THIS MONTH

DURING THIS TIME of uncertainty, my mind recently wandered back to Reign Of Fire, the 2002 film in which Christian Bale, Gerard Butler and Matthew Mcconaughey battle dragons. It’s not particularly memorable, despite Mcconaughey having the superlative character name Denton Van Zan. But it does feature one scene that’s weirdly apt for our current global situation. In the film’s post-apocalyptic UK, multiplexes have been destroyed by dragon-breath along with everything else, yet two of our heroes carry on the art form on their own, re-enacting a lightsaber duel from The Empire Strikes Back as a bedtime story for kids. The message is clear: cinema will never die.

And so, while we all await the return of big screens, blockbusters and boxes of popcorn, it’s a good time to celebrate the myriad joys of said art form. Within this issue, with help from some folk you may have heard of, we hail its glorious past and anticipate its vibrant future.

Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst talk us through their rule-breaking collaborations, Steve Martin and Martin Short reflect on a lifetime of comedy, and Barry Jenkins talks about how he’s pushed boundaries to create a new type of cinema. Plus history’s most successful director, James Cameron, shares insights on his game-changing high-points.

All this plus much more, including an exclusive look at the spectacular sci-fi epic Dune, which awaits us at the end of the year. A reminder that, however much things seem to have ground to a halt, a lot of goodness lies ahead. To quote Yoda from The Empire Strikes Back — or rather, to quote Gerard Butler quoting Yoda — “Always in motion is the future.”