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RAIN (Julie Volkmann)

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  RAIN A Contemplative Film by Julie Volkmann (YouTube) 14'40" WayMaking Artist JulieV (27 Sept 2021) This contemplative film might be referred to as an experimental film. It could just as easily be called a chance composition. Yet others would deem it a non-narrative film. My friend and fellow Goddard alum, Brenda Bowyer, conceived of a chance methodology for the creation of new art work, using a set of special die such as those used in Dungeons and Dragons. She asked me if I would like to play the chance 'game' and I didn't miss a beat in my "hell, yes!" All footage was gathered on rainy Saturday in April. This newly edited version of the film is 14 minutes long. To ensure the viewer has the 'clearest' experience of the film, I chose to reveal the six elements which guided the creation of this chance composition at the end of the film.  

Alternative Narratives (Tsai Ming-liang)

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  Alternative Narratives: Art as Articulated by Tsai Ming-liang  (YouTube) 1h43' Berlinale Talents 2024 - 18 Feb 2024 In the three decades since his feature debut, 1992’s "Rebels of the Neon God," Tsai Ming-liang has turned into one of the most idiosyncratic and original directors working today. With their long takes and still compositions, his films stretch the limit of minimalism, and often exist in conversation with other art forms, from performance to conceptual art. Tsai’s cinema is a porous, transdisciplinary realm; nowhere is this more evident than in the director’s ongoing "Walker" series, of which the Berlinale is proud to unveil the tenth instalment, “Abiding Nowhere”, as well as a restoration of Tsai’s 2005 Berlinale-winning “The Wayward Cloud.” In this engaging panel, the director opens up about his craft, from his earliest projects to his more recent installations and VR experiments. Moderated by Kevin B. Lee 

In Praise of Slowness (Hicham Gardaf) Berlinale 2024

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  In Praise of Slowness (YouTube) 1'12" Hicham Gardaf (26 Jan 2024) Berlinale - Berlin International Film Festival

My World Poll 2023 (at Senses of Cinema)

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My top10 favourite films released in France in 2023 in alphabetical order (published at Senses of Cinema issue #108  / January 2024) Bên trong vo kén vàng  ( Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell , Phạm Thiên Ân, 2023) Cerrar los ojos  ( Close your eyes , Victor Erice, 2023) De Humani Corporis Fabrica  (Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, 2022) Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka  ( The Boy and the Heron , Hayao Miyazaki, 2023) Kuolleet lehdet  ( Fallen Leaves , Aki Kaurismäki, 2023) Kuru Otlar Üstüne  ( About Dry Grasses , Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2023) Past Lives  (Celine Song, 2023)  Perfect Days  (Wim Wenders, 2023) Retour à Séoul  ( Return to Seoul , Davy Chou, 2023) Sur l’Adamant  ( On the Adamant , Nicolas Philibert, 2023) Sur l'Adamant (2023/Philibert/France)

La place des contemplatifs (Mathieu Brelu-Brelu) FRANCAIS

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  La place des contemplatifs (YouTube) 16'19" Mathieu Brelu-Brelu (14 jan 2024) FRANCAIS

otros modos de percibir el tiempo: Sátántangó (Atherion) video essay ESPAÑOL

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  otros modos de percibir el tiempo: Sátántangó (YouTube) 12'41" Atherion (15 Jan 2021) ESPAÑOL

In Praise of Long Takes (Auteur Cinema)

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  In Praise of Long Takes (YouTube) 9'16" Auteur Cinema (14 Jan 2024)

Eureka (Lisandro Alonso) capsule by Peter Bradshaw

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  PETER BRADSHOW reviews EUREKA (YouTube) 4'37" Peter Bradshaw (17 Jan 2024)

Minimalism, location & mute narrative (Nadin Mai)

"[..] Yet, all too often, the attention on Slow Cinema stops exactly there, however; the use of long‐takes, or its relative slowness. The danger with this, and indeed with using the term Slow Cinema is that it limits the view on the phenomenon. It focuses almost exclusively on time in film; a debate which is usually aimed at opposing popular film and art cinema. This view neglects several intriguing aspects, which add to the special experience of slow films, two of them being the art of minimalism and the use of location. [..] Characters tend to communicate by means other than the spoken word. It is about body language first of all. But their behaviours, actions, and decisions equally add to an almost mute narrative. If dialogue is present it often merely functions as verbal wallpaper, or everyday chitchat. [..] Nadin Mai, The Aesthetics of Slow Cinema – CMC RPG Conference, University of Stirling (4 December 2012 ; unpublished conference paper)

Perfect Days (Wenders) review

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  It's by the sound, from the street, of a traditional twig broom brushing away leaves from the pavement at dawn that this man awakens. He methodically folds back his futon and duvet in his neat tatami room, gently puts away the book he abandonned last night next to his reading glasses... He walks downstairs to brush his teeth and climbs back upstairs with a water sprayer to water his plants in the adjacent room bathed in a sepia shade. He puts on his work overalls with "Tokyo Toilets" printed on the back. Without a word uttered so far, the personality of the character are established with a natural flow and a few hints...  He proceeds down the stairs where he picks up one by one the objects carefully placed on a shelf. First his mobile phone after disconnecting it from an all-night charge. 2 sets of keys he pockets promptly. Some change. Only his watch remains on the shelf when he closed the door. The first thing he looks at when opening the entrance door is the sky. Nex

The Future of Cinema is Slow (FilmFourAll)

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  The Future of Cinema is Slow (YouTube) 12'02" FilmFourAll (1st Jan 2024)

Menus-Plaisirs (Wiseman) review

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Menus-Plaisirs : Les Troisgros (2023) Frederick WISEMAN What you ought to know prior to watching this film The less information about this film, the more surprises the slow-burn discovery will get you, each step of the way. The faces of these chefs might not be familiar at first, but they’ll gradually grow on you… until you’re part of the family by the end. You might want to save a good moment of your time to complete this four-hour long observational documentary, as there is no built-in intermission. Like for all Wiseman’s recent films, this film spends longer than usual to foster acquaintance with the universe he’s studying. He observes carefully, patiently, the institutions of society and culture, one at the time, with a no-nonsense title naming its subject with exactitude. What you won’t see in this film: emotional music score, voiceover commentary, stars, competition, prices, money, waiting line, shouting orders, gratuitous insults, tears of despair or joy, food reviews, Instagra

Comparative Duration in WISEMAN's oeuvre

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  See also at Unspoken Cinema: Comparative Duration in WANG Bing's oeuvre Comparative Duration in Lav DIAZ's oeuvre Lav Diaz Run Time Average Shot Length in CCC

moments of ma (Gina Lim)

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  moments of ma. | vlog | cineprint16 (YouTube) 1'56" Gina Lim (26 Dec 2023) View also on Unspoken Cinema: "Ma" in Japanese Cinema (Hamaguchi)

Guide to zen (Robert Waldinger)

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  Harvard professor’s 6-step guide to zen | Robert Waldinger (YouTube) 8'18" Big Think (29 Dec 2023)