Video essays require a different form of attention, another way of digesting information than written essays. The best examples of this audiovisual format command the eye of the viewer, and make us notice what was before hidden. This wonderful side-by-side montage of Roberto Rossellini’s Stromboli and At Land by Maya Deren does just that.

Margarida Leitão captures, in a wistful and elegant edit, subtle details that would be hard to explain in words. The two images are each an echo of the other, revealing their shared attention to particular details. This is not a film analyst explaining a movie. It is a perfect example of one movie commenting on and enlightening another one. Film analyzing itself.