It’s almost Christmas time, and this blog had its first (slow) anniversary yesterday. On 25 November 2012, I published the first (very brief) entry. I would have never imagined this blog to develop in the way it has done so far, and I’m grateful that some of my readers have contacted me to discuss Slow Cinema as a concept, or even just to recommend slow films.
I will go through Christmas time in the usual way. From 1 December, I will open one (imaginary) door of my (imaginary) advent calendar. Twenty-four doors. And twenty-four slow films. I’ll be creating my very own Slow Cinema Advent Calendar.
Merry Slow Christmas!
Every day, I will publish a brief comment on the film I have watched on the day; something about aesthetics, or the content of the film. Some aspect that is perhaps worth looking at in more detail.
Finding slow films is by all means a slow matter, so I will obviously re-watch quite a few films I know already. But I think this is a good thing, because the images of films tend to become vague once you fill up your head with more and more films.
However, I’m open for suggestions. Very open, to be honest. If you have a slow film in mind, I should really get my hands on, please let me know in the comments, or email me: theartsofslowcinema@gmail.com
I only have one request: Please do not recommend 24 films that last nine hours or longer. I do have a life outside Slow Cinema 🙂
Let’s go people!
Matthew Flanagan
Sounds like a good time to catch up w/ Liu Jiayin: both Oxhides + 607. 🙂
Also I’m still convinced that Benning’s Ruhr is a major recent film, so perhaps that too if you haven’t caught it already. More recently, small roads is great too.
Nadin
Thanks, Matthew. The two Oxhides are definitely scheduled 🙂 Isn’t Benning more non-narrative in his filmmaking? I know that it’s sometimes hard to define, and technically a personal view on whether you see a narrative in a film or not. But after having read your thesis, I thought that Benning was more of a non-narrative filmmaker. Is this correct? I’m trying to stick to narrative films as much as I can, because this is essentially what I’m working on.
Matthew Flanagan
Yeah, Benning is definitely non-narrative in that respect. There’s some loose promise of narrative in the earlier structural films (e.g. 11×14) but that’s prob just a technical point too.