Charles Dekeukeleire and the advent of ‘machinic thought’ Cinema as a sensory and social technique

The filmmaker and theorist Charles Dekeukeleire (1905–1971), in his texts on the structures of modern human thought, considered cinema to be the ideal tool for developing a machine civilization. Through the notion of machinic thought, this article re-examines the philosophy underpinning the Belgian director’s reflections on cinema and its application in films.