The initial trailer for Alex Ross Perry's Videoheaven showcases the ascent and decline of the video rental shop.
An exciting, albeit late, addition to the July movie lineup is Alex Ross Perry’s second film of the year. The three-hour essay film/documentary, titled Videoheaven, provides an extensive and remarkable exploration of the history and near extinction of video stores, narrated by Maya Hawke using film and video clips. After its premiere at IFFR earlier this year and a recent showing at Tribeca, it will be released by Cinema Conservancy at NYC’s IFC Center on July 2, followed by Vidiots in LA on August 6, with plans for further expansion. The first trailer has been released ahead of the release.
The film’s synopsis, inspired by Daniel Herbert’s book Videoland: Movie Culture at the American Video Store, explains: “Serving as a sociocultural hub, consumer paradise, and origin of existential anxiety, the video rental store irrevocably altered our engagement with films. With narration by Maya Hawke accompanied by footage taken from a myriad of sources (including TV ads and blockbuster movies), Alex Ross Perry’s VIDEOHEAVEN depicts an industry's glorious, perplexing, original, at times dubious, yet undeniably profound effect on American film culture.”
In his review, David Katz remarked, “In Videoheaven, Blockbuster––to borrow from Thom Andersen––is portrayed as itself. Now immersed in a phase of pop-cultural scholarship initiated by his previous film Pavements, Alex Ross Perry has created a generous and captivating three-hour essay film-cum-documentary focused solely on video-rental stores, those legendary and innocuous spaces. While the topic may seem niche, like the best representations of those brick-and-mortar locations, it encompasses a vast array of insights: drawing on academic Daniel Herbert’s celebrated media studies book Videoland: Movie Culture at the American Video Store, Videoheaven stands as the definitive exploration of this subject to date, presenting significant amounts of information and detailed analysis exclusively through a blend of film and television clips, occasional archival material, and voiceover work by Maya Hawke (who appears in some clips alongside her father). Born in 1984 and coming of age during the early 2000s, Perry asserts that this was his generation and that this was significant. While it was magnetic tape and bulky cases, through nostalgia, they shine like gold.”
Check out the trailer below via Letterboxd, along with Alex Ross Perry’s conversation with Peter Strickland from the Rotterdam world premiere.
📼 First look at the trailer for #Videoheaven, Alex Ross Perry’s essay-documentary about the rise and fall of the video store. Narrated by Maya Hawke. Opens at @ifccenter in New York on July 2, and Vidiots in LA on August 6, with plans for further expansion. pic.twitter.com/V7lGOMO7xY— Letterboxd (@letterboxd) June 21, 2025
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The initial trailer for Alex Ross Perry's Videoheaven showcases the ascent and decline of the video rental shop.
An exciting but late addition to the July movie schedule is Alex Ross Perry's second film of the year. The three-hour essay documentary, Videoheaven, offers an extensive and striking examination of the history and near-collapse of the video store, exclusively through excerpts from films and videos, narrated by Maya Hawke. After making its premiere at IFFR earlier this year,