Cinema as a Sacred Act

" עלייה אל הנשמה" - יצירה של דפנה אנגלנדר

Can a cinematic creation be holy? A holy film? Is there possibly a dimension of holiness present in every shot, in the frame, in the cut, in the camera movement? And does the holiness in the creation necessarily stem from the personal holiness of the creator?

These are questions that lie at the foundation of the search for "Pre-Prophetic Cinema." To begin answering them, we first need to ask: What is holiness?

The Essence of the Sacred: Concentration of Life

According to Rav Kook, the sacred is not asceticism and separation from reality. On the contrary, the sacred is the essence of being, the concentration of life, reality in all its intensity. Holiness is not an escape from life, but a dive into its deepest source.

The clearest expression of this is found at the Revelation at Mount Sinai, the greatest moment of revelation. It is said in the Torah: "And Mount Sinai was altogether in smoke (עָשַׁן - Ashan)."

The Kabbalists interpreted the word Ashan as an acronym for the three dimensions in which holiness is revealed in the world: Olam (עולם - World/Space), Shanah (שנה - Year/Time), Nefesh (נפש - Soul/Man).

Olam (World/Space): Holiness in the dimension of space (like the Temple). Shanah (Year/Time): Holiness in the dimension of time (like the Sabbath). Nefesh (Soul): Holiness in the dimension of man (the soul).

Cinema as a Sacred Act

Miraculously, these are also the three fundamental dimensions of cinematic creation: Space (the mise-en-scène, the location), Time (the editing, the rhythm), and Soul (the character, the human story).

The Temple was a place of encounter with the Source of Life. Can cinema constitute such an encounter?

Can the experience of watching a film become a sacred experience?

Rav Kook distinguishes between two types of holiness: the sublime holiness, which is above nature, and the hidden holiness, which is found in the depths of nature and reality itself. Both stem from the same supernal root.

A cinema of holiness, therefore, is not necessarily "spiritual" cinema in the narrow sense, but one that reveals the unifying root of all existence.

This is especially true for cinema created in the "Holy Land" – a place where the two types of holiness, the heavenly and the earthly, are destined to meet and unite.

So what is holy cinema? It is cinema that renews templates of wisdom and consciousness.

A cinema of encounter, of the concentration of the very essence of life.

A cinema of tension, reconciliation, and the revelation of the inner will in reality – the secret of the will of all life.

Because ultimately, even a single cinematic shot can be a moment of holiness: an encounter of sand and spirit, matter and form, revealed and hidden. An encounter of divine fermentation expressed in humanity.