Unspoken Cinema

 1000 posts (articles, citations, comments, illustrations, theory, reviews, video essays, webcasts, interviews...) about Contemplative Cinema since 2006, in 20 years, on Unspoken Cinema ! As well as 1327 comments. 1000

“Valley Time” is a peculiar pace of life. Such life is nonchalant, carefree, and at times delightfully indifferent. Adopted by the residents of the village of Kangaroo Valley (shy of 900 souls) strung along the meandering Kangaroo river, nestled amongst rocky sandstone cliffs. This secluded settlement sits a mere two-hour drive south of Sydney, in Australia. Throughout this silent landscape, distances stretch vast until the next neighbour. Community is bound not by proximity, but by a shared introspective state of mind. Such space is unique to the mountainous and isolated terrains. Such pace is unique to the insulated people living far apart yearning for each other.  The documentary The Valley (2026) crafts a multifaceted, deeply evocative portrait of this remote enclave over the course of 3 hours. It shifts from one dairy farmer/painter to a gardener cultivating vegetables to a baker kneading dough to lonesome locals running errands… and so on, and so forth. A seamless human tape...

Joshua Polanski's Guided Film Club - Discursions in Time: Slow and Poetic Cinema(s) ( announced here  on Unspoken Cinema) ended with a bang(er) = Lav DIAZ's record breaking durational drama behemoth, Evolution of a Filipino Family (2004) and an insightful online discussion. You can do it too. What you ought to know before getting into Lav DIAZ's 10h24' long epic saga (spoiler free): 1) - The events depicted in the film, around the Gallardo clan, take place in The Philippines, between 1971 and 1987. 2) - The Philippines have a history of conversions, conquests, occupations, and colonisations: Islamisation (XIVth century) Spanish colonisation and evangelisation (1521-1898) since Magellan American rule (1898-1946+) USA economic influence Japanese occupation (1942-45) during WWII Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship (1972-1986) martial law (1972-1981)  Assassination of father Tullio Favali (1985) Roman catholic priest Democracy (1987-) 3) - Lav DIAZ was born on December 30, 1958...

"New Turkish Cinema embraces minimalist audio-visual elements, with long takes, contemplative narratives, and a mediated film experience that invites slow engagement and introspection. Through a focused comparison of Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Zeki Demirkubuz, two of the most influential and internationally recognized figures in this movement, this article examines how their distinct directorial styles articulate the aesthetics of slowness. Both emerged in the 1990s as central figures in the post-Yeşilçam cinematic landscape, yet their approaches differ markedly. Ceylan’s films employ rural landscapes, subdued rhythms, and interior stillness, while Demirkubuz crafts existential narratives in confined urban settings through stark realism and elliptical storytelling. Despite their stylistic differences, both directors adopt techniques associated with global slow cinema. This article argues that slowness in New Turkish Cinema functions not merely as a matter of pacing, but as a cinematic ...

"Vivez les grandes marées du Mont Saint-Michel en Slow TV. Immersion totale et continue 24/7 sur france.tv : 10 caméras dont un drone et une caméra immergée. Spectacle naturel unique." "Un dispositif technique inédit à suivre en direct et en continu sur france.tv Du lundi 3 novembre à 7h30 au lever du soleil jusqu'au dimanche 9 novembre à 18h00 au coucher du soleil, pendant 155 heures au total, 9 caméras, 1 caméra immergée et 1 drone seront déployés autour du site majestueux du Mont-Saint-Michel, qui deviendra sous nos yeux, une île, à la faveur des plus hauts coefficients de marée de l'année. Ce dispositif permettra une immersion totale, 24 heures sur 24, sans artifice, autour du spectacle des grandes marées, capturant en temps réel les mouvements de la mer et l’incroyable beauté du site. Ces caméras saisiront la montée et le retrait de la mer, à la lumière du jour comme dans l’obscurité de la nuit, révélant alors une facette méconnue de ce spectacle naturel. El...

  The Don't Tell Show's: Top 5 Slow Cinema Feature Films on YouTube (YouTube) 3' (THE DON'T TELL SHOW) 11 Oct 2024 "Full Playlist here: Slow Cinema on Youtube "

A Sociological Analysis on Tsai Ming Liang's "I Don't Want To Sleep Alone"  (YouTube) 6'13" (zeogonzo) 3 march 2024  "A short analysis on the themes and concepts introduced in Tsai Ming Liang's only film done in Malaysia. Made as an assignment for a sociology class in my film school."

  So You Want To Get Into...Tsai Ming-liang (YouTube) 16'17" (Dion Wyn) 1 March 2021

  MASTERCLASS Bruno Dumont (YouTube) 54'16" (Quinzaine des cinéastes) 21 mai 2026 Lire aussi: Dumont, Année Zéro (Critikat, Josué Morel, 20 mai 2026)

  Tsai Ming-liang and The Slow, Quiet Devastation of Loneliness (YouTube) 8'35" (Joel Talks About Movies) 17 Sep 2022 "Films mentioned in this video: I Don't Want to Sleep Alone Stray Dogs Rebels of a Neon God The Wayward Cloud The River"

  Doors and Windows of Abbas Kiarostami (YouTube) 4'19" (In the mood for film) 22 apr 2026   "A quiet study of doors and windows as they appear across the films of Abbas Kiarostami. These openings are not treated as objects, but as positions—places where seeing becomes uncertain, and where distance begins to shape meaning. Characters pause near thresholds, look through glass, move alongside frames that never fully reveal what lies beyond them. The video follows this repetition: doorways that hesitate, windows that filter, spaces that remain slightly out of reach. What emerges is not a narrative, but a way of looking—one that accepts incompleteness, distance, and the quiet presence of time passing. Nothing here resolves. Everything remains at the edge."

  Cannes 2026 - La Libertad Doble de Lisandro Alonso (YouTube) 14'49" (Critikat) 17 mai 2026 Avec : Josué Morel et Robin Vaz Voir aussi: La Libertad retrouvée (Critikat)

  Seeing Patterns in the Films of Tsai Ming-liang (YouTube) 1'55" (Fandor) 24 Apr 2018 "Along with Hsiao-hsien Hou and Edward Yang, Tsai Ming-liang is one of the most celebrated directors of Second New Wave Taiwanese Cinema. He has made ten internationally acclaimed feature films —including Stray Dogs, now streaming on Fandor—that, along with telling unvarnished and complex stories of contemporary life in Taiwan and Malaysia, make use of a number of recurring themes and motifs: phone booths, sexuality, mirrors, and musical numbers, to name a few. This video dives into the aesthetic and thematic patterns of a daring yet subtle minimalist auteur, and the ways he uses his many trademarks."

  Rebonds - Lisandro Alonso, la Libertad retrouvée (YouTube) 31'01" (Critikat) 8 mai 2026 "C'est l'un des projets les plus singuliers présentés cette année au Festival de Cannes : vingt-cinq après son premier film, "La Libertad", Lisandro Alonso livre une suite aux déambulations de Misael, un bûcheron dont on suivait les actions prosaïques dans la forêt. En attendant donc "La Libertad Doble", il nous fallait réarpenter la nature luxuriante de la Pampa et revenir à ce film hybride, qui cultive à partir de presque rien un vertige. De quoi "La Libertad" est-elle le nom ? Le "slow cinéma" existe-t-il ? Alonso serait-il aujourd'hui, avec Weerasethakul, le dernier des modernes ? Toutes ces questions sont à l'honneur de ce nouvel épisode de Rebonds." Avec : Josué Morel et Robin Vaz. Voir aussi : La Libertad Doble (Critikat)