GC Secular journal invites submissions of original fiction and non-fiction for its first edition devoted to World Cinema. The aim of this issue is to open a space for writing that responds to cinema across languages, regions, and cultures, and to highlight how film travels, transforms, and shapes public imagination. We welcome analytical, creative, and research-oriented work that engages with cinema as an artform, a cultural memory, and a global conversation.

About the Theme

Cinema has never been a single language. From the Lumière screenings in late-19th-century Paris to the video revolutions of today, filmmaking has evolved through countless geographies, industries, and storytelling traditions. World cinema makes space for these multiple voices: the realist landscapes of Satyajit Ray, the slow, meditative frames of Béla Tarr, the surreal political warnings of Latin American cinema, the poetic brutality of Andrei Tarkovsky, the new Iranian wave led by Abbas Kiarostami, the playful yet sharp storytelling of Wong Kar-wai, and the socially engaged modern Korean cinema of Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook. Each national and regional tradition has shaped its own grammar of images, sound, memory, and time.
This issue invites writing that reflects on how cinema has evolved across countries, how films travel to new audiences, and how stories gain new meaning when seen from other cultural positions. You might write about the global journey of neorealism and how its influence appears in countries as distant as India, Iran, or Brazil. You may explore how Japanese cinema moved from Kurosawa’s humanist epics to Ozu’s quiet domestic tableaux to the anime revolution that redefined visual culture. African cinema, from Ousmane Sembène to contemporary filmmakers telling stories of migration, colonial memory, and everyday life, continues to redefine who gets to represent history. Latin American filmmakers, from Glauber Rocha to Lucrecia Martel, have used cinema to protest, mourn, and survive. In recent decades, Indigenous, queer, and diasporic filmmakers across the world have pushed cinema into experimental and hybrid forms that challenge traditional ideas of narrative and realism.
We also welcome writing on the experience of being a viewer: watching films in old theatres, streaming on phones, attending film festivals, or discovering a forgotten classic. Cinema is as much a cultural experience as an art form. A single screening can become political protest, community gathering, or personal memory. Your piece may be academic, reflective, critical, autobiographical, or fictional. Fiction writers may use cinema as motif, metaphor, or backdrop. Scholars may analyse scenes, styles, film history, or directors. Reviewers may discuss classic or contemporary films from any language or country.

Possible directions include (Not limited to)

1) Critical appreciation of a single film or a cluster of films

2) Close readings of scenes, aesthetics, genres, or cinematic movements

3) Short research essays on world filmmakers, national cinemas, or film history

4) Reflection pieces on the experience of watching films (in theatres, festivals, or online)

5) Film reviews of contemporary or classic works

6) Original short fiction inspired by cinema, cinephilia, film viewing, or cinematic memory

Submission Guidelines

Maximum length: 1000 words

Submissions must be original and unpublished

MLA or Chicago citations where applicable

Authors should include a short bio (name, institutional affiliation, and contact details)

Who can submit: Students, scholars, and independent writers from any discipline or background are welcome.

(Interdisciplinary and experimental approaches are encouraged)

Deadline: 1st February,2026

How to submit:

Send your work as a Word or Document attachment (DON'T PASTE THE TEXT ON THE EMAIL BODY AND TRY AVOIDING PDFs)

Email to: gcsecular@gmail.com

Write "Submission for first edition" as the subject of the email (This is mandatory)