Introducing Issue 14: California

Plus: an invitation to our LA pop-up

The fourteenth issue of A Rabbit’s Foot is finally here, bringing readers to CALIFORNIA, observing all things film, art, and culture, through the eyes of the Golden State’s most brilliant artists. This time, there are four unique collectible covers of Californian icons: Hollywood legend Jeff Bridges; singer-actor Alana Haim, previously seen in Licorice Pizza; author Ottessa Moshfegh, and filmmakers Boots Riley and Charles Burnett, a pioneer of Black cinema, together in conversation.

All make up the issue’s “California Dreamers” chapter, featuring in-depth conversations and personal essays alongside black-and-white photography— by Jim Goldberg and Maddy Rotman. Jeff Bridges shares his rules to life, while Charles Burnett and Boots Riley are recorded speaking by Maya S Cade, head of the Black Film Archive. Alana Haim is profiled for a long-read interview and Ottessa Moshfegh shares, for the first time, a series of humorous emails that led her to move out west.

We will be celebrating the issue launch this Thursday at Architecture Books in West Hollywood (Architecture Books, 8010 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046). If you’re in Los Angeles this week, be sure to come down and meet our team and grab your copy. Details here:

Elsewhere, this specially curated edition covers the many dimensions of California’s spirit, with profiles, essays, and exquisite unseen original photography. There are in-depth conversations with master filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow and actor Michael B Jordan, ahead of the Academy Awards.

We also catch up with Latino acting veteran Danny Trejo at his donut shop in Los Angeles and spend time in conversation with María Zardoya, of hit group The Marías. She speaks about her passion for cinema and future solo projects. Our art section includes interviews with Ed Ruscha—perhaps California’s most recognisable artist—and Mary Weatherford, a stalwart of the state’s art scene and development. CEO of the Serpentine Galleries Bettina Korek conducts the interview exclusively for A Rabbit’s Foot. Elsewhere, Grammy-winning singer Arooj Aftab writes a personal essay about Jeff Buckley’s lesser-known passion for Qawali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and we’re very proud to publish the last ever interview with Chinatown screenwriter Robert Towne, by author Chiara Barzini.

There are, as ever, the well-researched and colourful long reads that A Rabbit’s Foot is known for. LA Times critic Carlos Aguilar talks about the movies that shine a troubling light on California beside stories on Hollywood’s Golden Age through the rise of superagent Sue Mengers and the debauched 1930s hangout Garden of Allah. We bring readers to Marcel Duchamp’s impactful 1960s exhibition in Pasadena, and speak with five legendary stunt artists today. All are presented with rarely-seen images in a meticulously designed journal.

Following the success of our previous editions, Issue 14 of A Rabbit’s Foot is once again designed with unique and collectible covers, including new colourways on our masthead and a border with quotes from each of the four cover stars.