カテゴリー: Culture
Director Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov’s debut feature about two young brothers attempting to find their errant father is a deeply humane story about family and responsibilityThere’s a marvellous freshness and gentleness to this 1991 movie, a little like earl…
This chilling Dispatches documentary reports on the aftermath of 2019’s apparently random terrorist attack, and alleges unpalatable truthsOn Easter Sunday 2019, six suicide bombings hit Catholic churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka, killing 269 peop…
Millions visit Japan’s highest peak each year, creating pollution and putting pressure on medical centreThe hum of anticipation, like the gathering clouds, hangs over the fifth stage of Mount Fuji, the preferred starting point for climbers to begin the…
It’s no surprise that Ibrahim Nash’at’s documentary lacks in-depth interviews – his subjects barely tolerate his presence as he reveals the fighters’ lack of purpose after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan The spoils of war are a chore in this fascina…
There are an estimated 20,000 coin-operated laundries across Japan, a number that has doubled in the last two decades. In addition to the usual services, they provide speciality machines for cleaning sports shoes, pillows and heavy blankets. For Philip…
Julie Fujishima, now president of Japan’s biggest boyband talent agency, had long been aware of accusations but failed to investigate, experts sayThe current president of Japan’s biggest boyband talent agency, who is the niece of its late founder Johnn…
Images of the struggle for human rights and freedoms around the world this week, from a women’s march for justice in Brazil to an attack on churches in Pakistan Continue reading…
Anam Abbas’s documentary records the preparations for and dangerous execution of a countrywide rally against patriarchal violenceChronicling the weeks leading up to – and the day of – the 2020 edition of the “aurat march”, a multi-city women’s demonstr…
Musicians and artists are living in a state of terror. Can the country’s identity as a ‘crossroads of cultures’ survive a policy of strict repression?When the Taliban moved closer to Kabul in the early days of August 2021, a series of unusual advertise…
From a transistor radio shop, Oriental Star Agencies championed legends such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and nurtured bhangra to chart success. Its 84-year-old founder recalls howWhen Muhammad Ayyub moved to Birmingham from Pakistan in 1961, he immediatel…
Praise for singer Matty Healy and campaigner Peter Tatchell for highlighting the plight of LGBTQ+ people in MalaysiaI write in response to Peter Tatchell’s article (Matty Healy is not a ‘white saviour’ for showing solidarity with Malaysia’s LGBTQ+ peop…
Voguing is a dance style characterised by staccato hand motions and angular arm and body postures punctuated by brief pauses. Popularised in 1990 by a hit Madonna song and the documentary Paris is Burning, the trend has drawn adherents in China too, wi…
A year on from devastating floods, a renowned architect is leading a project to build affordable and sustainable homes while empowering communities in the processA year ago, Shani Dana’s mudbrick house was swept away in the worst floods on record to hi…
The 1975 singer’s onstage condemnation of homophobic laws has angered conservatives and left some LGBTQ+ people uneasyThe 1975 frontman Matty Healy’s recent appearance at a festival in Kuala Lumpur – where he criticised Malaysia’s homophobic laws and k…
Members of BJP government say use of Bhagavad Gita is ‘attack on Hinduism’ and call for scene to be deletedChristopher Nolan’s biopic Oppenheimer has prompted outrage among the Hindu right wing in India, who have alleged that a sex scene featuring a sc…