This list flows from the energy for watching films that dwells within our contemplative community of SoulStream and my friendship with Brent Unrau. 

The list is organized with mostly English speaking movies listed first, followed by international films. There is also a section of sci-fi films in the middle.

These films are on a broad spectrum for how closely they adhere to the 4 criteria for contemplative films listed below. There a few films on this list that represent the “extreme” end of this spectrum (i.e. The Turin Horse). They may be experienced by some viewers as less “accessible” than other films on the list and are thus grouped near the end.

There are some film creators who gravitate naturally to creating contemplative films. There is not space on a list of 100 films to include all "contemplative" films by these selected directors. So if you find a film on this list you particularly enjoy, you may be prompted to watch other films by this same director.

Please click on the little orange "spectacles" near the top right to read the "notes" about the unique style of these filmmakers and a list of their other contemplative films not included here. Compiling these notes is a "work in progress".

I have seen all of the movies listed here and have written reflections on most of them, which show up as a "Review".

This is a list "in motion" as some films will be dropped, particularly when a director is represented by more than one film, in favour of new films by previously unrepresented directors. The list is 100+ because trilogies included are only represented by one film and contemplatively oriented directors do not have all of their eligible works listed.
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What is a contemplative movie? This question led to some intriguing conversation in our “Movies for the Soul” group that has been viewing and conversing virtually on films since October, 2013. 

Laurel expressed her hesitancy to put too tight a lid on what defines a contemplative film and wondered how much the contemplative component speaks to the actual film and how much it describes what the viewer brings to the film. She offered the following simplified description of a contemplative encounter with film: “A long, loving look at the real”. 

It seems important to acknowledge here that no matter how we may define a contemplative film, it is ultimately the posture of the viewer that will result in a contemplative movie encounter. Yet it also seems that there are some films that more readily support a contemplative viewing experience than others. We came across the following basic definition on the MUBI website: 

Contemplative cinema employs the use of atmosphere, mood, slow pacing, feel, sound, minimalism, and an emphasis on imagery, as opposed to dialogue.

Harry Tuttle suggests there are 4 criteria that distinguish contemplative cinema: plotlessness; wordlessness; slowness; alienation.

Plotlessness relinquishes a cohesive story with a clear beginning and end, opting for atmosphere over drama. Themes are often left open-ended and unresolved, possibly in part because there is often no external enemy or threat to be defeated or conquered. Simplicity is paramount, with complex effects like flashbacks and multi-layered stories absent.

Wordlessness ensures a generosity of silence. Two primary distractions to contemplation are hearing and thinking. A minimalist soundtrack and sparsity of dialogue can guard us from these distractions. Pure observation often substitutes for words in conveying meaning, with body language and facial features often the focus of the camera lens.

Many of us know that silence often aids us in the inner movement out of our thinking mind and into a feeling attunement with our body senses and heart sense. French filmmaker Robert Bresson said, “I’d rather have people feel a film before understanding it”.

Slowness elicits a patient posture of mindful waiting in the viewer. This is achieved with slow and static camera takes that often capture a scene in its entirety. Time often seems to stand still. A sensation of “uneventfulness” is conveyed with frequent pauses and periods of apparent inactivity.

Alienation involves disconnectedness, solitude, emptiness, melancholy, even fatalism, hopelessness, and despair.
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To be honest, I had not given much thought to the last of these 4 criteria - Alienation - as a defining feature of contemplative film. But I can see its importance.

Pema Chodron in her classic book When Things Fall Apart postulates that:

. . . abandoning hope is an affirmation, the beginning of the beginning. You could even put ‘’Abandon hope” on your refrigerator door instead of more conventional aspirations like “Every day in every way I’m getting better and better”.

To grasp on to hope is to rely on something or someone (even god) to rescue us from ourselves, just as we are in this moment. Chodron says that “we’re all addicted to hope—hope that the doubt and mystery will go away”.

Whenever we feel uneasy, unsettled, ashamed, or fearful, our automatic tendency is to reach out and grab on to something or someone, in hope of finding firm ground on which to stand. This grabbing comes from hope. Renunciation of hope invites us to the groundlessness of what is – whenever we are trying to escape into a future that is free from suffering.

Chodron reminds us that many of our spiritual and meditative practices are mere strategies to gain security. What if watching contemplative films could serve as a spiritual practice to aid us in the renunciation of hope, through an embrace of the melancholic disconnectedness and emptiness that so often defines our suffering?

And then from Christian mysticism comes this poem:

His silence is a kiss,
His presence an embrace.But now he is fading, fading.
And I am alone . . .      - Thomas Keating, Loneliness in the Night

And from classic science fiction lore:

Hope clouds observation.      - Frank Herbert, in Dune

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Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr might be considered the quintessential contemplative filmmaker. His film Satantango epitomizes all 4 of the above criteria, almost to an extreme.

Yet a film may still be considered contemplative even if it is not “severe” in its representation of all 4 criteria. Many of the films in this list represent these themes to varying degrees and, contrary to what some might suspect, are highly engaging films to watch. For example, Dinner with Andre has a heavy dialog sequence that carries the film. And yet because it satisfies other criteria such as plotlessness and alienation, it seems quite contemplative.

Contemplative cinema can be challenging for viewers who look primarily to their movies as a form of escape from real life. Although who among us does not occasionally want a film for its entertainment and escapism value? Surely there is value in this.

Contemplative cinema is not casual escapist viewing. There is a form of courage required of the aspiring contemplative film viewer to make this descent into sparsity and alienation. Perhaps the courage to embrace emptiness is not unlike the courage to embrace loneliness. The Sufi poet Hafiz reminds us that this may be what is required of us:

Don’t surrender your loneliness
So quickly.
Let it cut more deep.
Let it ferment and season you
As few human
Or even divine ingredients can.
Something missing in my heart tonight
Has made my eyes so soft,
My voice
So tender,
My need of God
Absolutely
Clear.

We invite you into a relationship with contemplative cinema. Try out some of these films. Alone or with others. And if you happen to experience one of these films in a particularly transformative way, reach out and tell someone.

I appreciate Jeffrey Overstreet's acknowledgement of this list as I credit him for giving me my introduction to international contemplative cinema and blowing up my cinema world almost 15 years ago in his classic book Through a Screen Darkly.