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

The Film VerdictEurope

Leipzig 2026: The Verdict

10.31

At the award ceremony of the 69th edition of DOK Leipzig in Germany, the top Golden Dove awards in the feature-length International Documentary and the International Short Film sections went to films…

Festivals & awards

Read at The Film Verdict ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Leipzig 2026: The Verdict

Related

EuropeFIC Luanda Festival Director Jorge Cohen on Restarting the Angolan Film Festival The Film Verdict

Who Gets To Judge Anime? Japanese Industry Leaders Make The Case For A New Award Cartoon Brew

KoreaAhn Hyo Seop And Chang Ryul Trade Barbs On Set Of Cooking Competition In “Final Table” Soompi

TIFF 2026: Anime’s Co-Pros; Hungry Ghosts; Feature Spotlights Cartoon Brew

VietnamViệt Nam pitches archives, co-production, incentives at Tokyo film festival Viet Nam News — Life & Style

NetherlandsFocus: Noordelijk Film Festival 2026 Filmkrant