Unspoken Cinema

    Claude Sonnet 3.7:  Japanese aesthetic principles derived from Zen tradition offer a powerful lens for understanding contemplative cinema across cultures. This series examines ten concepts forming a progression from initial receptivity toward deeper awareness—revealing how contemplative films create spaces that transcend narrative efficiency. These aesthetic principles don't merely describe techniques but constitute an entire epistemology of viewing where cinema becomes a meditative practice, enabling access to dimensions of experience often overlooked in conventional spectatorship.     無  Mu &  微   Bi Nothingness and Subtle Profundity Mu and Bi represent perhaps the most philosophically profound and aesthetically sophisticated concepts in Japanese thought, articulating complementary dimensions of experience that conventional Western metaphysics has struggled to adequately conceptualize. Mu transcends simplistic understanding as mere absen...

  RENOIR - Press Conférence - English - Cannes 2025 (YouTube) 41'10" (Festival de Cannes) 18 may 2025 Release date : Cannes : 17 may 2025 (World Premiere) Japan : 20 june 2025 France : 17 Septembre 2025

 "[..] Together, these films reflect De Clercq’s ongoing interest in slowness, lyricism, and the poetics of perception. They create space for viewers to question dominant temporalities – those of progress, urgency, and consumption – and instead attune to subtler rhythms: geological, animal, ancestral. In doing so, The Timeless Sloth becomes not just a screening, but a kind of temporal recalibration – an extension of the exhibition’s contemplative spirit and an invitation to dwell, sense, and simply be." (Anouk De Clerq, Contemporary Art Center CAC, Vilnius) Programme: Tales from the Source by Leonard Pongo Now, At Last! by Ben Rivers

   Claude Sonnet 3.7:  Japanese aesthetic principles derived from Zen tradition offer a powerful lens for understanding contemplative cinema across cultures. This series examines ten concepts forming a progression from initial receptivity toward deeper awareness—revealing how contemplative films create spaces that transcend narrative efficiency. These aesthetic principles don't merely describe techniques but constitute an entire epistemology of viewing where cinema becomes a meditative practice, enabling access to dimensions of experience often overlooked in conventional spectatorship.   氣  Ki The Vital Energy of Cinematic Experience Ki represents a foundational concept in East Asian cosmology and aesthetics that transcends simple categorization, functioning simultaneously as philosophical principle, physiological phenomenon, and aesthetic quality. This concept of vital energy or life force originated in ancient Chinese philosophy before being extensively develo...

 Jakob Boer here: Benoit kindly invited me to contribute a post to his wonderful blog (that I’ve been following for many years now). I would like to take this opportunity to report on the findings of a research project that I conducted on slow cinema spectatorship. On this blog, in film criticism, and in academic writing, slow cinema has been subject to lively and sometimes heated debates. Yet, some aspects of this contemporary cinematic phenomenon were left largely unexamined, which was the impetus for me to dedicate three years of my life to studying the topic. Scholars had done major film analytic work on the topic previously, and cultural critics had done the work of positioning slow cinema in a wider slow movement. Yet, I sensed that the unique type of aesthetic experience slow cinema affords, remained relatively unexplored. To me, the vocabulary used to describe it lacked richness and precision. I thought that the easy oppositions used in film theory–between fast/slow, atten...

  Claude Sonnet 3.7:  Japanese aesthetic principles derived from Zen tradition offer a powerful lens for understanding contemplative cinema across cultures. This series examines ten concepts forming a progression from initial receptivity toward deeper awareness—revealing how contemplative films create spaces that transcend narrative efficiency. These aesthetic principles don't merely describe techniques but constitute an entire epistemology of viewing where cinema becomes a meditative practice, enabling access to dimensions of experience often overlooked in conventional spectatorship.   以心伝心  Ishin-Denshin Direct Transmission Beyond Words Ishin-Denshin represents one of the most profound and elusive concepts in Japanese aesthetic and spiritual tradition, describing a mode of communication that transcends conventional linguistic and conceptual boundaries. The term itself—literally "from mind to mind" or "heart-to-heart transmission"—emerged from Zen Buddhist cont...

 Dernière addition à la page Bibliothèque sur Unspoken Cinema : "Avant même l’arrivée du parlant, le cinéma fut colonisé par le verbe : la parole fut dès lors instrument du discours, guide du spectateur. [..] Le sujet du silence nous a toujours fasciné car il touche à l’indicible, au non-dit. L’exclusion des mots qui, s’ils étaient prononcés, en réduiraient leurs sens, engendre une polyphonie du (des) sens en même temps qu’un pouvoir émotionnel fort. Elle est une capacité d’expression du langage très utilisée au cinéma. Dans cet univers d’absence de voix, le mutisme nous intéresse particulièrement : il nous renvoie à nos moments de doute, à ces instants où il est trop dur ou difficile de parler, où les mots ne semblent pas pouvoir exprimer ce qui est réellement ressenti. La richesse de ses significations et de ses utilisations permet au cinéma de mener le spectateur vers un travail d’intériorisation, dans un monde plus subjectif que pra...

