A cinematic essay in defense of remembering, The Royal Road offers up a primer on Junipero Serra’s Spanish colonization of California and the Mexican American War alongside intimate reflections on nostalgia, the pursuit of unavailable women, and butch identity.

With its lyrical, personal narration and striking images of urban landscapes, this essay film by Jenni Olson is a treasure from the Sundance Film Festival. Intimately reflecting on a range of subjects—from Vertigo to California history—The Royal Road is a poetic inquiry into memory and desire.