Unspoken Cinema

  Film In Conversation/ Tsai Ming-liang (YouTube) 1h08' (QAGOMA) 1st April 2025 As part of Asia Pacific Triennial Cinema, Taiwan-based Malaysian filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang joined us for an Australian-exclusive in-person In Conversation event. Celebrated as one of the greatest living directors and a key figure in the second wave of Taiwan New Cinema, Tsai has re-shaped understandings of the artform through his feature films (including the Golden Lion-winning 'Vive L’Amour' 1994 and the ghostly masterpiece 'Goodbye, Dragon Inn' 2003), his innovative video works and his mesmerising 'Walker' series. Tsai Ming-liang discusses his acclaimed career, his long-standing creative partnership with Lee Kang-sheng and his singular vision of cinema. Recorded at the Australian Cinémathèque, Gallery of Modern Art (Sun 1 Dec 2024) Moderated by Robert Hughes, Associate Curator, Australian Cinémathèque 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (30 Nov 2024 – 27 Apr 2025) Q...

   Claude Sonnet 4.0:  These essays explore how ancient Japanese aesthetic principles illuminate the art of contemplative cinema. Through pregnant silences, intentional asymmetries, elevation of the ordinary, strategic concealment, natural authenticity, understated refinement, and bittersweet impermanence, we discover how Zen wisdom transforms the moving image into a vehicle for deeper seeing and mindful presence. Each principle offers filmmakers and viewers alike a pathway to cinema that contemplates rather than consumes, revealing profound truths through patient observation and aesthetic restraint. 見え隠れ MIEGAKURE Partial concealment Miegakure, literally meaning "hide and reveal" or "glimpsed and hidden," embodies the aesthetic principle of partial concealment that creates beauty through the interplay between what is shown and what remains hidden from view. Unlike Western artistic traditions that often prioritize complete revelation and clear visibility, Miegakure ...

  Video Essay: "Days Passed" | Lee Kang-Sheng Through the Eyes of Tsai Ming-Liang  (YouTube) 3'22" (MUBI) 20 Nov 2020 "Days Passed: Lee Kang-Sheng Through the Eyes of Tsai Ming-Liang" by Michelle Cho  A video essay exploring the fragile passage of time through the shifting textures of Lee Kang-Sheng's face in the films of Tsai Ming-Liang.  A double bill focused on Tsai Ming-liang and Lee Kang-sheng is currently showing on MUBI US: https://mubi.com/specials/tsai-lee   "Presented in this double bill are two of the duo’s early standouts, Vive L’amour and The River. Vive L’amour is is a three-fold tale of urban alienation in the vein of Antonioni, steeped in an eroticism that is led by Lee’s sense of quiet longing. The River sees the actor apply his deadpan style to Tsai’s bleak and metaphysical vision of the nuclear family. Made immediately after their joint debut feature, Rebels of the Neon God, these two films are cornerstones of one of the most inf...

  Claude Sonnet 4.0:  These essays explore how ancient Japanese aesthetic principles illuminate the art of contemplative cinema. Through pregnant silences, intentional asymmetries, elevation of the ordinary, strategic concealment, natural authenticity, understated refinement, and bittersweet impermanence, we discover how Zen wisdom transforms the moving image into a vehicle for deeper seeing and mindful presence. Each principle offers filmmakers and viewers alike a pathway to cinema that contemplates rather than consumes, revealing profound truths through patient observation and aesthetic restraint. 並 HEI Finding significance in the mundane Hei, meaning "parallel" or "alongside," represents the aesthetic principle of creating visual and conceptual harmony through the careful arrangement of elements that maintain equal status while existing in productive relationship to one another. Unlike hierarchical compositions that establish dominant focal points, Hei celebrates...

The Great Moose Migration on SVT (Swedish Public Television) A 24h/7 SlowTV program was between April 15th 2025 and May 4th 2025  ( all episodes available online worldwide until 2027) The story of the Great Moose Migration on SVT (English) 17' On Swedish TV every Spring since 2019. Slow TV at Unspoken Cinema: Slow TV

 Claude Sonnet 4.0:  These essays explore how ancient Japanese aesthetic principles illuminate the art of contemplative cinema. Through pregnant silences, intentional asymmetries, elevation of the ordinary, strategic concealment, natural authenticity, understated refinement, and bittersweet impermanence, we discover how Zen wisdom transforms the moving image into a vehicle for deeper seeing and mindful presence. Each principle offers filmmakers and viewers alike a pathway to cinema that contemplates rather than consumes, revealing profound truths through patient observation and aesthetic restraint. 不均整 FUKINSEI Intentional imbalance Fukinsei, meaning "asymmetry" or "irregularity," embodies the Japanese aesthetic principle that finds beauty in imbalance and imperfection rather than in classical Western ideals of symmetrical harmony. Unlike symmetrical compositions that create static equilibrium through mirrored elements, Fukinsei celebrates dynamic balance achieved t...

Dernière addition à la page Bibliographie : "Une époque de calme ne fait jamais naître l'ennui profond. C'est le temps de l'histoire et de la révolution justement, riche en événements, mais non propice à un état de durée et de répétition, qui est sujet à créer de l'ennui. La moindre répétition y est perçue comme monotonie. L'ennui n'est pas le contraire de l'action déterminée. Ils sont la condition mutuelle de leur existence. La détermination à agir approfondit l'ennui. [..] Le temps lui-même se vide. Il n'est source d'aucune gravitation qui lie et rassemble. La cause de l'ennui est finalement attribué au vide du temps . Le temps ne comble plus. La seule liberté du sujet agissant ne produit aucune gravitation temporelle. Un intervalle vide qui crée l'ennui naît dans l'espace où son impulsion d'action ne se tourne vers aucun nouvel objet. Le temps comblé n'est pas nécessairement riche en événements et en changements. C...

