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04/12/2025

: NEW! Dive into this stunning performance film combining elements of modern dance and folk art, exploring the duality of identity. Shot on 16 mm and choreographed by Lin’s sister, Mathilde, ‘Soil’ evokes the beautiful fragility of nature, marked by constant shifts and renewal. 🌱⁠

Tap to watch now on NOWNESS ASIA 🎞️ https://www.nowness.asia/picks/soil-dance-identity-heritage

: NEW! London-based filmmaker and photographer Arnaud Lin directs ‘Soil’, a performance film exploring the duality of i...
02/12/2025

: NEW! London-based filmmaker and photographer Arnaud Lin directs ‘Soil’, a performance film exploring the duality of identity as traditions transform with time. Shot on 16 mm and choreographed by Lin’s sister Mathilde – a dancer and resident artist at Rhizome Association in Burgundy, France – ‘Soil’ evokes the beautiful fragility of nature, which is marked by constant shifts and renewal.⁠🪷⁠
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Tap to watch the full film on NOWNESS ASIA 🎞️⁠ https://www.nowness.asia/picks/soil-dance-identity-heritage

01/12/2025

As the NOWNESS Short Film Talents draws to a close, we’ve recapped some highlights from this 5-day festival held at , celebrating the latest in short film culture and imagery 🎞️. Co-organised by the China Film Directors’ Guild and Meta Media, and hosted by .china, this year’s theme, ‘Everyday Wonders,’ explores the visual magic within the ordinary 📽️.

The festival kicked off with the latest short film, A Very Straight Neck, directed by Neo Sora. Additionally, attendees enjoyed a masterclass with acclaimed photographer and cinematographer Mikiya Takimoto and explored the latest ‘Cinema in Meta’ film exhibition created by Singaporean Artist Ho Tzu Nyen🎖️. The festival concluded with a vibrant closing dialogue featuring leading industry professionals, including Anthony Chan, Stanley Kwan, and more.

Tap to explore more 🔗 https://www.nowness.asia/series/nowness-shorts

Lights, Action, Camera! The NOWNESS Short Film Talents, a short film festival hosted by NOWNESS China will be returning ...
22/11/2025

Lights, Action, Camera! The NOWNESS Short Film Talents, a short film festival hosted by NOWNESS China will be returning in 2025.
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The key programme, ‘Move a Movie,’ is a curated dance film screening that will present a range of short films sourced internationally, celebrating the diversity of body, spirit, strength, and movement. 🥊⁠
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Swipe through to explore some of the shorts featured in this year’s programme ➡️⁠
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Cover Image: 'Combing' by RongFei Guo

NEW! ⁠⁠sml Dance’s ‘Anamnesis’ features a stunning contrast of traditional Noh theatre and contemporary dance. It is fi...
18/11/2025

NEW! ⁠
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sml Dance’s ‘Anamnesis’ features a stunning contrast of traditional Noh theatre and contemporary dance. It is filmed in key landmarks on Sado Island, Japan – an architectural testament to the Noh tradition and the fusion of history, culture and nature. 🦋⁠
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Anamnesis means ‘recollection’ or ‘remembrance’ in Greek, conveying a fresh take on memory as a dialogue between old and new. It honours impermanence and resilience, a view wherein scars become symbols of beauty, connection, and self-discovery. The film portrays dance as remembrance, inviting us all to reconnect with tradition, the earth, and each other; and a reminder that, in the end, nature endures. 🍃⁠
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Tap to watch the full film on NOWNESS ASIA 🎥⁠ https://www.nowness.asia/series/just-dance/anamnesis-dance-noh-contemporary-dance

👒 The long-standing love affair between the cult manga Nana and the luxury fashion house @ reaches new heights with its ...
17/11/2025

👒 The long-standing love affair between the cult manga Nana and the luxury fashion house @ reaches new heights with its latest capsule collection. Since its first edition, artist has drawn inspiration from Westwood's iconic designs. Speaking to Vivienne Westwood’s team, Ai shares: “For me, fashion has always been central to storytelling. Since manga can’t produce sound, fashion becomes an important tool to express it visually.” ⁠
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At the heart of this collaboration is a deep admiration shared between Ai Yazawa and the late Dame Vivienne Westwood - “I’ve loved Vivienne’s clothes even before drawing Nana, and I had been collecting them. Almost all of the items that appear in the manga are from my own collection. [...] Vivienne has always been, and still is, the creator I respect most.” ⚓⁠
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After 25 years of Nana’s cult legacy, this collaboration reanimates some of Ai’s most beloved characters, infusing the manga’s legacy with Vivienne’s distinct punk aesthetic, presenting “a punk love letter that honours the past, present, and future of Nana.” 🏹❤️‍🔥⁠
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Artworks by Ai Yazawa, via Vivienne Westwood⁠

Tap to watch an archive documentary on the iconic fashion designer on NOWNESS ASIA 💄 https://www.nowness.asia/story/vivienne-westwood-anarchy-in-the-uk

