With over a million fans around the globe and sold out shows, the Texas rockers, Crown the Empire, made their way back to the UK. With the support from Volumes, an LA progressive metalcore band, and Coldrain, a Japanese group that has built their own considerable fan base in Europe, Asia, and North America, Crown…
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 Last 49 Days Review
Following the success of Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds, writer-director Kim Yong-hwa returns with a sequel, with the story picking up right where it left off. I wonder how many underworld trials I would have to go through if I were to be resurrected; I can only hope that it would not be…
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…
In Conversation with Lee Jin-mu, South Korean Actor, Model and Filmmaker
Can one scene from a film change a young boy’s life? That seems to be the case for Lee Jin-mu, a South Korean actor, filmmaker and a model, who got struck by the acting bug when he saw an emotional scene from Eyes of Dawn, one of the most popular TV dramas of the 1990’s:…
Snow Patrol Returns with Wildness via Polydor Records: In Conversation with Drummer Jonny Quinn
After seven years out in the pop wilderness, Snow Patrol made a triumphant return with their brand-new album, Wildness. Drummer Jonny Quinn talks chaos, the joy of live performance, and reveals just why it’s taken them so darn long. In life, there are several milestones that swirl up an array of complex and conflicting emotions….
In Conversation with Fanni Metelius, Director of ‘The Heart’
This year, the 15th Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz gave us an up-and-close look into the exciting world of the new Swedish female feminist film power. They screened three exceptional debut films, largely made by female crews: a spirited documentary about a rising LGBT hip-hop star, Silvana (Sweden, 2017), an inspiring fiction film Beyond Dreams…
The Heart Review
The story of The Heart (Hjärtat, 2018), which was screened during the 15th Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz, starts, like many others, with a broken heart and a poem – and yet, it is not like other stories. The base for the script was a 52-pages-long collection of poems which young and fiery Swedish director, Fanni…
