A Study of Religious Concepts Emerging from Short Films Made After the 21st Century in the Countries of the Asian Region

Abstract

Short films are a social, experimental, and documentary art medium that helps people express their religious concepts through various fields. In this research, a study of the religious concepts and art of a human community nourished by different cultures and short films has been done in this research. With the commercialisation of the twentyfirst century, the art of short films was socialised as an educational as well as an entertainment function. Studies on short films are common in various fields, but no in-depth study on religious concepts reflected in short films made in Asian countries in the twenty-first century has been found so far. The research's importance was to provide an approach to create new trends in filmmaking through religious concepts. The research problem was what religious concepts are highlighted in the short films of the twenty-first century in the countries of the Asian region, and the study of that was the general objective. Specific objectives were the study of identified short films, religious symbols in design, and various contexts, which support the contribution in socialising religious concepts. The research limitation is a sample of 30 films, 5 short films, each with religious symbols, representing the religious, political, romantic, social and economic fields from randomly selected 06 Asian countries (India, Japan, China, Thailand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka). As the data collection method, open-ended interviews were conducted with the subject matter experts under the primary source, and the internet and books were consulted about the short films under the secondary source. The way religious concepts have been highlighted in the selected films has been analysed through the mixed method, focus group discussions, author studies and questionnaires. Most of the identifications reflected Buddhism, and in some cases, only religious symbols (religious emblems, places, stupas, idol worship, religious rites, festivals and vestments) could be identified. It was concluded that religious concepts are used in short films as a means of communication, and new trends that should take place in short filmmaking were identified as suggestions.