Brian Hioe spoke to Kuala Lumpur-based DJ Roshan Menon, who is the founder of SaturdaySelects and co-founder of Laksa Records. The following article originally appeared on Electric Soul, a Hong Kong-based electronic music magazine and ticketing platform, on January 21st Read More
Enigma: The Chinese Crested Tern, directed by Taiwanese environmentalist filmmaker Liang Chieh-Te, is a masterful depiction of the eponymous endangered species. The film goes a long way in showing not only the beauty of the creature and providing many revealing looks into its life, but also the Herculean efforts of an international team of conservationists and researchers to protect a species that may have less than one hundred remaining individuals Read More
When I went to the gallery at Ho Sng House (about a 10-15 minute walk from Guting station) to see Peng Hsiung Hsu’s Sexca-paint (一邊打砲,一邊畫畫) exhibition, the artist was there in person to offer a guided tour. I was handed a lollipop as part of the experience: “The lollipop is part of the exhibition.” Read More
Green Grass, Pale Fire follows three Taiwanese runaway miners in 1935 who are on the run from the Japanese army. Stranded in the jungles of Iriomote Island, Okinawa prefecture, after having escaped from the infamous “Green Jail” coal mine, the three hope to find a way home by boat. Given this setting, the short film explores Taiwan’s Japanese colonial period, which lasted from 1895 to 1945 Read More
New Bloom members Peter Freestone and Brian Hioe pick some of their favorite indie albums from 2021, mainly focusing on bands from Taiwan. This is the fourth in a series of Best Album lists compiled by New Bloom Read More
Despite no international marketing blitz comparable to Island Nation or SEQALU, Gold Leaf proves the same kind of work, in seeking to dramatize a pivotal period of Taiwanese history. Based on the memoirs of Jiang A-hsin, the founder of the Yong-guang Tea Company, Gold Leaf focuses on the Zhang family, a prominent Hakka family of tea manufacturers in Hsinchu in the 1950s. The Jiang family was once Taiwan’s largest exporter of tea Read More
Chen Shui-bian has gone from a perceived cross-strait provocateur to memelord, as of late, with a series of viral images posted by Chen on Instagram and Facebook Read More
Discover the top Taiwanese movies of 2021 across genres like horror, romance, LGBTQ, comedy, documentary, and more—streaming links included Read More
After a few days, my cousin was at our family dinner table. In his hands were some cards which always appeared in my childhood. “Hey Gi! Check out my new collections!” he said with a grin. He passed the cards to my hand, and I had an answer: “Claydol the Pokemon! They look like Dogū!” Read More
Gatao: The Last Stray is a competent gangster film of its genre, as a prequel and the third of three films in the Gatao franchise. Of course, one would expect a romanticization of gangster life from a film of the genre and, in this respect, Gatao stays the course Read More
The short film, “Kuroshio Current,” aims to tell a story of diasporic loss framed by traditional Taiwanese folk religion Read More
Pebbles is an understated and modest film, minimalist in plot—and it is a short one, clocking in at one hour and fifteen minutes. But it is a beautifully shot film and, moreover, a highly effective first outing for director PS Vinothraj Read More