Anoushka Shankar performing live for the 1928 Indian silent film – Shiraz: A romance of Indian at the Barbican
 
I saw 8 engrossing films and documentaries in total at the Raindance and BFI film festivals this year, and I feel that the overall standard of the films I saw this year is exceptionally [...]

The Chinese human rights activist Ye Haiyan
 
Last week I attended the opening night of the Human Rights watch film festival to watch a new documentary called 'Hooligan Sparrow' by young Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang.
The filmmaker originally wanted to make a film about the abuse of sex workers in China, but ended up [...]

While in Hong Kong, two major culture festivals were taking place, so I took the opportunity to attend the Hong Kong Arts Festival, where I saw a China and Hong Kong collaborative play 'The Crowd' and listened to traditional Korean music reinterpreted by contemporary groups Jeong Ga Ak Hoe & Su:m.
However, as [...]

 
A while back I wrote about the Japanese soft power on the world, but within the last decade, the world has witnessed how South Korea managed to conquer the world through technology, design, cosmetics (including surgeries) and pop culture in a relatively short period of time. The transformation is staggering because South [...]

I am not sure how other film buffs pick their choices at the BFI London Film Festival, but usually by the time I finish 'studying' the brochure, all the films that I intend to see would sell out!
Like always, I would pick the less popular films or films that are less unlikely [...]

Top & bottom left: Crest by Zaha Hadid Architects; Bottom right: Carousal wall by David David and Johnson Tiles
 
Another year, another design festival... unlike the previous years, I didn't have the time to do much planning beforehand, so I missed many talks especially at the V & A because they were [...]

 
This summer, a few overseas friends who visited both Paris and London told me that they enjoyed London much more than Paris. When I asked them the reasons, they said that the streets of Paris feel unsafe and chaotic, whereas London feels more vibrant and safer. I wasn't surprised by this as [...]

It's not an exaggeration to say the 'dilemma' that faces many Londoners is not the lack of entertainment/consumption choices, but the overwhelming of choices available. And when it comes to cultural events, we are just spoiled for choice and it's hard to keep up even if you are subscribed to hundreds of [...]

The 38th Hong Kong's International film festival took place from 24th March to 7th April, and I was able to see some films that are yet to be released or may not even get general releases.
As always, with so many films and limited time, it was hard to narrow the selection down [...]

ScreenTalk with Gaetano Pesce  and Peter Lang at Barbican
 
Lately, I have been extremely busy and so I haven't been doing much apart from working or attending business-related events. Finally, I was able to take some time off because a while ago I had booked to see "Italy - The New Domestic Landscape [...]