Digital Commons Network^™

A Poetic History: Islamic And Japanese Parallels In Film, Joshua Polanski

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of David Sander, A Poetic History: Islamic and Japanese Parallels in Film (Bloomsbury, 2026).

Documenting The Ineffable: A Comparative Analysis Of Mystical Representation In Kimiavi’S The Garden Of Stones And Western Sufi Documentary, Hessam Abedini

Journal of Religion & Film

This article examines how documentary film attempts to represent mystical experience through comparative analysis of Parviz Kimiavi's The Garden of Stones (1976) and American documentaries featuring Samuel Lewis, particularly Sunseed (1973). Rather than assuming terms like "sacred" or "authentic," the study grounds its analysis in empirical definitions from William James, historical scholarship by Carl Ernst and Annemarie Schimmel, and literary theory from Fatemeh Keshavarz. Through detailed examination of specific scenes—Darvish Khan hanging stones from dead trees, Lewis leading ecstatic dances—the article demonstrates how different cinematic strategies approach documentary's epistemological limits when confronting ineffable experience.

The analysis corrects historical misunderstandings about …

Not Yearning To Be Saved: Arranged (2007) And The Politics Of Liberal Savior Narratives, Shaheer Afaqi

Journal of Religion & Film

In recent decades, Western film and television platforms have devoted growing attention to portrayals of Orthodox Jewish and Muslim communities. However, a significant subset of these productions is marked by an important limitation: the trend of savior narratives. Such narratives are based on the notion that Orthodox Jewish women and observant Muslim women are often yearning to escape their customs and communities. These narratives are a product of the liberal assumption that individual autonomy is central to human flourishing. However, this article argues that Arranged (2007) prepares audiences to question this assumption and thereby revisit savior narratives. Analyzing the film …

Contemplative Absence: Sacred Experience In Abbas Kiarostami’S The Wind Will Carry Us And The Aesthetics Of Slow Cinema, Hessam Abedini

Journal of Religion & Film

This article examines how Abbas Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) creates sacred experience through systematic absence within contemporary slow cinema aesthetics. While previous scholarship has focused on religious content in spiritual cinema, this analysis demonstrates how formal techniques—particularly strategic concealment and extended duration—generate contemplative states without explicit religious references. Drawing on Paul Schrader’s transcendental style theory and recent slow cinema scholarship, the article traces how Kiarostami adapts Persian poetic traditions, particularly concepts of pardeh (veiling) and the interplay between bāṭin (hidden) and ẓāhir (manifest), to create meaning through what remains unseen. The dying woman who never appears, the …

Theology And The Films Of Christopher Nolan: Cinematic Transcendence, Travis W. Cooper

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Joel Mayward, Theology and the Films of Christopher Nolan: Cinematic Transcendence (Bloomsbury Academic/Fortress Academic, 2025).

Bollypolitics: Popular Hindi Cinema And Hindutva, Anand Taneja

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Ajay Gehlawat, Bollypolitics: Popular Hindi Cinema and Hindutva (Bloomsbury, 2024).

Filming Modernity And Islam In Colonial Egypt, Eid Mohamed

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Heba Arafa Abdelfattah, Filming Modernity and Islam in Colonial Egypt (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2023).

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Elijah Siegler

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025), directed by Rian Johnson.

2026 Sundance Film Festival: Introduction, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

2026 Sundance Film Festival: Introduction

In The Blink Of An Eye, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of In the Blink of an Eye (2024), directed by Andrew Stanton.

Frank & Louis, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Frank & Louis (2025), directed by Petra Biondina Volpe.

The Only Living Pickpocket In New York, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Only Living Pickpocket in New York (2025), directed by Noah Segan.

The Ai Doc: Or How I Became An Apocaloptimist, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist (2026), directed by Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell.

Jane Elliott Against The World, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Jane Elliott Against the World (2026), directed by Judd Ehrlich.

Tuner, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Tuner (2025), directed by Daniel Roher.

