Our mark is 銀幕, ginmaku — the silver screen, and the same two characters in Japanese, Chinese and Korean.

I came to Tokyo at twenty-three for a summer job at a Shibuya mini-theatre and the job never quite ended. Fifteen years of festivals later I still think the only review that counts is the one the room gives you: where the laugh lands, the moment three hundred people stop moving at once, whether anybody stays for the credits.

Cinepuuulse follows Asian cinema — Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand — across about a hundred and twenty sources. A good number of them are Spanish, French and Portuguese, because those countries programme this work seriously and write about it better than most of the English-language trade. Genre and art-house get the same seat here. I am not ranking them, and nothing is scored out of ten.

Each story is a headline, a short excerpt, one still and a link to the outlet that did the reporting. We never republish the piece, and the still belongs to its studio or its photographer. A Korean trade paper appears in Korean, a French review in French. We point at the work; we do not put words in anyone's mouth.

— Daren Wise, Tokyo

← Cinepuuulse Archive

Directors NotesUK

Life Reflects Art in Émile V. Schlesser’s ‘Backstage’ Blending On-Stage Power Play With Real-Life Abuse

10.26

In the theatre, every performance is an illusion. But what happens when the most dangerous drama unfolds beyond the audience’s view? In Backstage , director Émile V.

Read at Directors Notes ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Life Reflects Art in Émile V. Schlesser’s ‘Backstage’ Blending On-Stage Power Play With Real-Life Abuse

More from Directors Notes on Cinepuuulse

UK10 Short Films Capturing the Essence of Riga International Film Festival 2026 Directors Notes

UKFrom “Back Alley Head Job” to SXSW Award-Winner: Lee Lawson on the Evolution of ‘Man Eating Pussy’ Directors Notes

UKMax Clendaniel Wields a Cheesy Horror Prop as an Ego-Shattering Weapon in Improvised Comedy ‘Dummy’ Directors Notes

UKWho Gets Believed? Susan Wokoma Confronts the Adultification of Black Children in ‘Dark Skin Bruises Differently’ Directors Notes

UKRobert Piel’s ‘The Lap’ Harvests the Unspoken Fears and Desires Behind a Teenage Struggle for Power Directors Notes

UKExclusive First Look at the BIFA 2026 Best British Short Film Longlist Directors Notes