The all-archival work of Sierra Pettengill weaves together a tapestry of rare imagery – television programmes, archive footage, plus occasional on-screen text – to explore the performance of state violence in the USA, be that the treacherous militarisation of the US police force from the late 1960s until today, or the pageantry, absurdity, and mastery of the made-for-TV politics of Ronald Reagan. Pettengill’s short but brilliant filmography is simultaneously a documentation of the past, a roadmap to the present moment, and a warning of ‘history repeating itself.’ It is essential, urgent filmmaking that explores – and explodes – the archiveto bring the past into the present, asking questions relevant to, and for, us all.