62nd Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival: “Beyond 93 Letters” Review

What is it like to request the end of your own life? Beyond 93 Letters follows the heavy-hearted journey of Ting-ying, who, after earning her PhD, is diagnosed with a brain tumour. After four years of ineffective treatments and relentless pain, she ultimately sends a plea for help to Dignitas, the Swiss organisation that provides…

62nd Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival: “The Long Departure” Review

One of the greatest pleasures, or perhaps essential rituals, at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (TGHFF) is exploring its consistently strong shorts program, particularly the documentary section. They usually struggle to reach wider audiences outside of the festival circuit, making this showcase a rare opportunity. This year, among a blossom of Taiwanese short films,…

“Sand City” Review

Sand City (2025), Mehde Hasan’s debut feature, derives its title from the city of Dhaka: Bangladesh’s capital and a huge industrial metropolis. Directly from the opening, it becomes clear how fundamental the grainy material is to the city and its inhabitants. Sand trucks roam the streets, distributing sand from its harbour to construction sites. The…

Kenshi Yonezu: The Sonic Alchemist Bringing Anime to Life with “JANE DOE”

Kenshi Yonezu, a Japanese shape-shifting creative force, seems to treat genre and medium as gentle suggestions rather than fixed rules. From his early days as a Vocaloid producer, HACHI, to becoming one of Japan’s most influential singer-songwriters, Yonezu has built a reputation for transforming emotions and sound into cinema. And now, he has done it…