Unspoken Cinema

  Regarder tenir feat. Olivier Zuchuat (YouTube) 40'19" (Microciné Revue de Cinéma et de Télévision) 25 mars 2026 "À l’occasion de la parution de Attraits de la durée, Olivier Zuchuat revient sur un travail qui, sous des allures théoriques, reste profondément lié à une pratique du cinéma. Il ne cherche pas à redéfinir frontalement ce qu’est un film, mais à déplacer légèrement le point d’attention, à partir d’un élément simple — le plan — pour en éprouver les conséquences. L’idée, au fond, tient en peu de mots : le montage ne serait pas seulement ce qui relie les plans entre eux, mais ce qui s’opère déjà à l’intérieur du plan lui-même, dans sa durée, dans ses déplacements, dans la manière dont il organise l’espace et le temps. À partir de là, tout se reconfigure. Ce que l’on croyait stable — découpage, rythme, progression — devient plus incertain, plus diffus, comme si le film se mettait à respirer autrement. Certains exemples rendent cela immédiatement sensible. Dans les...

  The work of Roy Andersson, a Swedish auteur that turned its back to Realism and embraced Abstractionism, embodies one of the few truly defying and groundbreaking attitudes in modern Cinema: the denial of speed. The current essay focus on the methods through which he obtains this effect and the contribution of his body of work to the Aesthetics of Cinema. Roy Andersson: The Essence of the Complex Image   (video essay only viewable on YouTube ) 10'11" Escola das Artes - UCP (Pedro M. Afonso) 6 May 2024 Portuguese, English subtitles Citation : Afonso, P. (2021). Roy Andersson: The Essence of the Complex Image . Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts, 13(1), 87-99. https://doi.org/10.34632/jsta.2021.9704

Contemporary Contemplative Cinema Frequently Asked Questions #7: CCC FAQ #7 : Who are the iconic directors of Contemplative Cinema? Five auteurs, five personalities, five styles, one contemplation...   Lisandro ALONSO , Argentinian filmmaker, is always the first name that comes to mind when evoking Contemplative Cinema, because his œuvre is an exemplary model from beginning to end. Since his debut feature, La Libertad (2001), he films protagonists like his neighbours, daily, caringly, respectfuly. Unaffected body language instead of long discourses. Silences and pauses tell more about their inner turmoil. His urge for dead-times, his patience for the right interval are commandable. WANG Bing , Chinese independant filmmaker, is an exceptionnal documentarian. He’s made some of the greatest documentaries in cinema history. They are always driven by immersive images in succession, sharing the plight of his subjects. Without voiceover commentary, they build a direct bond between the ...

 Dead Time - Exploring Slow Cinema (Nich PK) video essay ( YouTube ) 19'14"  27 August 2022 See also at Unspoken Cinema : CCC Videographic Criticism

A video essay :   It's Not Easy Being a Human - The Living Paintings of Roy Andersson (Film Qualia, 16 feb 2019) 13'04" Read also on Unspoken Cinema : CCC Auteurs Watchlist : Roy Andersson

Unique Swedish filmmaker, Roy ANDERSSON, is 78 this year and made his last (according to him) film in 2019 : About Endlessness . A 2020 documentary, Being a Human Person  (directed by Fred Scott) follows its making of, where the auteur struggles with alcoholism. Andersson only made 6 feature films within 50 years, and many TV commercials ( compiled in this 34min long YouTube video ). Let's hope there will be a 7th Roy Andersson film and many more. * * * Some videos where he's discussing his art : Roy Andersson interviewed about A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence (27 march 2021) 22'31" Q&A with Roy Andersson (26 sept 2020) 1h06' Roy Andersson & Ruben Östlund (30 june 2011) 7'27" Roy Andersson on his career (11 sept 2009) 6' Roy Andersson's official website : Studio 24

Films made by 22 recurrent Contemporary Contemplative Cinema figureheads since 1967 [ Google sheet ] It's time to update the CCC timeline 2008 , I hastly put together 12 years ago, at the origin of this blog. I had omitted back then Peter Hutton, Franco Piavoli, Tacita Dean, Elia Suleiman, Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Sergei Loznitsa & Kazuhiro Soda, who I didn't know, as well as most of James Benning's output. But a few also don't make the cut this time around (Omirbaev, Kore-eda, Costa, Ceylan, JZK, GVS, Martin, Escalante, Serra) for various reasons (too few CCC films, too "speechy"/narrative in comparison to the other main figureheads, but it doesn't mean they are not contemplative, just they are not part of the chosen few CCC role models)... in order to paint a clear picture, more radical, of this new narrative cohort. One thing did change : the year of debut of this narrative mode, now 1967 instead of 1970. In restrospect, we can see clearly now the years...

This blog about Contemporary Contemplative Cinema is 14 years old in 2020, and cinema still gives us more contemplative films every year. (See Recommended CCC ). If anything this narrative mode is getting bigger and wider. LEt's see what the CCC masters will show us for the new decade to come... So here is my Top10 of the past decade 2010-2019 : The Turin Horse  (2011/Béla TARR & Agnès HRANITZKY) Uncle Boonmee...  (2010/WEERASETHAKUL) Three Sisters  (2012/WANG Bing) A Pigeon Sat On A Branch...  (2014/ANDERSSON)  No Home Movie  (2015/AKERMAN) Leviathan  (2012/PARAVEL/CASTAING-TAYLOR) An Elephant Sitting Still  (2018/HU Bo) Le Quattro Volte  (2010/FRAMMARTINO) Inland Sea  (2018/SODA) Under The Skin  (2013/GLAZER) If you're still reading this blog, if you're still watching CCC, what are your personal Top of the decade, please leave a comment. Related : My CCC Top10 Canon (2012) CCC...

 Elia Suleiman admitted being a fan of Jacques Tati. But also a fan of Roy Andersson's films and Tsai Ming-liang's films. Really interesting words on silence in his films too. It Must Be Heaven received a Special Mention at Cannes 2019. Elia Suleiman hadn't make a new film for 10 years since The Time That Remains (2009)