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"Perfectly a Strangeness" with Alison McAlpine episode artwork

Feb 19, 2026 20 min

"Perfectly a Strangeness" with Alison McAlpine

from Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers Hosted by michaellouismerrill

”Three donkeys are in an unnamed desert and they discover an abandoned astronomical observatory. And the universe.” That’s how Alison McAlpine (“Second Sight”, “Ghostmen of Skye”, "Cielo") describes her Oscar-nominated short documentary “Perfectly a Strangeness” to Mike. In this wordless film, McAlpine uses the “fundamentals of cinema”– sound, movement, light, shadow, reflections – to craft a “conversation” between the muscular, visceral donkeys and the advanced, technological observatory. The resulting 15 minutes are a rare amalgam of mundanity and profundity, one which will make you see living creatures, man-made objects, and even the night sky anew. The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix. Follow: @perfectly_a_strangeness on Instagram @topdocspod on Instagram and twitter

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This episode is 20 minutes long.

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This episode was published on February 19, 2026.

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