Originally published in The Indiependent on 3 October 2025 (Source: Lost Atlas Production) In 2021, 18 mountain runners in Hong Kong ran non-stop for 298 km. For over 60 hours, through days and nights, they ran. At the same time, the crew of Four Trails needed to turn the seemingly tedious race into an engaging documentary. With excellent structuring and cinematography, they succeeded. ★★★★★ Four Trails , directed by Robin Lee, is a Hong Kong sports documentary recording th

Originally published in NüVoices on 17 September 2025 (Source: Jay Chow and Emma Georgiou-Leonard) In The Test, I-Ling, a young East Asian woman, arrives to take the “Life in the United Kingdom Test,” which is required to become a British citizen, wearing a red hoodie. The security guard thinks she is hiding notes in her pocket, and rudely asks her to take it off. She refuses as the only thing she was wearing underneath was underwear. The guard keeps insisting until she final

Originally published in The Indiependent on 27 July 2025 (Source: Basuri Films) A road is built between a small Nepali village and the modern city. A shabby bus travels there from time to time, bringing TV, money, and disruption to the village. A Road to a Village captures the dreams and struggles of the village’s rural Nepalese inhabitants as they navigate the road to modernisation. ★★★☆☆ A Road to a Village , directed by Nabin Subba, follows the life of a family in a moun

Originally published in The Indiependent on 26 June 2025 (Source: One Cool Film Production) Silence does not mean blankness. It is a powerful expression of autonomy for deaf people, and a strong filmmaking effect inviting the audience to enter their world. The weight of silence is beautifully captured in The Way We Talk , a Hong Kong movie about the deaf community’s identity struggle now available in the UK after its premiere at last year’s London Film Festival. ★★★★★ The Way

Originally published in The Indiependent on 1 June 2025 (Source: Yingfilms Pte. Ltd) In 2019, a film crew unbox an old computer containing footage of a film they abandoned a decade ago. They decide to resume the project, but COVID-19 hits during filming. The whole crew is suddenly stuck in a hotel, the film once again unfinished again. Making the best of it, the team finish the film as a mockumentary—one that now cannot be watched legally in mainland China. ★★★★★   Directed

Originally published in The Indiependent on 6 April 2025 (Source: Ossa Film) In Japan, thousands of people vanish into the air like steam each year. The police mark them as ‘missing,’ yet they voluntarily restart their lives by completely changing their identities and severing all ties with their past. The phenomenon of Johatsu, or ‘evaporation’, is comprehensively surveyed in the documentary Johatsu: Into Thin Air .  ★★★★☆ German director Andreas Hartmann and Japanese filmm

Originally published in The Indiependent on 7 August 2024 (Source: HKFF) Once upon a time, a 31-year-old YouTuber decided to take the university entrance exam again. He did this with a student candidate who had barely studied before. Their tough journey is documented in Once Upon a Time in HKDSE, a sensitive documentary exploring the Hong Kong education system, childhood trauma, and the meaning of cinematic art.  ★★★★☆ Once Upon a Time in HKDSE takes place over eight months