Everything is fine, but what exactly is Slow Contemplative Cinema?

People who attend our Contemplation Cinema screenings often come with many interesting questions.

What is Contemplative Slow Cinema?
Is it a theory, a cinematic experience, or a way of watching films?
What kind of stories belong to it?
Can a thriller be part of Contemplative Slow Cinema?
Is Contemplative Cinema a genre?
Beyond cinema, what is the purpose of this movement?
Is it about social concerns, or is it simply a new form of artistic expression?

We have tried to answer many of these questions through several posts on our Instagram page. We have also uploaded three videos on YouTube and continue to write about the subject.

I believe that only by going through these materials together can we begin to develop a basic understanding of what Contemplative Slow Cinema means.

Today’s culture of over-stimulation and a consumption-driven mindset has created a desire to grasp the essence of things in a very short span of time—much like two-minute Reels.Maybe that is why we are so eager to find the answer to “What is Slow Contemplative Cinema?” in just one screening, or even in a single film.

Contemplative Slow Cinema cannot be fully understood simply by attending one screening or watching one slow film. It is a larger idea and a way of thinking about cinema, life, attention, and our relationship with the world.

More importantly, this movement also responds to certain harmful forms of technological development that are changing the way we think, behave, and live.

If we deeply think about where some of today's technological developments are taking us, we may realise that what looks like the peak of progress can sometimes become a deep hole that we are slowly digging for ourselves.

I will outline the objectives of the contemplative slow cinema movement very simply and concisely in a few points.

1. To create a new appreciation for cinema and its artistic possibilities.
2. To put forward slowness, deep thinking, inactivity, boredom, emotional distance, attention, observation, presence, and silence as alternatives to speed, anxiety, endless activity, overconsumption, instant emotional stimulation, and noise.
3. To screen and support the work of new filmmakers who are creating Contemplative Slow Cinema.

These are only a few of our main aims, explained very simply.

We all know how difficult and unhealthy the present situation has become. The qualities mentioned in Point 2 are not important only for appreciating serious art. They are also necessary if we want to understand even basic social problems in a deeper way. In that sense, developing attention, observation, presence, patience, and the ability to remain with silence is also a kind of training in being human.

Every weekend, we have countless forms of entertainment designed to excite us, scatter our energy, keep us stimulated, and turn us again and again into active consumers.

However, we can proudly say that this movement is completely different from that.