Episode Summary:

The inimitable Richard Saunders joins us to look at a recent documentary focusing on a group of working psychics in New York City. First we discuss the Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project and Richard’s more recent work on restoring a video of James Randi in Australia, now available for viewers. The documentary, “Look Into My Eyes,” directed by Lana Wilson, follows a group of psychics who also dabble in theater, and draws many parallels between those two worlds. We cover the messages and ambiguity present in the film — it’s definitely not a documentary that aims to test the reliability of psychic predictions, rather it explores how people connect and communicate. The psychics themselves are shown as humble, sincere people who have found purpose in their craft and believe they are helping others. The camera lingers on patrons who are clearly using the psychics as a kind of therapeutical setting, and there’s a lot to unpack in terms of ethics and authenticity. We all have thoughts!