third film // unintentional video

[cinematiques]

[The image starts out dim, dark greys and flickering blues, before it focuses to show Shoshanna, seated in the projection booth at the Crest Theater, watching-something-quite intently. Her NV, the gold compact she inherited from Madame Mimieux, has for one reason or another begun recording without its owner's knowledge; it's sitting on a nearby

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[wasthenightmare]

Throughout history, that remains the one good thing about any war.

[cinematiques]

[A little sharply:] And what is that?

[wasthenightmare]

[Completely cool] That, one day, they end.

[cinematiques]

...Ah. Yes, I suppose they all do.

[And yes, that is an awkward attempt at humor.]

[wasthenightmare]

In some ways. Not so much in others. It's what the films don't show you that paints a less than pleasant picture. But it can't be helped- unspeakable acts done to us make monsters of us all.

[cinematiques]

And what of the unspeakable acts done in opposition of those monsters? Are those more easily forgiven?

[wasthenightmare]

Nothing's easily forgiven. Or forgotten. It's just a matter of who's telling the story.

[cinematiques]

That's an interesting way to put it.

[wasthenightmare]

I work with historians. To that end, we can't choose sides. There's good in every monster and there's a monster in every good person. Niches are a fairy tale people told themselves to make them forget they weren't as bloody pure as they made themselves out to be.

[cinematiques]

[She's not sure if she's comforted by that, but then again she didn't ask to be comforted.]

That makes sense. I know few people who can truly be put in one place or the other...myself included.

[wasthenightmare]

And I know full well what I am. I don't expect to not be judged for it, but I expect the hypocrisy to be well acknowledged. We're none of us perfect, after all.

[cinematiques]

Not by a far stretch, no.

...My pardons. I am Shoshanna.

[wasthenightmare]

Adam Pierson. I take it you're not merely a film enthusiast.

[cinematiques]

Non. I owned a cinema back in Paris.

[wasthenightmare]

That must have been difficult.

[cinematiques]

At times, but I had help. I rather enjoyed running it much of the time.