GNOSTIC CINEMA SEASON
Curated by Ben Jeans Houghton
Gnosticism has a plurality of historic precedents and is often thought of as an anarchic proto-christianity but beyond its placement in particular geographies of space and time it is a particular type of philosophical preoccupation. Gnosticism at it’s core is a ponderance of the predicament of personhood, an exploration of the architecture of the world we live in and the stories that tell us and the aiming towards an embodied knowing or ‘gnosis’ in place of an external objective knowledge.
I consider myself a gnostic and belong to a micro lineage whereby I am mentored for three hours a week by a Gnostic Bishop, Esoteric Astrologer and initiate of various traditions. One of our great pleasures is to discuss cinema and its worlding of gnostic themes. There are few better opportunities beyond living to immerse ourselves in an embodied knowing, but cinema and literature offer more.
Having made films since I was 16, worked in an independent cinema as an adult and having watched a great abundance of films I am a staunch believer in plot summations and trailers being the absolute anathema of cinematic experience. With that in mind I offer no context beyond the sub genres and a fallible promise, that I did not regret spending the minutes of my life in the face of these films, that they have taught me great things in novel ways and that I was above all immersed in them, and awoke from their dreams with an embodied knowing I will never try to turn into knowledge.
A refreshingly anarchic Jesus in the long censored gnostic Gospel of Thomas, had this among other things to say: “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” This urge to world the inner is surely at the core of every director's fever to dream into being a world in which others may wonder.
Honorable mentions that inhibiting the storyboarding of the Graphic novel format itself incepted in the woodblocks of edo period Japan and the cave paintings of lascaux are arguably cinema without the moving images include Grant Morrison's ‘The Invisibles’ Alan Morre’s ‘Promethea’ and Alejandro Joderowsky's ‘The Incal’
Gnostic-Period
The Devils (1971) Ken Russell
Saint Maud (2019) Rose Glas
The Wonder (2022) Sebastián Lelio
Pop-Gnostic
Slacker (1990) Richard Linklater
Hackers (1995) Iain Softley
Waking Life (2001) Richard Linklater
A Scanner Darkly (2006) Richard Linklater
The Nines (2007) John August
Gnostic-All-Ages
Labyrinth (1986) Jim Henson
Dark Crystal (1982) Jim Henson, Frank Oz
Time Bandits (1981) Terry Gilliam
The Never Ending Story (1985) Wolfgnag Peterson
The Life Of Brain
The Meaning of Life
The Golden Compass
What Dreams May Come (1998) Vincnt Ward
Gnostic-Post-Apocalyptic
Children of Men (2006) Alfonso Cuarón
The Road (2009) John Hillcoat
Gnostic-Temporality
La Jetée (1962) Chris Marker
Twelve Monkeys (1995) Terry Gilliam
Dark (2017-2020) Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese (Series)
Arrival (2016) Denis Villeneuve
The Milky Way (1969) Luis Buñuel
Slaughter House Five
Jesus of Montreal
Cloud-Atlas (2012) Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
The Devils Hour (2022) Tom Moran
Gnostic-Psychedelic
Enter The Void (2009) Gaspar Noé
Holy Mountain (1973) Alejandro Joderowsky
Cyber-Gnostic
The 13TH Floor (1999) Josef Rusnak
Lawnmowerman (1992) Brett Leonard, Farhad Mann
The Matrix (1999) Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Gnostic-Trans-Human
Ex Machina (2014) Alex Garland
Terminator (1984) James Cameron
Blade Runner (1982) Ridley Scott
Blade Runner 2049 (2019) Denis Villeneuve
Gnostic-Familial
The Tree of Life (2001) Terrence Malik
Mother! (2017) Darren Aronofsky
Gnostic-Messianic
Pi (1998) Darren Aronofsky
Dune (1984) David Lynch
Dune (2021) Denis Villeneuve
Stigmata (1999) Rupert Wainright
Being There (1979)
The Magic Christian (1969)
The Fisher King (1991) Terry Gilliam
Jacobs Ladder (1990) Adrian lynn
Gnostic-Historic
Noah (2014) Darren Aronofsky
The Last Hangover (2018) Rodrigo Van Der Put
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) Martin Scorsese
the Book Of Life (1998) Hal Hartley
Gnostic-Sci-fi
Dark City (1998) Alex Proyas
Alien (1979) Ridley Scott
Prometheus
Covenant
2001 A Space Odyssey Stanley Kubrick
Brazil Terry Gilliam
The Fifth Element (1997) Luc Besson
THX 1138 (1971) George Lucas
The Lathe of Heaven
1984 (1984) Michael Radford
Gnostic Anime
Angels Egg (1985) Mamoru Oshii
Akira (1988) Katsuhiro Otomo
Ghost In The Shell (1995) Mamoru Oshii
Magnetic Rose (1995) Koji Morimoto
The End of Evanglion (1997)
Gnostic-Vampire
Interview With The Vampire (1994) Neil Jordan
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1993) Francis Ford Coppola
The Addiction (1997) Abel Ferrara
Last Lovers Alive (2013) Jim Jarmusch
Gnostic-Psychology
The Cell (2000) Tarsem Singh
Maniac (2018) Cary Joji Fukunaga, Patrick Somerville (Series)
Memento (2000) Christopher Nolan
Fight Club (1999) David Fincher
Solaris Andrej Tarkovsky
The Others (2001)
Gnostic-Oneiric
Inception (2010) Christopher Nolan
Paprika (2006) Satoshi Kon
Eternal Sunshine (2004) Michel Gondry
Heart of Glass (1976) Werner Hertzog
Ink (2009)
Gnostic-Detective
Seven (1995) David Fincher
True Detective Season One (2014) Nic Pizzolatto (Series)
The Outsider (2020) Richard Price (Series)
Mulholland Drive (2001) David Lynch
Gnostic-Angelic / Demonic
A Dark Song (2016) Liam Gavin
Requiem (2018) Mahalia Belo
Constantine (2005) Francis Lawrence
Devil's Advocate (1998) Taylor Hackford
Prophecy (1995) Gregory Widen
Odd Thomas (2013) Stephen Sommers
Hereditary (2018) Ari Aster
The Mothman Prophecies
Angel Heart (1987) Alan Parker
Gnostic-Psychogeography
The Seventh Seal (1957) Ingmar Bergman
Stalker Andrej Tarkowsky
The Cruise Timothy Speed Levitch
Sans Soleil (1983) Chris Marker
American God's
Meetings With Remarkable Men (1979) Pter Brook