When documentary filmmaker Tzewoon Chan began making his genre-bending film Blue Island 憂鬱之島 (2022) in 2017, Hong Kong was between social movements. Coming out of a previous project, Yellowing (2016), which explored the explosive 2014 pro-democracy...
Waiting for the Carnival (2019), an engrossing documentary by Brazilian filmmaker Marcelo Gomes, opens with a swath of billboards set against a stark landscape. Showcasing models in skin-tight blue jeans, the billboards welcome the viewer to...
Though Vietnamese Hungarian singer Hien has been making music professionally since she was 14, her late 2021 EP, Bloom, is a celebration of new beginnings and reinvention. After achieving great success on Megasztár—the Hungarian equivalent of...
When it comes to the current state of identity politics, Belgian musicians Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul check a lot of boxes of diversity and representation. Both have immigrant backgrounds — with Adigéry being of Guadeloupean and French...
Arami Ullón Interview: Nothing But the Sun Chronicles Colonization’s Damage to the Indigenous Ayoreo
Nothing But the Sun (2020), a searing documentary from Paraguayan-Swiss filmmaker Arami Ullón, explores the plight of the Ayoreo, an Indigenous group living with the aftermath of colonization. Translated from its Spanish title, Apenas el Sol, the...
Los Angeles-based filmmaker and public speaker Ashley Eakin’s third short film, Single (2020), became a smash success when it premiered at South by Southwest. Single, which she’s now developing into a series for FX, follows Kim, a glamorous, self...
In July 2020, following the tragic and unexpected passing of independent filmmaker Lynn Shelton — known for such films as Sword of Trust (2019), Laggies (2014), and Humpday (2009) — Duplass Brothers Productions and Seattle’s...
Dos Santos Band Interview: City of Mirrors Dynamically Reflects U.S. Latin American Musical Identity
On City of Mirrors, the fourth full-length record from Chicago’s Dos Santos, the five-piece band once again showcases their musical expertise by presenting a rich, multicultural melting pot of sounds. Coming from wide-ranging diasporic...