Unspoken Cinema

Slow Cinema by Zachary Lewis and Michael Sicinski Zach is a Mississippi-based, New-York-bound freelance film writer. He has been a guest on Mousterpiece Cinema and Almost Arthouse , and he has written for Sound On Sight and In Review Online . Michael is a writer and teacher based in Houston, Texas. He has written for Cinema Scope , Cineaste , Cargo, Mubi and Fandor . He also maintains a film review website, The Academic Hack . This exchange was originally published in August 2014 by the online magazine TO BE (CONT'D) . Thank you to Peter Labuza (founder of To Be (Cont'd)), and the authors Zachary Lewis and Michael Sicinski for giving their permission to re-post this content. Part One What Do We Mean by Slow? Michael, When my love for cinema began, I skipped filmmakers like Spielberg, Lucas, Scorsese, and classic Hollywood in general, in favor of the austere arthouse flair of Béla Tarr, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Manuel de Oliveira, and C...

Today was announced the line-up for the 75th Venice Film Festival (August 29th - September 8th 2018) Surprise : Tsai Ming-liang brings a new film, Ni De Lian / Your Face (documentary on Lee Kang-Sheng), 76 min, out of competition !!! New Carlos Reygadas, Nuestro Tiempo (fiction) 173 min, in competition, Reygadas plays in his film! New Frederick Wiseman, Monrovia, Indiana (documentary) 223 min, out of competition, New Sergei Loznitsa, Process (documentary) 125 min

For the 2018 re-publishing of his 1971 book Transcendental Style in Film , Paul Schrader, to illustrate his new introduction, composed a chart for Durational Cinema and today's Transcendental Style ( see chart here ). He organised his chart according to the USA-centric theatrical exhibition of films, divided by a "Tarkovsky ring" separating commercial films (inside) from art installations (outside). But too many great CCC auteurs are relegated outside, to where he calls "dead ends" of durational cinema. This makes no sense on the international arthouse market.  In France, for instance, the arthouse circuit is much more accomodating than in the USA. Films like Tarr's Satantango screened in arthouses in 2 parts. Wang Bing's Tiexi Qu : West of Tracks had its world premiere at the Reflet Médicis, an arthouse in Paris, in 4 screenings, not in an art gallery. All of Tsaï, Bartas, Costa, Weerasethakul, Andersson, Alonso, Jia Zhangke, Massadia...

How boredom can lead to your most brilliant ideas | Manoush Zomorodi (TED Talk; April 2017; Vancouver BC) 16' Do you sometimes have your most creative ideas while folding laundry, washing dishes or doing nothing in particular? It's because when your body goes on autopilot, your brain gets busy forming new neural connections that connect ideas and solve problems. Learn to love being bored as Manoush Zomorodi explains the connection between spacing out and creativity. Related : (Ap)prendre le temps ? Il faut savourer l'ennui (France Culture) On Being Bored (Phillips)   'Boring' is not a critical argument   Boredom (Charney) “ La Peur de l'Ennui ” (anonymous Cahiers reader)

What Is Duration? Understanding Slow Cinema Through KAILI BLUES A video bricolage-essay by Ryan Swen (YouTube 29 May 2018) 9'15" A mix between a straightforward video essay and a more abstract collage, this video briefly delves into the loose movement known as slow cinema, using the 2015 Chinese film KAILI BLUES, directed by Bi Gan, as a focusing lens. Equal emphasis is given to analysis and creation of a mood befitting the subject matter. Source : "Slow cinema" (ToBeContd) Zachary Lewis, Michael Sicinski (2014) [offline:accessible on Web Archive ] "Slow Wars" (n+1) Moira Weigel (spring 2016) n+1 podcast 29 : "Slow Wars" with Moira Weigel (10 September 2016) 33' 'Kaili Blues' Q&A | Bi Gan | New Directors/New Films 2016 (YouTube 33') Director Bi Gan discussed his film 'Kaili Blues' after its screening at New Directors/New Films 2016, co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the M...

Quiet Mind - Introduction to Miksang and Contemplative Photography Co-production Canada-Singapore. 2003. (11') "Miksang is a Tibetan word meaning "good eye." It represents a form of contemplative photography based on the Dharma Art teachings of Chögyam Trungpa, in which the eye is in synchronisation with the contemplative mind. The result of this particular perception of the world, combined with photography, produces a peculiar and open way of seeing the world. Miksang pictures tend to bring the observer back into the original contemplation state of the author of the picture. The pictures can bring one back to a purer perception of reality that is often neglected. Miksang involves nothing fancy, no special setup; only a visual capture, in the proper state of mind, of everyday's reality" ( Wikipedia ) (Photo by  Julie DuBose ) (PAJ Photography) (Photo by   Julie DuBose ) (photo by April Siegfried) Miksang.com  (Julie DuB...

Fuller Studio : 26 April 2018 Paul Schrader : "Tarkovsky's films mark a deviding point in the history of Durational Cinema. Before Tarkovsky, the use of withholding and distancing devices which Deleuze calls "Time Image", took place in the context of commercial theatrical cinema. Transcendental Style falls into this category. After Tarkovsky the use of these devices became increasingly exagerated, and their films fell into the domain of film festivals and art museums. The 3 sec Bresson's shot of a door became a 10 min static view of traffic. Transcendental Style had morphed into the hydra-headed monster we call "Slow Cinema". Without going into length, I'd just say that Slow Cinema refers to films of considerable length where very little happens. [...] This is why I say it's outside the perview of commercial cinema. Cinema in my opinion is inherantly narrative." Paul Schrader : "To me when movies move away from their narrati...

Sergei Loznitsa  (Russia) Master of Contemporary Contemplative Cinema Drawing by Benoit Rouilly

Albert Serra  (Spain) Master of Contemporary Contemplative Cinema Drawing by Benoit Rouilly

Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania) Master of Contemporary Contemplative Cinema Drawing by Benoit Rouilly

Aleksandr Sokurov (Russia) Master of Contemporary Contemplative Cinema Drawing by Benoit Rouilly

Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand) Master of Contemporary Contemplative Cinema Drawing by Benoit Rouilly

Wang Bing (China) Master of Contemporary Contemplative Cinema Drawing by Benoit Rouilly

Tsai Ming-Liang (Taiwan) Master of Contemporary Contemplative Cinema Drawing by Benoit Rouill y