A wise Argonaut once said that “the gods want their entertainment” and to creatively paraphrase the Bard: “All the World’s a Game and we are merely players”. In keeping with what you’ve come to expect from Beneficial Shock! - little of what is covered in this new issue conforms to the bog-standard notions of ‘Fun’ or ‘Games’ (after all what fun would that be?!) so prepare yourselves for a thrill-ride of epic proportions as we delve deep into all the ways that cinema - and those that make it - has amused itself at our (joyful) expense.

Cover by Fortunate Joaquin

Featuring words and images by Bill Billington, Joe Boyd, Jez Conolly, Mario Damiano, John Dowling, Eilis Dart, Tamsin Gaul, Liam Glover, Andrew Haener, Tom Humberstone, Stephanie Jade, Tommy James, Fortunate Joaquin, Claudia Lim, Orla Magee, Zoé Maghamès Peters, Jon McCormack, Daniele Morganti, Poan Pan, Michelle Perez, Rhys Peregrine, Thomas Puhr, Callum Reid, Nadia Resta, William Reynolds, Andy Ryan, Alexander Sayf Cummings, Gabriel Solomons, Zac Stephens, Madeleine Storer, Yannik Saal, Jeff Vitkun, Gyayu Wang and Yufei.