Now in its 40th year, the BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival returns to BFI Southbank with one of its most expansive and internationally minded editions to date. Long considered a key fixture of the global queer film calendar, the festival continues to balance discovery with legacy, pairing brave new voices with restorations, talks and…
Tag: reviews
“Success, for Me, Is Freedom”: Jang Theo on Acting, Modelling and Choosing His Own Path – Exclusive Interview
“I don’t define success as money or fame. Success, for me, is freedom – the freedom to express my world exactly the way I see it.” This is what Jang Theo says when asked about the success and it clarifies the logic behind every decision that has guided his career so far. What impressed me…
76th Berlin International Film Festival: “A Russian Winter” Review
Directed by Patric Chiha, A Russian Winter offers a necessary portrait of the post-2022 lives of Russians who chose exile. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian identity has often been flattened into a single political narrative, leaving little space for those who reject the regime, or for the difficult, uncertain process of…
76th Berlin International Film Festival: In Conversation with Priscilla Kelle, Director of “Papaya”
Papaya is an animation that offers an optimistic portrayal of the natural ecological chain. Through the film, audiences gain insight into the complex and interdependent processes within the soil, where plants, fungi, and animals each play their roles, nourishing and sustaining one another in remarkable ways. While the film does acknowledge the negative impact of…
76th Berlin International Film Festival: In Conversation with Patric Chiha, Director of “A Russian Winter”
In September 2022, images of young men crossing the border in the Georgian mountains struck Patric Chiha, the director of A Russian Winter. They were fleeing the Russian regime, some on foot, others by bike or car. “While these men were experiencing a situation unimaginable to me,” he recalls, “their faces seemed to say a…
76th Berlin International Film Festival: “Papaya” Review
A compact and light-hearted Brazilian animation, Papaya, screening at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, feels exceptionally sincere and heartening as director Priscilla Kelle’s feature debut. Without dialogue, the constant adventure of the papaya seed reflects a teeming Amazonian forest landscape blazing with colours through its vitality and the complex interactions of plants coexisting within…
76th Berlin International Film Festival: “Iván & Hadoum” Review
Hadoum, a Moroccan woman, and Iván, a Spanish trans man, are colleagues in a greenhouse in southern Spain, where they fall in love. However, this love is tough. It has to face problems such as class and race, and, most practically, it interferes with Iván’s promotion. Behind it all lies the expectation of his entire…
76th Berlin International Film Festival: In Conversation with Ian de la Rosa, Director of “Iván & Hadoum”
Set against the sun-soaked landscapes of southern Spain, Iván & Hadoum, directed by Ian de la Rosa, tells a love story connected as much by place and everyday life as by desire and identity. Through small but meaningful moments, like reclaiming the word “hybrid,” the film quietly shows trans identity as something defined by choice…
76th Berlin International Film Festival: “I Understand Your Displeasure” Review
In I Understand Your Displeasure, Kilian Armando Friedrich creates a powerful and moving portrait of domestic and migrant workers, focusing not only on their daily labour but also on the psychological pressures they face while trying to keep both life and work in balance. Friedrich’s camera remains intimately close to Heike (Sabine Thalaou), the cleaning…
76th Berlin International Film Festival: In Coversation with Kilian Armondo Friedrich, Director of “I Understand Your Displeasure”
Premiering in the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival, I Understand Your Displeasure, directed by Kilian Armando Friedrich, is a wonderful work. Known for his background in documentary cinema, including Nomades du Nucléaire, which debuted in Berlin and later won the German Short Film Award, Friedrich brings the same observational intimacy and ethical…
76th Berlin International Film Festival: “Paradise” Review
Paradise is a cinematic odyssey spanning two distant countries. Directed by Jérémy Comte and co-written by Will Niava, this debut feature interrogates the seduction of deception while celebrating the stubborn, unquenchable beauty of human life. The film confronts the shadowed world of scams and street crime, yet both directors remain committed to portraying the vibrancy,…
76th Berlin International Film Festival: “Yellow Letters” Review
Premiering in Competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, Yellow Letters, directed by İlker ÇATAK and written by him alongside Ayda Meryem ÇATAK and Enis KÖSTEPEN, begins as a simple, intimate family story that gradually reveals itself to be far more powerful and troubling. The opening is shattering in its simplicity. Under the dark lights…
LYKN to Head to Europe for the First Time – DUSK & DAWN World Tour 2026 to Begin on 29th of March in Poland
Thai boy group LYKN are now stepping confidently onto the global stage. These T-pop rising stars have already taken over their side of the world, and now it’s time for them to share their music with the West. Formed through Project Alpha, the reality competition launched by GMMTV, the five-member group officially debuted on May…
XLOV Deliver Heart and Heat at Troxy in London – Concert Review
Even before XLOV stepped on stage, Troxy already felt alive; the venue was packed top to bottom, and rightfully so. The evening opened with a series of dance cover stages, a mix of young dancers interpreting familiar choreography. When XLOV finally appeared, Troxy was the perfect home for them. The spacious layout worked to their…
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