17/11/2025

“I thought Dhaka would become different. Now it’s intolerable with punishing traffic and all kinds of pollution. I think I can’t live here. But, I’m not leaving either. The film emerges from these paradoxical ideas…My interest in the cityscape comes from studying architecture in Dhaka. Dhaka was changing faster. It was designing itself organically like a jungle without any planning. By filming, I was trying to look at the city through a frame to understand it.”⁠
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NEW! ⁠ Filmmaker Mehedi Mostafa’s short documentary ‘Fantasy in a concrete jungle’ is an ode to Bangladesh’s capital city Dhaka – a mesmerising chaos of highs and lows, where nostalgia and the need to find belonging in the present coexist. Through a voice-over, the film depicts the perspective of an off-screen architect who travels from the loud city to the silence of the village. 🌅⁠
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This film began as a personal exercise for Mostafa. The director had previously studied architecture in Dhaka and was inspired by the paradoxical realities that shape life and living in the city, and his own love hate relationship to the city. 🏢⁠
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Tap to watch the full film on NOWNESS ASIA 🎬⁠ https://www.nowness.asia/picks/fantasy-in-a-concrete-jungle-dhaka-architecture

NEW! Inside a stark white room, silence transforms into rhythm. Eight dancers, each carrying the lineage of a global str...
13/11/2025

NEW! Inside a stark white room, silence transforms into rhythm. Eight dancers, each carrying the lineage of a global street style, step forward to do what they do best. In ‘Matters of Movement’, the dancers channel inner monologues before stepping into a battle, creating a series of distinct expressions that flow into one another.
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Tap to watch the full on NOWNESS ASIA 🎬⁠ https://www.nowness.asia/series/just-dance/matters-of-movement-street-dance

Soak in the autumnal breeze with this touching and poignant film exploring the strained relationship between a teenage...
10/11/2025

Soak in the autumnal breeze with this touching and poignant film exploring the strained relationship between a teenage daughter and her estranged, runaway mother. 🍲⁠
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Directed by Hannah Bang, ‘Soak’ follows 16-year-old Tak Yeon-soo, portrayed by Lee Do-Eun, as she reconnects with her mother and tries to convince her to return home. Caught between her own motivations to rekindle familial bonds and her role as a mediator to minimise conflict between her parents, this short film oscillates between moments of tenderness and tension. ⁠
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Tap to watch the full film on NOWNESS ASIA 🎬⁠ nowness.asia/story/soak

16/09/2025

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Earlier this May, M+ (), Asia’s museum of contemporary visual culture in Hong Kong, presented the Asian Avant-Garde Film Festival 2025: Time Will Tell, a three-day celebration of independent moving image, supported by .⁠
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Through a dynamic presentation of screenings, exhibitions, performances, talks, and workshops, with leading Asian contemporary artists May Fung, Ho Tzu Nyen, Tehching Hsieh, Amar Kanwar, Ali Wong Kit Yi, and Chikako Yamashiro, the festival was a poetic meditation on time exploring the powerful ways time can be expressed in the medium of video art and performance 🎞️⁠
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With each guest offering a new perspective on the contemplation of time in art, AAGFF celebrates the ways diverse moving image practices have shaped the Asian artistic landscape over the past six decades ⏳⁠
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Tap to watch the full recap of AAGFF on NOWNESS ASIA 📽️⁠ https://www.nowness.asia/story/2025-asian-avant-garde-film-festival-chanel-hong-kong-highlights
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⁠⁠Earlier this May, M+ (), Asia’s museum of contemporary visual culture in Hong Kong, presented the Asian Avant-Garde F...
15/09/2025

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Earlier this May, M+ (), Asia’s museum of contemporary visual culture in Hong Kong, presented the Asian Avant-Garde Film Festival 2025: Time Will Tell, a three-day celebration of independent moving image, supported by .⁠
⁠
Through a dynamic presentation of screenings, exhibitions, performances, talks, and workshops, with leading Asian contemporary artists May Fung, Ho Tzu Nyen, Tehching Hsieh, Amar Kanwar, Ali Wong Kit Yi, and Chikako Yamashiro, the festival was a poetic meditation on time exploring the powerful ways time can be expressed in the medium of video art and performance 🎞️⁠
⁠
With each guest offering a new perspective on the contemplation of time in art, AAGFF celebrates the ways diverse moving image practices have shaped the Asian artistic landscape over the past six decades ⏳⁠
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Happy Birthday, Park Chan Wook! 🎬🥟⁠⁠Known for his striking visual style and tales of lust and vengeance, Park Chan-wook ...
23/08/2025

Happy Birthday, Park Chan Wook! 🎬🥟⁠
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Known for his striking visual style and tales of lust and vengeance, Park Chan-wook is one of the most celebrated South Korean filmmakers in modern-day cinema.⁠
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While pushing the boundaries of visual storytelling, his films offer a thoughtful and nuanced exploration of human relationships, often centring the theme of revenge. Notably, his ‘Vengeance Trilogy’ (‘Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance’, 2002; ‘Oldboy’, 2003; ‘Lady Vengeance’, 2005) serves as a poignant examination of the complexities surrounding the desire for revenge and the ripple effects that a single choice can have, causing lasting devastation across families and lifetimes. 🔨⁠
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What is your favourite Park Chan Wook film? Let us know in the comments below

Row 1: 'Thirst' (2009)⁠
Row 2: 'Lady Vengeance’ (2006)⁠
Row 3: 'Oldboy’ (2003)

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