About

Where Cinema Meets Thought.

Film & Philosophy is a platform dedicated to the deep examination of cinema, exploring how moving images shape our understanding of our world and ourselves.

We don't just recommend or review films. We analyse them through three distinct but interconnected lenses:

1. Philosophy of Film: Asking the fundamental questions about film and our engagement with it. Is film art? What is its relationship to reality? We might look at Kubrick's use of the 'sublime' to ask why we enjoy being terrified by monsters or awe-struck by the vastness of space.
2. Philosophy through Film: Using cinema as a vehicle for ideas. We might use Lanthimos to unpack the ethics of social constructs, or The Conformist to illustrate Platonic philosophy.
3. Film as Philosophy: The provocative claim that film can do philosophy. We examine the works of directors like Kieślowski or Bertolucci not just as cinema, but as philosophical treatises in their own right - works that offer reflection and insight into the human condition just as effectively as a written text.

Film & Philosophy is founded and curated by James Mooney.

I believe in the power of the moving image to communicate and illuminate philosophical ideas. As a philosopher at the University of Edinburgh, I regularly partner with institutions like the Edinburgh Filmhouse to bridge the gap between academia and the cinema. This publication serves as a hub for thought and discussion, accessible to anyone who is intellectually curious and has a love of film.