Call for Film Reviews

We invite reviews of films in Contemplative Studies. Rigorous and insightful reviews are an integral part of JCS’s mission to inform and connect scholars and practitioners in the field of Contemplative Studies. Proposals are invited to review new films, as well as foundational works of filmmaking released in the last few years.

A few possible titles for which we are looking for reviewers include:

The Mountain Path. One Mind Productions, Edward Burger, 2021
Geshe Wangyal, With Blessing of the Three Jewels. Anniko Films, Ella Manzheeva, 2022
The Great 14th. Frame of Mind Films, Rosemary Rawcliffe, 2019
Free: Duc in Altum. Bosco Films, Santos Blanco, 2023
Dark Red Forest. Autlook Films, Huaqing Jin, 2021
Zen for Nothing. Zeitgeist Films, Werner Penzel, 2018

Proposals for reviews of other recent films in Contemplative Studies and new film suggestions are welcome.

Film reviews are in the range of 750 to 1,500 words and are published on a rolling basis. If interested, please contact the JCS Editors at: contemplativejournal@virginia.edu.

JCS Editor • May 15, 2025

Contemplation + Psychedelics

An Interview With Stuart Ray Sarbacker

JCS: How do you bring yogic traditions and psychedelic science together? What brought you to this point? SS: There are a number of different factors. Part of it came out of my own experiments with contemplative practices and with psychedelics,…
JCS Editor • May 8, 2025

Special Issue Article

The Contemplative Mood of Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain: Toward an Embodied Ecocentric Epistemology

“The Contemplative Mood of Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain: Toward an Embodied Ecocentric Epistemology” by Jared R. Lindahl is a part of Special Issue #03: Contemplative Ecology. Abstract: Nan Shepherd (1893–1981) was a Scottish novelist, poet, educator, and mountaineer. Her primary work of…
John Crockett • May 1, 2025

Stopped in Our Tracks

Have you ever been stopped in your tracks? Have you ever been confronted with something so far outside of your understanding that you were disoriented by it? Have you been shown to be absolutely wrong, when you were certain that…

JCS Editor • December 21, 2023

Book Review

The Oxford Handbook of Meditation

Read the new Review of The Oxford Handbook of Meditation (2019), edited by Miguel Farias, David Brazier, and Mansur Lalljee. Reviewed by Stephen Dawson (University of Lynchburg). This review examines this expansive and valuable recently edited volume on the study…

Read more
JCS Editor • December 14, 2023

Call for Book Reviews

We invite reviews of books in Contemplative Studies. Rigorous and insightful reviews are an integral part of JCS’s mission to inform and connect scholars and practitioners in the field of Contemplative Studies. Proposals are invited to review new publications, as…

Read more
JCS Editor • October 19, 2023

Book Review

Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies

Read the new Review of the Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies (2023). Edited by Suzanne Newcombe and Karen O’Brien-Kop. Reviewed by Alan Brill (Seton Hall University). This review discusses a helpful edited volume featuring recent scholarship on yoga…

Read more