I’m not a big fan of these “best of” lists, but of all the new(ish) arts entertainment (or edutainment, as KRS-One would say) I consumed these past twelve months, here’s what helped me most in surviving (and contemplating) the relentless horrors of 2024.
FILMS
No Other Land, co-directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor (Independent)
Dahomy, directed by Mati Diop (Les Films du Losange)
Nickel Boys, directed by RaMell Ross (Amazon MGM Studios)
Demon Mineral, directed by Hadley Austin (Independent)
Missing From Fire Trail Road, Sabrina Van Tassel (Independent)
All We Imagine As Light, directed by Payal Kapadia (September Film)
Small Things Like These, directed by Tim Mielants (Lionsgate)
The Seed of the Sacred Fig, directed by Mohammad Rasoulof (Films Boutique)
SERIES
God Save Texas, created by Richard Linklater (HBO)
Sugar, created by Mark Protosevich (Apple TV+)
American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders, directed by Zachary Treitz (Netflix)
Silo, created by Graham Yost (Apple TV+)
True Detective: Night Country, created by Issa López (HBO)
MUSIC
La Luz, News of the Universe (Sub Pop)
Common, Pete Rock, The Auditorium Vol. 1 (Loma Vista Recordings)
Galaxie 500, Uncollected Noise New York ’88-’90 (Silver Current Records)
Steel Fringe, Steel Fringe (Curation Records)
Cat Power, Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert (Domino Record Co.)
Sam Blasucci, Real Life Thing (Innovative Leisure)
BOOKS
If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose, by Refaat Alareer (OR Books)
Overshoot: How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown, by Wim Carton and Andreas Malm (Verso Books)
The Sustainability Class: How to Take Back Our Future from Lifestyle Environmentalists, by Vijay KolinjivadiAaron Vansintjan (New Press)
Nuclear is Not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change, by M.V. Ramana (Verso Books)
Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition, by Silky Shah (Haymarket Books)
Unmaking the Bomb: Environmental Cleanup and the Politics of Impossibility, by Shannon Cram (UC Press)
Tangles: A Cold War Love Story and Mystery, by Kay Smith-Blum (Black Rose Writing)
Environmentalism from Below: How Global People’s Movements Are Leading the Fight for Our Planet, by Ashley Dawson (Haymarket Books)
The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, by Antony Loewenstein (Verso Books)
PODCASTS
Landback for the People with Nick Tilsen
The Verso Podcast with Eleanor Penny
Jokermen with Ian Grant & Evan Laffer
Rethinking Palestine from Al-Shabaka
The Dig with Daniel Denvir
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