'Leviathan' Screenings Near You

And my upcoming event with Douglas Rushkoff

Hi everyone, I don’t normally open with messages like this, but I’ve been trying to get over my reluctance, so here it goes.

I’ve been working on our first documentary ‘Leviathan’ intensively for the last six months. Along with my editor and co-writer Whetham Allpress, it’s involved dozens of collaborators, crew around the world, and the wider Kainos team (shout out to Ria Penido and Ed Prideaux for all their hard work).

‘Leviathan’ has cost $50,000 to produce. Right now, I have 34,000 Substack readers, and the average percentage of paid subscribers to free is 7%-10%.

Mine is less than 2%.

This is because I don’t sell very hard, tend to write longer features and post less frequently than other writers. I also share almost everything for free, which worked when I was just writing articles. But documentaries cost a lot more than articles.

I’m very proud of what we’ve created with ‘Leviathan’, and I want to make more stories like this. I already have the early seeds of a script for our next documentary about the dynamics between men and women and how it shapes our society and politics.

To make that happen, I need your support. If just 5% of you signed up as paid subscribers today, it would help us to hire the same level of talent for future documentaries that we did for ‘Leviathan’. For $6 a month, the price of a single cup of fancy coffee, you can help us create something incredible.

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Leviathan premieres on Thursday, 26 June.

A documentary and immersive art piece, it’s about the breakdown of trust in society, and how we get it back. It will draw you into the roots of the Western mind, the polycrisis, tech, economics and myth to point to a new future.

It stars an incredible group of heterodox thinkers including Yanis Varoufakis, Nora Bateson, Josh Schrei, Minna Salami, Douglas Rushkoff, Alexa Firmenich and John Vervaeke. Edited by Whetham Allpress, directed and produced by Alexander Beiner.

You can watch Leviathan alone when it premieres here on Substack on June 26, but it was created to be watched with other people. That’s why people are hosting screenings all around the world, and if you can’t make one of those, you can always watch it with friends and family.

Over 100 people in almost as many cities are now hosting their own screenings and discussion groups before and after the premiere on June 26th. If you want to watch it before anyone else, and have some meaningful conversations in the process, check out the list below and see if there’s a screening near you.

If you want to host a screening, just fill out this form. A handful have already taken place in the last few days, and reading the early feedback has been a huge boost for us as we make the final touches on the film.

USA: “We had a fabulous evening that stretched into the next day for those who stayed over! Leviathan, through this grassroots rollout, became a meaningful catalyst for this small group of friends and neighbors to gather with purpose. The film sparked conversations that carried late into the night. There was broad agreement that it points us toward where our insights, understanding and practices need to deepen and grow.”

France: “We had a lively discourse, we got a bit stuck on education, and what it meant to different people… I’d say about 100 people had chats they wouldn’t normally have had…I really noticed a shift in conversations. I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of this… More than a few were touched so creating that flow of open connection…”

UK: “It was definitely a real moment… and felt really needed… a woman in her 20’s who actually missed the first 20 mins was completely overwhelmed by the end and in tears. It really meant a lot to her.”

Before we get to the screenings, I wanted to announce that ‘Leviathan’ guest

Douglas Rushkoff

is coming to London and we’re doing an event together at &Souls in Shoreditch on Tuesday, 1 July. We’ll be riffing on the psychedelic origins of the internet and the future of AI among other topics. Get your tickets here

Click the city name to be directed to the ticketing page. We still have tickets left for the premiere in London on Thursday, 26 June at the Courthouse Hotel in Soho, but they’re going fast!

Official / Semi-Official

London: Official Premiere on 26 June with live talk and Q&A by Alexander Beiner, at the Courthouse Hotel in Soho (free for paid members, email info@studiokainos.com)

Stockholm: Thursday, 26 June hosted by

Nora Bateson

and

Pella Thiel

(with Alexander on virtual Q&A)

Toronto: Thursday, 26 June hosted by

Peter Limberg

and

Sofia Panasiuk

/ Imagine Cinemas Carlton

Berlin: Tuesday, 24 June hosted by WeSpace (with Alexander Beiner in person)

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Community

Berlin: Thursday, 19 June hosted by Lovers and Leaders

Cologne: Saturday, 21st June hosted by Peter Schreck / Life and Grow

Bristol: Sunday, 22 June hosted by Kevin Hughes / Wild Goose Space, St Werburghs

Atlanta: Sunday, 22 June hosted by August Coyote

Løkken Verk (Norway): 23 June hosted by Maegan Gorbett

Cape Town: on Sunday, 23 June hosted by Daniel Shaw

Buckfastleigh: Sunday, 23 June hosted by The Moor Imagination Collective

Basel: Thursday, 26 June hosted by Nicole Werner

More screenings are emerging every day, with Dublin, San Francisco and Melbourne about to be finalised, so we’ll send out another list before the online premiere on the 26th!