Indie & debut

8 stories

Sixth ToneChinaBehind China’s Unlikely Box-Office Hit, Indie Filmmakers Struggle to Be Seen The amateur-made “Niu Lai” found an audience against the odds. Thousands of other low-budget Chinese films never get the same chance.

September 4

Cartoon Brew‘Atlas: The Animated Movie’ A Bold Indie Feature As Unlikely As Its Long-Forgotten Hero (EXCLUSIVE) Austin McConnell taught himself CG animation, built a production pipeline in his basement, and overcame a debilitating stroke to complete his 90-minute feature.

September 4

RogerEbert.comShort Films in Focus: Bouncy Brothers (with Nicholas J. Santore)

September 1

SCMP FilmHong KongHow Josie Ho rejected her billionaire heiress destiny for punk rock and indie filmmaking This is the 84th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. Josie Ho Chiu-yee has spent her career dismantling assumptions and forging her own identity through unbrid

August 27

Asian Film FestivalsAsia20 Must-see short films from the 28th Seoul International Women’s Film Festival 2026 (Part 2) We continue with our list of short films you shouldn’t miss at the Seoul International Women’s Film Festival (South Korea) which will take place from August 20 – 26, 2026.

August 22

Asian Film FestivalsAsia20 Must-see short films from the 28th Seoul International Women’s Film Festival 2026 (Part 1) These are twenty short films you shouldn’t miss at the Seoul International Women’s Film Festival (South Korea) which will take place from August 20 – 26, 2026.

August 21

Asian Film FestivalsAsia23rd Cheongju International Short Film Festival – Opening Film 2026 Metropolitan Ride directed by KIM Junyong will open the Cheongju International Short Film Festival which will take place from August 21 – 23, 2026 in Cheongju, South Korea.

August 18

Cinema EscapistAsiaReview: Korean Indie Film “Journey There” Delicately Portrays Grief and Intergenerational Bonds

July 23

Cinepuuulse is a magazine, a radar and a diary about Asian cinema — Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand — read from Tokyo.

Our mark is 銀幕, ginmaku, the old word for the silver screen; it is the same two characters in Japanese, Chinese and Korean. A magazine, because every week one film is worth reading about slowly. A radar, because we count what the region's screens are talking about — box office, festivals, directors, anime, streaming — and show it as it moves. A diary, because a seal is set each day in that day's colour, and the days add up.

We read the local press in its own languages and bring it over in English: the Japanese film sites, the Korean trade papers, the Chinese culture desks, the Vietnamese and Thai entertainment pages. Everything here links back to the people who made it; the images belong to their authors.

Cinepuuulse will keep changing. New sources, new signals, new ways of looking — a little better each week, never finished. If a film here made you want to buy a ticket, that is enough.

Thank you for reading. ありがとうございます。