What Is Heideggerian Cinema? Film, Philosophy, and Cultural Mobility

The cinematic works of the American director Terrence Malick offer historians a glimpse of the complex, ever-evolving network of intellectual transference that defines the contemporary era. Malick, who abandoned a career in philosophy for film, was profoundly influenced by Martin Heidegger. By relating Malick's Hollywood career to his early philosophical studies, this essay suggests that philosophical reception transcends the academic library and the seminar room, filtering into wider cultural spheres and shedding light on an important and undeniable aspect of contemporary globalization, namely, cultural mobility.