Towards the Ideal of Emancipatory Cinema: Applying Martin Heidegger's Philosophy of Technology and Art to Film Phenomenology

Rezaee, Ali; Motamedi, Ahmadreza; Esfandiyary, Shahaab; Morakabi, Seyyed Mohammad Sadeq

doi:10.22085/javm.2025.515446.2301

Towards the Ideal of Emancipatory Cinema: Applying Martin Heidegger's Philosophy of Technology and Art to Film Phenomenology

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Ali Rezaee ¹

Ahmadreza Motamedi ²

Shahaab Esfandiyary ³

Seyyed Mohammad Sadeq Morakabi ⁴

¹ Ph.D Student, Media studies, Faculty of Radio & TV production, IRIB University, Tehran, Iran. (Corresponding Author)

² Associate Professor, Department of Television, Faculty of Radio and Television Production, IRIB University, Tehran, Iran.

³ Associate Professor, Department of Cinema, Faculty of Cinema and Theater, University of Arts, Tehran, Iran.

⁴ Assistant Professor, Department of Television, Faculty of Radio and Television Production, IRIB University, Tehran, Iran

10.22085/javm.2025.515446.2301

Abstract

In the era of the dominance of modern technology over human life, Martin Heidegger believes that technology is not just a tool, but a form of revelation that frames the world within a framework of domination and productivity. The aim of this research is to examine the possibility of an emancipatory cinema that, relying on Heidegger’s philosophy of technology and art, explains film as a means for “the occurrence of truth” and liberation from the domination of technology. This research was conducted in a qualitative manner with a theoretical-analytical approach and used a philosophical-conceptual analysis of Heidegger's ideas and his contemporary interpreters. The findings imply that cinema, despite its technological aspect, has the capacity to become a liberating art. The condition for the realization of such cinema is the transition from objective representation or formalist play towards a "pure" and poetic image that evokes the conflict between the secretive forces of "the Earth" and the revealing forces of "the universe." This ideal will not be realized except through the efforts of a "Dasein" concerned with the unfolding of existence. Emancipatory cinema is not only a critique of the instrumental framework of contemporary cinema, but also a call to recover the authenticity of lived experience and unfold the truth of existence.

Keywords

Emancipatory Cinema

Philosophy of Art

Philosophy of Technology

The Occurrence of Truth

The Hermeneutic Cycle

Heidegger's Philosophy