Beyond Words: The Will, the Letter, and the New Alphabet of Cinema

When we talk about cinema, we talk about language – the language of images. But what happens when the language itself becomes a prison? When the sign, the signifier, and the signified become a rigid structure that suffocates the original meaning?

Pre-Prophetic Cinema suggests returning to the moment before language, to the source from which everything flows: the Will.

The Will that Precedes Language

At the Burning Bush, when Moses asks God what His name is, he does not receive a definition. He receives an answer that is the embodiment of pure will, of being that constitutes being: "I will be what I will be" (אהיה אשר אהיה), "I will be" is speaking to you. That is, 'I' am above all names, I am the Will.

This is a name that exists before any definition, before any structure. It is a primary, personal will that addresses directly the will of the other. The will precedes words; it precedes letters.

The Alphabet of the Soul

This deep connection is embedded within the Hebrew language itself. The word "Ot" (אות - letter/sign) stems from the root "Le'avot" (לאוות) – to desire, to will. The letters, the building blocks of language, are actually fragments of the original, primary Will.

In Pre-Prophetic Cinema, this is precisely our aspiration: to peel away the limiting linguistic structure from the cinematic image, and to reunite the sign, the signifier, and the signified. To return the image to its root, to the soul's will, and thereby create a new soulful alphabet.

Not coincidentally, in Kabbalistic thought as well, the highest and most fundamental Sefirah out of the ten Sefirot is the Sefirah of Keter (כתר - Crown), which is also called "Ratzon" (רצון - Will) – and it is located above the Sefirah of "Chochmah" (חכמה - Wisdom). The Will is the source of everything.

The Toolbox of the Revolutionary Creator

But how do we do this in practice? How do we create a cinema of Will? The Talmud gives us a surprising key. The Sages say that since the destruction of the Temple, "prophecy was taken from the prophets and given to fools, the wise, and children."

The complete profile of the prophet split into its three components:

Pure emotion (the children) Refined intellect (the wise) Boundless imagination (the fools)

These are precisely the tools available to the filmmaker.

The Open Question

Here the big question is asked, which is a call to each of us:

How can we, as Israeli filmmakers, recreate the synthesis between intellect, imagination, and emotion? 

How will we connect truth and beauty, to create a new, unique, and avant-garde artistic language?

How will we take the sparks from general culture, and connect them to the remnants of prophecy hidden in the Torah of the Secret (תורת הסוד), to pave the way towards a modern prophetic culture?