Little White Lies issue100: How and why it happened

Preparing for the 100^th issue of a magazine makes for a heavy burden, a multicoloured millstone that hangs around your neck and occupies your every waking thought. How to make sure this is a good one? How to produce something that’s both a reflection of all that’s come before and a cogent vision of future endeavours?

I don’t mean to sound like a negative nelly when discussing the 100^th issue of Little White Lies, but I lost a lot of sleep over this thing, my mind constantly filtering through iterations and concepts of what this thing could and should be like. It’s stressful, but a pleasurable form of stress; like building a huge, multi-tiered sandcastle that’s so big that when the tide eventually comes in, it provides a nifty moat rather than washing the whole thing away.

For the Huck hardcore who perhaps have no idea what I’m yammering on about, this is the 100^th edition of the illustrated film magazine, Little White Lies, another premium periodical published by those good folks down at TCO London (also purveyors of the equally-fine, Sandwich magazine). The idea behind the magazine pivots on the use of illustration as a way of exercising imagination in the same way that filmmakers – our core subject matter – also do when plying their trade, and it also allows us to stand out on the shelf when placed next to our more photography-inclined cousins.

Usually, each issue takes aesthetic and editorial inspiration from a single film, but for this centennial edition we decided to look back at every film we’ve ever put on the cover in the past, and try to go from there. In true Dickensian style, this issue also explores the past, present and future of cinema, while also raising a wee snifter of sweet sherry to the legacy that has brought us to this day. On the cover, four illustrators join forces to create a multi-panel artwork that references every film and theme we’ve ever had on the cover. And inside, we ask 40 filmmakers to tell us about the moment they decided they wanted to make movies.

I’m incredibly proud of the issue and the small army of contributors who helped to birth it into this cold, unforgiving world. And I’m now learning that there’s only one thing harder that making the 100^th issue of a magazine: making the 101^st issue. See you on the other side [pours more sweet sherry].

Little White Lies issue 100 is out now. 

This article is published as part of our collaboration with our sister magazine Little White Lies.

Little White Lies is committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. You can support them by following them on Instagram and Twitter, buying the magazine or by becoming a member.