In Conversation with Model Joo Won-dae

Joo Won-dae, a South Korean model-turned-fashion-designer, is a force to be reckoned with. From catwalks, magazine shoots and hosting shows, to being the creative director and designer of his own clothing line Duckdive, often worn by K-Pop idols, including Jong-hyun of SHINee, Park Jin-young of GOT7, Jung-kook and Jin of BTS – Won-dae is a young man…

75th Venice Film Festival: Emma Peeters Review

Emma Peeters is the second feature of the Belgian-American filmmaker Nicole Palo, following her 2009 debut feature Get Born. The international title Emma Peeters says little about her second feature, while its original title Le Suicide d’Emma Peeters, when translated directly into The Suicide of Emma Peeters, immediately paints a different picture – but despite its…

75th Venice Film Festival: Tel Aviv on Fire Review

Over the past several years, a new wave of Palestinian film directors, working on different genres, has constructed a specific, on-screen national identity. The projected images of the Palestinian productions have become much more political than the earlier narratives about the life and history of the Palestinians. However, there are still some stories to be…

75th Venice Film Festival: L’enkas Review

For a large number of former prisoners, getting out of jail is the first step of a long and complex journey of starting anew. One might expect that being released from prison should be closely associated with a newfound sense of freedom, but is it? Ulysse (Sandor Funtek: Blue is the Warmest Colour, A Wedding),…

LEAFF 2018 Pre-Fest Screening: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds Review

South Korean cinema is known for its wealth of excellent thrillers, horror films, historical dramas and melodramas, but its fantasy genre has been known more for the misses than the hits; it always seemed that the industry found itself slightly out of its depth when it took on the more massive, epic-level projects – or…

Styx Review

Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic atoll, located 7°56′ south of the Equator in the Atlantic Ocean. Charles Darwin visited this lonely archipelago in 1836 aboard HMS Beagle as a part of his second survey expedition of the world, during which he gathered data that aided him in the development of the theory of evolution…

Troxy Welcomes Gray, Loco, Woo Won Jae and DJ Pumkin From South Korea

October 1973. The lights in New York’s Boogie Down Bronx Club faded. The floor slowly filled up with people who came to spend the next few hours partying. This time, however, the youth gathered in the room did not groove to the music of James Brown; instead, DJ Kool Herc launched his DJ set. On that particular…

53 Wars Review

Ryszard Kapuscinski once said that the war correspondent profession is something one can only do for a short period of time as it destroys a person physically and mentally; it sends people to places of death and human misfortune. Often, for mere tens of seconds of recording or a single exceptional photo, journalists risk their…