Claude Sonnet 4.0: These essays explore how ancient Japanese aesthetic principles illuminate the art of contemplative cinema. Through pregnant silences, intentional asymmetries, elevation of the ordinary, strategic concealment, natural authenticity, understated refinement, and bittersweet impermanence, we discover how Zen wisdom transforms the moving image into a vehicle for deeper seeing and mindful presence. Each principle offers filmmakers and viewers alike a pathway to cinema that contemplates rather than consumes, revealing profound truths through patient observation and aesthetic restraint. 余白 YOHAKU Negative space Yohaku, literally meaning "blank space" or "margin," represents the deliberate cultivation of emptiness as an active compositional element that carries equal weight to filled areas in Japanese aesthetic philosophy. Unlike Western artistic traditions that often view blank space as neutral background or wasted opportunity, Yohaku treats emptiness as p...

  Slow Cinema and the Aesthetics of Duration "A significant manifestation of cinematic minimalism appears in what critics call "slow cinema"—films characterized by long takes, minimal action, and contemplative pacing. These works use temporal extension and event reduction to create distinctive relationships with nothingness: Extended duration: Long takes without cuts create sustained empty time Minimal action: Everyday activities or stillness replace dramatic events Dead time: Periods where "nothing happens" become central rather than eliminated Observational stance: Objective distance replaces psychological identification Directors associated with this approach—Tsai Ming-liang, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Lav Diaz, Chantal Akerman—create films where conventional "something" recedes, allowing forms of nothing (empty time, minimal action, extended observation) to become the primary experience. Their work invites viewers to discover meaning and beauty in...

Claude Sonnet 4.0:  Contemplative cinema editing employs Zen aesthetic principles to create profound temporal experiences through mindful post-production practices. By integrating meaningful intervals, subjective duration, organic rhythm, purposeful separation, and cyclical imperfection, editors craft viewing experiences that mirror meditative awareness and honor the authentic rhythms of consciousness and perception. ENSO 円相 Circle of Enlightenment and Imperfection Enso, meaning "circle" or "circular form," represents the aesthetic and spiritual principle embodied in the hand-drawn circle that serves as both artistic expression and meditative practice in Zen Buddhism. Unlike geometric circles that achieve mathematical perfection through mechanical precision, Enso celebrates the beauty of imperfect circles created through single, unrepeatable brushstrokes that capture the artist's mental and spiritual state at the moment of creation. This concept recognizes that ...

  Tsai Ming-liang and Lee Kang-sheng Are a Perfect Partnership (YouTube) 3'50" (Fandor) 29 Oct 2018

  Claude Sonnet 4.0:  Contemplative cinema editing employs Zen aesthetic principles to create profound temporal experiences through mindful post-production practices. By integrating meaningful intervals, subjective duration, organic rhythm, purposeful separation, and cyclical imperfection, editors craft viewing experiences that mirror meditative awareness and honor the authentic rhythms of consciousness and perception. 切れ KIRE Separation and connection Kire, meaning "cut" or "separation," represents the aesthetic principle that finds beauty in decisive breaks, clean divisions, and the spaces created through purposeful severance rather than gradual transition. Unlike Western artistic approaches that often emphasize smooth connections and seamless flow, Kire celebrates the power of abrupt termination and stark juxtaposition that creates meaning through contrast and discontinuity. This concept recognizes that sharp cuts can generate more emotional and intellectual impa...

 Contemplative Cinema of 2025, so far, after the Cannes premieres: Little Boy  (2025/BENNING/USA) DOC Lo Deseado  (2025/MASCAMBRONI/Mexico/Argentina) Magellan  (2025/DIAZ/The Philippines) Marcel et monsieur Pagnol  (2025/CHOMET/France) Mills of Time  (2025/RIGAL/France) DOC short Renoir  (2025/HAYAKAWA/Japan) Résurrection  (2025/BI Gan/China) Sirât  (2025/LAXE/Spain/France) Stream-Story  (2025/DUTTA/India) DOC short The Love That Remains  (2025/PALMASON/Iceland) The Mastermind  (2025/REICHARDT/USA) The North  (2025/SCHRIJVER/Netherlands) The Slow Man And His Raft  (2025/BHATTACHARYYA/India) Two Prosecutors  (2025/LOZNITSA/Ukraine) Find more recommended Contemplative films at Unspoken Cinema: CCC Recommendations

 Claude Sonnet 4.0:  Contemplative cinema editing employs Zen aesthetic principles to create profound temporal experiences through mindful post-production practices. By integrating meaningful intervals, subjective duration, organic rhythm, purposeful separation, and cyclical imperfection, editors craft viewing experiences that mirror meditative awareness and honor the authentic rhythms of consciousness and perception. 序破急 JO HA KYUU Rhythmic structure Jo Ha Kyuu, composed of three characters meaning "introduction," "break," and "rapid," represents a fundamental aesthetic principle governing the temporal structure of artistic expression in Japanese culture. Unlike Western dramatic structures that often emphasize climactic peaks and resolution, Jo Ha Kyuu establishes a tripartite rhythm that mirrors natural processes of gradual emergence, dynamic transformation, and intense culmination. The Jo phase embodies slow, careful establishment where elements are int...