helen.v.rollins

34 - Whores and Revolution (ft. Peter Rollins) - 'The Balcony'

Jun 24th, 2020 1h 5m

Peter Rollins returns to talk about the brothel as church and the move from community to communion in relation to Joseph’s Strick’s 1963 dramatization of Genet’s ‘The Balcony’.