When she was honing her skills as a freelance filmmaker in Yangon during the early 2010s, first time documentarian Hnin Ei Hlaing was appalled at the state of racial tension towards the ethnic Muslim Rohingya, leading her to return to her hometown to discover the truth. As a female filmmaker, she wanted a female-centric thought piece concerning birth control and pregnancy: “Midwives” is the fruit of her labor (no pun intended) that resulted from her meeting two of these women who run an antenatal clinic in Rakhine state. Midwives is screening at Taiwan International Documentary Film Festival ..read more

When in 2020 the U.S. decided to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, the country as well as the whole region delved into a period of uncertainty. Fearing the Taliban would again take hold of the political and cultural life, many thought a time defined by violence, repression and inequality would start again. Women in Afghanistan feared for the worst, especially when the peace talks were announced and it was rumored they would be left out, which confirmed their belief. However, in the final commission, consisting of 21 members, four women were ultimately nominated, a heavy responsibility, a ..read more

On the occasion of Wellgo USA releasing Noryang: Deadly Sea on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD May 14, Panos Kotzathanasis talks about the third part of the trilogy about admiral Yi Sun-sin, the huge battle that takes place throughout the movie, melodrama, cinematography and editing, Kim Yun-seok as Yi, Baek Yoon-sik as Shimazu, Jung Jae-young’s Chen Lin ..read more

Today, the 2024 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) announced its lineup for the 22nd annual edition of the internationally acclaimed film festival. The festival is moving back to Hollywood at Landmark Theatres Sunset and runs June 27-30. Passes are now available at www.indianfilmfestival.org. Tickets to galas and individual programs go on sale on Monday, May 20. IFFLA will showcase twenty films, including seven narrative features, twelve shorts, and one docu-series with a diverse lineup of films from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and ..read more

After joining the Hong Kong film industry as a screenwriter in the early 1950s, Chinese-born Huang Feng's directorial debut was Shaw Brothers' “The Crimson Charm”. He then went on to direct more films for Raymond Chow's Golden Harvest starring his leading lady Angela Mao in “The Angry River” (1971), “Lady Whirlwind”, “Hapkido” (1972), “When Taekwondo Strikes” (1973) and “The Tournament” (1974). Widely credited to have discovered the hapkido trained martial artist and actress Angela Mao Ying, Huang retired in 1980. Buy This Title by clicking on the image below In this revenge based w ..read more

Yuichi Sato's energetic flick “City Hunter” is loud, explosive, and in your face. Yet, it knows that, embracing it in a wildly entertaining experience. While many recent Netflix manga/anime adaptations have missed the mark, this movie does Tsukasa Hojo's source material justice, while taking a few creative liberties to tweak aspects for a modern audience. The film has garnered a positive reception from longtime fans of the “City Hunter” franchise, as well as newcomers, being highlighted as the definitive live-action adaptation next to the French version “Nicky Larson et le parfum de Cupidon” b ..read more

Even eight years since its release and with a fair few recent releases pushing for its spot, none have been able to push Ryoo Seung-wan's “Veteran” out of the top 5 highest grossing Korean films (by attendance) of all time. Talk of a part 2 has floated since the feature's immense success and the moment is finally here when it is gearing up for its world premiere, with the official title it borrows from Tai Kato's 1968 Japanese classic “I, the Executioner”. Synopsis Detective Seo Do-cheol and his Major Crime Investigation Division tirelessly track down criminals day and night, often at the expe ..read more

Azerbaijan's cinema history dates back to the late 19th century, but the national cinema has been dominated by male filmmakers ever since. Such lack of diversity tends to push the national cinema to the margins of the global festival circuit, making it obscure for the wider audiences. Maybe the young Los Angeles-based actress-turned-filmmaker Tahmina Rafaella could provide the solution to the problem with her directorial debut “Banu” which premiered at 2022 edition of Venice as a part of Biennale College Cinema programme. Banu is streaming at Film Movement Plus It would be the easiest to descr ..read more

Actor Nick Cheung is back behind (and in front of) the camera with a new horror feature. Always vocal about his desire to keep the Hong Kong horror scene alive, the director returns with “Peg O' My Heart,” a thrilling adventure through the human subconscious. The film had its world premiere at the 26th edition of Udine's Far East Film Festival. Peg O' My Heart is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival 2024 Taxi driver Choi San-keung (played by Nick Cheung himself) has serious trouble sleeping, to the point he endangers his customers. One of them is psychiatrist Dr. Man ..read more

Gaurav is an independent filmmaker, a graduate in Film Direction & Screenplay Writing from the prestigious Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, India. His films, fiction, documentary and experimental, have been screened at various national and international film festivals. He has been a producer/member of a film collective, Lightcube, acclaimed as one of the leading resources for research and presentation of image-forms. His interests lie in audio-visual forms that intersect various folk-indigenous and modern-technological rationalities of storytelling. “Abridged” won the Golden R ..read more