Cinema Conservancy has unveiled the first trailer for VIDEOHEAVEN, a new documentary essay directed by indie auteur Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell, Listen Up Philip) and narrated by Maya Hawke. The film is a kaleidoscopic journey through the birth, boom, and psychological hold of the video rental store era—stitched together from hundreds of archival sources, including old TV commercials, VHS covers, in-store footage, and clips from blockbuster films. Edited by Clyde Folley, VIDEOHEAVEN turns nostalgia into narrative, exploring how these once-ubiquitous spaces shaped moviegoing, taste, and the analog ritual of discovery.

More than just a look back, Perry’s film interrogates the emotional and cultural residue of the rental boom—its promise of choice, its capitalist contradictions, and its lingering grip on generations of cinephiles. Hawke’s narration offers a dreamy, philosophical lens on an American phenomenon that now exists mostly in memory. At once melancholic and exuberant, VIDEOHEAVEN isn’t about the death of physical media—it’s about the life it once gave us.