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

Craig Bingham Demonstrates How “Restraint Breeds Creativity” with His Mythic Fantasy Sci-Fi Short ‘FARANOOKA’

10.14

When we think about low-budget independent filmmaking, our first instinct might be to imagine grounded, realistic narratives set within recognisable worlds.

Indie & debut

Read at Directors Notes ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Craig Bingham Demonstrates How “Restraint Breeds Creativity” with His Mythic Fantasy Sci-Fi Short ‘FARANOOKA’

Related

UKFive Shoots, One Year and Zero Fundraising Shape Bertil Nilsson’s Intimate Identity-Shifting Feature Debut ‘Masc’ Directors Notes

UKFrom Cosmic Head Explosions to Awkward Third Wheels: 11 Short Films to Discover at Encounters Film Festival 2026 Directors Notes

RHYTHM IS A DANCER: Lauren Caster’s Heartfelt Indie Debut Film Inquiry

UK10 Exciting Shorts to Keep an Eye on from the 70th BFI London Film Festival Directors Notes

UKSam Tricomo Asks Audiences to Find Empathy Without Forgiveness in His Darkly Transgressive Pilot ‘Puke Bitch’ Directors Notes

UKSubverting Stereotypes and Capturing the Authentic Drunken Perspective in Daniel Chisholm’s Dizzying ‘Don’t Puke’ Directors Notes