Ghost In The Machine, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Ghost in the Machine (2026), directed by Valerie Veatch.

Hold Onto Me, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Hold Onto Me (2025), directed by Myrsini Aristidou.

See You When I See You, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of See You When I See You (2026), directed by Jay Duplass.

Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! (2026), directed by Josef Kubota Wladyka.

Sinners, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Sinners (2025), directed by Ryan Coogler.

Iranian Culture In Bahram Beyzaie’S Cinema And Theatre: Paradigms Of Being And Belonging (1959-79), Hessam Abedini

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Saeed Talajooy, Iranian Culture in Bahram Beyzaie’s Cinema and Theatre: Paradigms of Being and Belonging (1959-79) (London: I.B. Tauris, 2023)

Subjectivity And Decolonisation In The Post-Independence Novel And Film, Heather Bigley

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Sarah Jilani, Subjectivity and Decolonisation in the Post-Independence Novel and Film (Edinburgh University Press, 2024).

Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy Through Buddhism, Teng-Kuan Ng

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Victor Fan, Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy through Buddhism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2022)

Transnational Horror: Folklore, Genre, And Cultural Politics, Damon T. Berry

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Cüneyt Çakırlar, ed. Transnational Horror: Folklore, Genre, and Cultural Politics (Liverpool, 2025)

Lived Islam In Films: Faith-Based Resilient Responses Of Syrian Refugees, Jumana S. Al-Ahmad

Journal of Religion & Film

This article provides educators in fields such as Middle Eastern studies, refugee studies, cultural and Islamic studies with a framework from documentaries to challenge stereotypes about Muslim refugees and migrants. Using the framework of lived Islam, the article explores how Syrian Muslim migrants, as seen in documentaries, draw on their faith to build resilience that enables them to continue striving for better lives. Resilience is defined as the ability to overcome challenges and catastrophes, envision solutions, and lead a purposeful life. This article conceptualizes resilience not only as a personal trait but also as a collective tool for survival and …

Monstrous Girls And Celestial Lovers: Fantasy, Fear, And Female Adolescence In The Malayalam Films Ennu Swantham Janakikutty And Njan Gandharvan, Helena Reddington

Journal of Religion & Film

The Malayalam films Ennu Swantham Janakikutty and Njan Gandharvan reimagine figures from Kerala folklore, namely the Yakṣi and the Gandharva, within coming-of-age narratives. Both films position the characters of the Yakṣi and the Gandharva as fantastical figures who usher the young female protagonist into maturity. Rather than offering a pan-Hindu survey, this study focuses specifically on Kerala’s unique reimaginings of these celestial beings, where these figures carry distinct cultural meanings. This interpretive analysis is situated at the intersection of film studies, religious studies, as well as gender and sexuality studies, drawing particularly on feminist theory and critical approaches to vernacular …

The Secular Eschatology Of Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood, Timothy Winterstein

Journal of Religion & Film

This article considers the ending of Quentin Tarantino's 2019 film Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood in light of Christian eschatology. I argue that Tarantino gives us an image of a temporal, partial eschatological moment, which relates to and interacts with a scriptural, Christian perspective on hope and the universal human longing for things to be other than what they are.

Hermeneutical Priming And Linguistic Hijacking In The God’S Not Dead Series, Brant Entrekin

Journal of Religion & Film

In this paper, I analyze the evangelical Christian film series God's Not Dead. I argue that the film series functions as Christian Nationalist propaganda through its rhetoric and aesthetic choices. I then develop two forms of epistemic manipulation that the film uses to fulfill its propagandistic function: hermeneutical priming and linguistic hijacking. I suggest that the film series' use of these rhetorical strategies highlights some of the ways that evangelical Christian cinema is engaging with rising right-wing political movements and developing unique evangelical imaginations.

The Shrouds, Elijah Siegler

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Shrouds (2024), directed by David Cronenberg.

My Omaha, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of My Omaha (2025), directed by Nick Beaulieu.