Claude Sonnet 3.7:  Japanese aesthetic principles derived from Zen tradition offer a powerful lens for understanding contemplative cinema across cultures. This series examines ten concepts forming a progression from initial receptivity toward deeper awareness—revealing how contemplative films create spaces that transcend narrative efficiency. These aesthetic principles don't merely describe techniques but constitute an entire epistemology of viewing where cinema becomes a meditative practice, enabling access to dimensions of experience often overlooked in conventional spectatorship.   侘寂  Wabi-Sabi The Beauty in Impermanence and Imperfection Wabi-Sabi constitutes perhaps the most profound and distinctive contribution of Japanese aesthetics to global philosophical discourse on beauty, representing a radical counter-perspective to Western aesthetic traditions centered on permanence, perfection, and ideal forms. This aesthetic philosophy emerged from the convergence of Zen B...

 Latest addition to the Library page: "[..] G. Aravindan’s films stand as exemplary works of visual storytelling, blending Indian aesthetics with modern cinematic language. Through Esthappan and Kummatty, Aravindan transcends conventional narrative frameworks, offering profound insights into spirituality, interconnectedness, and the relationship between humans and their environment. His films exemplify the potential of cinema as a medium for cultural and philosophical exploration, solidifying his position as a master of contemplative cinema." Indian Aesthetics and Cinema: The Art of Visual Storytelling in the Selected Movies of G Aravindan         Alka Mohan; January 2025; Bangalore in  The Academic Lire aussi : G. Aravindan sur Wikipedia.fr

Claude Sonnet 3.7:  Japanese aesthetic principles derived from Zen tradition offer a powerful lens for understanding contemplative cinema across cultures. This series examines ten concepts forming a progression from initial receptivity toward deeper awareness—revealing how contemplative films create spaces that transcend narrative efficiency. These aesthetic principles don't merely describe techniques but constitute an entire epistemology of viewing where cinema becomes a meditative practice, enabling access to dimensions of experience often overlooked in conventional spectatorship.   安らぎ Yasuragi Tranquility and the Poetics of Stillness Yasuragi, conventionally translated as tranquility or inner peace, represents a complex aesthetic-philosophical principle within Japanese cultural tradition that extends far beyond mere calmness to encompass a profound state of harmonious being. This concept emerged from the intersection of Buddhist contemplative practices and indigenous Japan...

Latest addition to the Library page: "In fact the contemplative and immersive films do not show any relationship between the filmmaker and the subjects, neglecting the participation as one of the fundamental principles of the fieldwork, that in many cases could transform itself into collaboration entailing the share of the research scopes in order to produce social improvement [..]" The contemplative style in the ethnographic documentary between observation and immersion Francesco Marano ; 2022 ; Italy

Claude Sonnet 3.7:  Japanese aesthetic principles derived from Zen tradition offer a powerful lens for understanding contemplative cinema across cultures. This series examines ten concepts forming a progression from initial receptivity toward deeper awareness—revealing how contemplative films create spaces that transcend narrative efficiency. These aesthetic principles don't merely describe techniques but constitute an entire epistemology of viewing where cinema becomes a meditative practice, enabling access to dimensions of experience often overlooked in conventional spectatorship.   沈黙 Chinmoku The Eloquence of Cinematic Silence Chinmoku, translated as silence or profound reticence, constitutes one of the most sophisticated concepts in Japanese aesthetics, extending far beyond mere absence of sound to embody a positive philosophical principle with ontological significance. Within Zen Buddhist tradition, silence represents not emptiness but plenitude—a fullness of potential m...

Dernière ajout à la page Bibliothèque : "C’est avec la même latitude contemplative que le cinéaste Peter Hutton explore depuis plus de trente ans les paysages – qu’ils soient naturels ou urbains – à la manière d’un témoin dont la caméra se fait le relais. Cette façon d’immortaliser des moments subtils qui semblent être inconséquents, reflète une méthode puissante devant son appréhension au monde. [..]" Peter Hutton et les fantômes de l’Hudson River School : L’image suspendue (espace, regard, mythe) Benjamin Léon ; 2014 ; Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle

  Claude Sonnet 3.7:  Japanese aesthetic principles derived from Zen tradition offer a powerful lens for understanding contemplative cinema across cultures. This series examines ten concepts forming a progression from initial receptivity toward deeper awareness—revealing how contemplative films create spaces that transcend narrative efficiency. These aesthetic principles don't merely describe techniques but constitute an entire epistemology of viewing where cinema becomes a meditative practice, enabling access to dimensions of experience often overlooked in conventional spectatorship. ボケット Boketto The Cinematic Gaze and Empty Awareness Boketto, a concept that describes the act of gazing vac antly into the distance without focused thought, represents an essential aesthetic principle in Japanese cultural understanding of perception and consciousness. This mode of awareness occupies a unique position within Japanese phenomenology—distinct from both concentrated attention and mind...