From writer-director Ari Aster comes a modern Western and paranoid thriller set in the American Southwest during the tumultuous summer of 2020. Isolated and sheltered in place during a global pandemic, a nation under pressure found itself sifting reality through the haze of social media, and lost its collective mind.

Eddington stars Joaquin Phoenix as small-town sheriff Joe Cross, who runs for mayor when progressive incumbent Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) attempts to modernize their dusty hamlet by attracting a new artificial-intelligence data center. Aster’s fourth feature takes the form of a classic showdown between two opposing forces over the future of Eddington, New Mexico (population 2,345), as spiraling conspiracies and standoffs derail a citizenry pushed to the brink.

Opens for a full run on July 18.

In anticipation of the premiere of Eddington on July 18, the JBFC presents Ari Aster’s World. Between July 11 and July 16, revisit Ari Aster’s groundbreaking career so far with Hereditary, Midsommar, and Beau is Afraid.