Magic in the Mundane
In November 2025, I received an email from filmmaker Leigh Brooks, who, as it turned out, was based in Margate only a few roads away from me.
Leigh was working on a film and wanted to come over, have a conversation and conduct an interview. At the time, I don’t think the film even had a title. He explained that he was creating a documentary exploring a variety of subjects, including forgotten ways, gnosis, plant medicines and the magic of these shores.
Leigh had worked on other people’s films for many years, but this was to be his first film for himself.
Sure, why not? I thought — although I wasn’t entirely sure how I, as a bookseller, could help, or even quite what the film was going to be about.
After a few email exchanges and some juggling of diaries — mostly on my side, as my decidedly mundane work (my other job) kept getting in the way — we finally managed to meet in early December.
Leigh arrived carrying a large bag of video and photographic equipment.
Was I worried? A little. I am not naturally comfortable in front of a camera.
We chatted for a while, but with limited time we soon got on with the interview and photography. Nothing like a bit of time pressure to overcome the anxiety. Over the following weeks Leigh and I stayed in regular contact, taking more photographs — increasingly artistic ones that somehow managed to make me look almost comfortable in front of the lens, including the photograph below with the enormous 1633 tome The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes by John Gerard. Fortunately, most of the photos focused on my books.
Chris Maund with a 1633 edition of John Gerard’s The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes, photographed during filming for Magic in the Mundane.
And that was how the journey began.
In early 2026, I introduced Leigh to Paul Summers Young. I’ve known Paul for several years and he has signed several of his books specifically for BTETM, which are of course available on our website. Paul subsequently became involved in the project too and was interviewed for what would become the finished film.
By March 2026, the first cut was available.
And, to be honest, I was blown away.
What emerged was a beautifully made film exploring the experiences, ideas and individual journeys of a diverse cast of people. Rather than attempting to provide definitive answers, it moves between different perspectives and leaves the viewer with more questions than they started with — which, in this case, is very much a good thing.
Magic in the Mundane premiered on 21 June 2026 at the Garden of Tomorrow Festival, Trematon Castle, Cornwall.
Its first Margate screening followed in July at The Tom Thumb Theatre, an extraordinarily small, enchanting and intimate venue and a wonderfully appropriate setting for the film’s first hometown showing.
It was also my first opportunity to meet more of the production team and several of the other people who appear in the film.
The description of the film:
"Magic in the Mundane" is a cinematic journey into the overlooked miracles of everyday existence. Filmed across breathtaking landscapes and intimate spaces, this feature length documentary gathers philosophers, writers, psychedelic guides, death doulas, trauma workers, ritual keepers, pilgrims, pantheists, pagans and thinkers to explore where wonder lives when we're not looking for it.
The film ventures into the nature of consciousness itself, asking whether artificial minds might one day perceive the sacred and how psychedelics can dissolve the veil between the self and what lies beyond it. It sits with death not as an ending but as a threshold, examines how trauma fractures and forges spiritual sight, and follows ancient and modern pilgrims alike as they walk toward meaning. Through ceremony and ritual, it seeks what broken spiritual memory has forgotten, while pantheism and paganism offer frameworks where divinity breathes through every stone and stream.
Through stunning on-location cinematography and an evocative original score, these voices converge without consensus. Nothing is definitive. Each topic remains an open door, an invitation to wonder. The documentary refuses easy answers, trusting the audience to step through ... or not.
Who are we when no one is watching?
The magic was never elsewhere. It was always here, waiting for us to notice.
The next local screening of the film is on Friday, 16 October 2026, at The Ark, Margate, where it will be shown as part of the Margate Mushroom Festival — an exceedingly appropriate setting.
The film is also available to watch online via Kinema.
The film’s strapline — “The magic was never elsewhere. It was always here, waiting for us to notice.” — perhaps best captures where, for me, Magic in the Mundane and Books That Expand The Mind unexpectedly meet.
Books have always been ways of preserving, questioning and rediscovering ideas — whether those ideas concern magic, consciousness, religion, philosophy, forgotten knowledge or simply different ways of understanding the world around us.
I began the project wondering what a bookseller could possibly contribute to a film like this.
By the end, that seemed rather less mysterious.
Credits
Director: Leigh Brooks
Writer: Leigh Brooks
Producer: Leigh Brooks, Adam Carr
Executive Producer: Kelly Jales
Crew: Editor Leigh Brooks, Composer Nikky French, Sound design and audio post Bam Bam Audio, Colourist JP Davidson, Archive Producer Melody Kennett, Legal Opinion - Reviewed and Cleared Angie Mell, Researcher Isla Macleod, Additional Writer Adam Carr, Director of Photography Leigh Brooks, Camera Op Leigh Brooks, Camera Op Richard Lynch, Camera Op JP Davidson, Camera Op Ben Walton, Camera Op Tamare Kali Sharu, Camera Op Tony Murray, Camera Op Daniel Sveinson.
Cast: Tiu De Haan, Nuestro Ñānamoli, Kirstie Macleod, Leigh Brooks, Isla Macleod, Elad the Mountainman, Tree Carr, Dennis McKenna, Alexander Canwell, Dr. David Luke, Mac Marcatney, Sorrell Robbins, Paul Summers Young, Chris Maund, Raggi Gandham, Darren Le Baron, Alexandra Lea, Dennis Whyte, Yuli Gates, Tara Austin, Denis Whyte
