For years, Shih-Ching Tsou has been the heartbeat behind some of contemporary cinema’s most human stories. Born and raised in Taipei, she moved to New York after graduating from Fu Jen Catholic University, earning her master’s in Media Studies at The New School. Her career began with Take Out (2004), a small, vérité-style indie she…
Category: Film events and festivals
69th BFI London Film Festival: “High Wire” Review
Hong Kong director Calif Chong, best known for her acclaimed 2019 short Underneath, delivers something different with High Wire. High Wire speaks to something human and widely felt: the way immigration reshapes people, their hopes, their fears, and their relationships with the next generation. For many immigrant parents, the act of starting over comes with…
69th BFI London Film Festival: “Hair, Paper, Water” Review
Vietnamese cinema has long existed in the margins of Southeast Asian film culture, overshadowed by the global recognition of its regional neighbours. Yet, in recent years, a resurgence has begun to take shape, led by filmmakers whose work values poetic observation over plot. Among them, Trương Minh Quý. His latest collaboration with Belgian filmmaker Nicolas…
69th BFI London Film Festival: In Conversation with Hsu Ya-Ting, Director of “Island of the Winds”
Born in Taiwan shortly before the end of martial law, Hsu Ya-Ting has become an important voice in Taiwanese documentary cinema. Her films weave together the personal and the political, exploring how memory and place shape people’s lives. With Island of the Winds, she tells an intimate story of the elderly residents of Losheng Sanatorium,…
69th BFI London Film Festival: “Island of the Winds” Review
Hsu Ya-Ting’s Island of the Winds is a heart-rending documentary that immerses the viewer in the often-overlooked lives of the elderly residents of Lesheng Sanatorium, a former leper colony on the outskirts of Taipei. From the very first moments, the film builds an intimate closeness to its subjects, allowing their memories and struggles to surface…
69th BFI London Film Festival: “ChaO” Review
From the endlessly imaginative Japanese studio STUDIO 4°C comes ChaO, a stunning animated feature that marries slapstick comedy with sweet romance, all told through a burst of colour and hand-drawn beauty that feels almost radical in today’s digital-first era. Director Yasuhiro Aoki, making his feature debut, draws on decades of experience in character animation to…
69th BFI London Film Festival: “With Hasan in Gaza” Review
Few films feel as urgent as With Hasan in Gaza. Especially now, when Palestinian voices are so often drowned out, this documentary resurrects what has been erased: streets, faces, and laughter that once existed in Gaza before repeated cycles of war and occupation. While Palestine continues to endure military occupation and the horrors of genocide,…
69th BFI London Film Festival: “Human Resource” Review
Abortion remains one of the most polarising debates in the world: a subject weighed down by politics, religion, and morality, but rarely centred on the lived experiences of the women forced to make impossible choices. Too often, the men who play a part in unplanned pregnancies can walk away, while women are left carrying the…
Explore East Asian Cinema at LEAFF 2025: Full Film Lineup
The London East Asia Film Festival (LEAFF) returns this autumn to celebrate its 10th anniversary. From 23 October to 2 November 2025, the festival will once again transform the capital into a hub of cinematic celebration, bringing over 40 films from across the region to some of London’s most iconic venues. Over the past decade,…
Tetsuya Mariko on His Newest Project, “Dear Stranger” – Exclusive Interview
Born in Tokyo in 1981, filmmaker Tetsuya Mariko began his creative journey making short films while studying at Hosei University. Early works such as The Far East Apartment (2003) and Mariko’s 30 Pirates (2004) earned him early awards, with the latter winning the Grand Prix at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival. His debut feature,…
Jia Zhangke and the Pingyao International Film Festival
Jia Zhangke is a name inseparable from contemporary cinema, especially this year. Over the past few months, he has appeared at major festivals worldwide, championing cross-cultural exchange: first the Taipei Film Festival in June, then Venice in August, Busan in mid-September, and finally his own Pingyao International Film Festival (PYIFF) at the end of the…
30th Busan International Film Festival: In Conversation with Frederik Sølberg, Director of “Hana Korea”
Frederik Sølberg is a Danish filmmaker whose work connects the worlds of documentary and narrative cinema, exploring stories that illuminate human identity and belonging. He is known for his careful attention to detail and for bringing real-life experiences to the screen. Fifteen years ago, a first visit to South Korea left an impression on Sølberg….
30th Busan International Film Festival: “I Only Rest in the Storm” Review
Pedro Pinho’s I Only Rest in the Storm is a hypnotic and textured look at power, identity, and longing, set in a tense West African city. The film follows Sergio, an environmental engineer working on a controversial road between the desert and the forest, as it explores the tangled realities of neo-colonialism, expat privilege, and relationships in…
30th Busan International Film Festival: “Shape of Momo” Review
Shown at this year’s Busan International Film Festival, Tribeny Rai’s debut feature, Shape of Momo, is a wonderful piece of writing. A powerful film that listens closely to the hidden struggles of women living within the limits of tradition. The narrative centres on Bishnu, a 32-year-old who abandons her city job and returns to her…
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