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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

October is a month full of cultural activities in London, not only there is a dozen or so art fairs for art lovers, but there is also the London film festival for film lovers. With so many films to choose from, it was almost impossible to choose just a handful... after spending [...]

With so many film festivals taking place in London all the time, it's hard to keep up with all of them. I recently found out about the Terracotta Far East Film Festival despite it is already in its 5th year.
The festival showcases a range of current films from different parts of Asia [...]

Taiwanese cinema enjoyed its peak from the early 80s until mid 90s. This was the New Wave and second New Wave period during which many talented directors made their marks. Apart from the art house cinema's favourite, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, there are also Wu Nien-jen, Tsai Ming-liang,now the most famous Taiwanese director, Ang [...]

This blog entry actually coincides with my trip to Japan... the land of sushi!
 

The variety of sushi USB in Japan...
 
I remember the days when many English people would cringe at the thought of eating raw fish, but those days were long gone and now sushi has become so popular that it would [...]

I am a huge fan of world cinema and documentaries, but it's never easy to pick just a few from the long list at the London film festival. I usually would pick out the ones that are 'least' likely to get distributed here, hence I never pick the popular choices.
It is always [...]

I first encountered Iranian cinema around the mid 90s, and I found myself being mesmerised by films from directors like Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaaf, and Jafar Panahi. Panahi's 'The White balloon' in particular, left a very strong impression on me. I liked the simplicity and humanity of the story, which has a [...]