- Afghanistan, Culture, Drama films, Engineering, Film, Robots, South and Central Asia, Technology, World news
Rule Breakers review – rousingly feelgood real life story of Afghan girls’ robotics team
This story of emancipated young women escaping draconian social strictures brims with enthusiasm and features …
- Afghanistan, Culture, Documentary films, Education, Film, Literacy, Society, South and Central Asia, Taliban, Women, World news
Writing Hawa review – Afghan woman fights for freedom as the Taliban close in
Najiba Noori’s thought-provoking documentary follows her mother, finally getting her chance at autonomy just a…
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Under the Open Sky review – absorbing portrait of a threatened way of life
Intimate, unhurried documentary follows a family of camel herders on the plains of western IndiaThe title of S…
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Kamay review – searing story of Afghan Hazara family’s painful quest for justice
A daughter’s death is the catalyst for a difficult journey to Kabul, chronicled in this claustrophobic documen…
- Culture, Documentary films, Film, India, Life and style, Mumbai, Society, South and Central Asia, Women, World news
Ladies Only review – striking account of sisterhood’s intricacies on the Mumbai metro
Shot in stunning black and white, a tapestry of faces and voices beautifully lays bare the hidden subtleties o…
- Business, Commodities, Culture, Documentary films, Energy, Environment, Film, Fossil fuels, Myanmar, Oil, South and Central Asia, World news
A Thousand Fires review – mesmerising study of Myanmar’s homemade oil wells
Documentary shows the gruelling labour put in by a married couple wringing out drops of black gold as their so…
- Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Culture, Documentary films, Environment, Film, Fishing, Food, India, Marine life, South and Central Asia, Tata, Wildlife, World news
The Fisherman and the Banker review – a coastal community’s astonishing fight for justice
Shot over 10 years, Sheena Sumaria’s documentary follows an Indian fishing village as it takes on global finan…
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Moosa Lane review – loving cinematic bridge between two countries and cultures
Shot over 15 years between Denmark and Pakistan, the film-maker captures day-to-day life in Karachi, and explo…
- Culture, Drama films, Family, Film, India, Life and style, Marriage, Romance films, South and Central Asia, World news
Do Aur Do Pyaar (Two Plus Two Is Love) review – refreshingly nonjudgmental infidelity romcom
Vidya Balan shines in this witty remake that sees a married couple, both cheating on each other, on the verge …
- Asia Pacific, Biology, China, Culture, Documentary films, Film, Fungi, Nepal, Society, South and Central Asia, World news
Far Beyond the Pasturelands review – on the trail of the ‘Himalayan Viagra’
Documentary reveals the cost to Nepalese villagers of harvesting a supposed aphrodisiac that sells for more th…
- Action and adventure films, Bollywood, Culture, Film, India, South and Central Asia, War films, World news
Fighter review – India’s pizazz-free Top Gun weighed down by patriotic propaganda
Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone can’t inject feeling into an air force love story with lifeless CGI and ob…
- Action and adventure films, Bollywood, Culture, Drama films, Film, India, South and Central Asia, Thrillers, World news
Animal review – Ranbir Kapoor plays one of the vilest protagonists in cinema history
Kapoor plays the scion of a wealthy family whose violence is the result of a craving for love and validation, …
- Christianity, Culture, Documentary films, Film, India, Indigenous peoples, Religion, South and Central Asia, World news
The Mission review – a missionary comes a cropper on reaching an ‘unreached’ tribe
Documentary traces a 21st-century American evangelical’s reckless efforts to convert an isolated tribe, and hi…
- Activism, Culture, Documentary films, Feminism, Film, Pakistan, South and Central Asia, Women, World news
This Stained Dawn review – Pakistani feminists’ courageous fight for their rights
Anam Abbas’s documentary records the preparations for and dangerous execution of a countrywide rally against p…
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Baato review – astonishing 500-mile walk to bring herbs to market in Nepal
This documentary about women who make an epic annual trek across a rocky mountain pass draws an intriguing con…