Independent journalist / features writer based in Düsseldorf, Germany. Bosch Medienbotschafter 2016 Fellow.
Chronicles from the cultural siege
Two weeks ago, at the award ceremony of the recently concluded 76th Berlinale, Palestinian-Syrian director Abdallah Al-Khatib’s film Chroniclesfrom the Siege won the GWFF Best First Feature Award in the Perspectives section.
They sailed for spices. Now the Dutch crave Indonesian sambal
Over fiery plates of sambal-soaked Ayam Penyet in Rotterdam, I set out to investigate how the Netherlands became home to Europe’s best Indonesian food — is it the legacy of the Dutch East India Company, or a cuisine reshaped and sustained by immigrants?
IFFR 2026: Semmalar Annam says her ‘Mayilaa’ embodies the quiet resilience of women
Semmalar Annam’s first love has always been film direction, even though it took a backseat since acting kept her busy all these years.
Mohammad Rasoulof | From the trauma of existence to the trauma of exile
Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof’s short film about a writer in exile, titled Sense of Water, recently premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).
Jafar Panahi returns, but not to reconcile with power
Thirty years ago, at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995, the Caméra d’Or award for the best debut feature was awarded to a film called The White Balloon, a tender portrayal of childhood in a harsh adult world. Told through the eyes of a young girl hoping to ...
What does a film critic eat during the Cannes Film festival? Premium
Cannes is all power suits and super yachts but if you scratch the surface you will also find memorable meals.
Homebound review: A heartbreaking tribute to migrants’ plight during lockdown
In May 2020, when the COVID crisis hit India and lockdowns began, millions of migrant workers started walking their way home — thousands of kilometers — to their villages in different states. Among the thousands of pictures shared online from this heartbreakingly cruel journey, one stood out and was shared millions of times. It showed a young man sitting on the dirt by the roadside, holding his friend, who seemed to have suffered a heat stroke, and trying to coax him awake.
India at Cannes: Satyajit Ray’s Aranyer Din Ratri plays to a full house
Satyajit Ray’s restored 1970 classic reminds the world why his cinema still startles, seduces, and unsettles.
It’s not an Indian summer at Cannes 2025
What the 78th Cannes Film Festival did not expect when it announced a stricter dress code (disallowing nudity and voluminous dresses) was that someone would turn up on the red carpet dressed like a giant bird.
Cannes prizewinner Payal Kapadia: ‘In India identity comes in the way of a lot of things’
The director of ‘All We Imagine as Light’ discusses big city lives, urban migration and Mumbai’s violent gentrification.
Birds of Paradise - Thattekad.
In the foothills of Kerala’s Western Ghats, an avian enthusiast returns to the forests
of his first bird-watching adventure to discover that tranquility still prevails.
The Guide: Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary
There are plenty of birds and animals in Aralam, one of the lesser-known sanctuaries in northern Kerala, but the main attraction is undoubtedly its abundance of butterflies!
All We Imagine As Light review: Payal Kapadia’s bittersweet love poem to Mumbai
The film, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes, is a tender portrait of female friendship; it shows there are no quick fixes or happy endings to our unremarkable realities.
Rewilding Portugal
NGO ATN preserves and restores the biodiversity of northern Portugal to counterbalance the effects of climate change.
Anatomy of a Scandal
A LOVE AFFAIR BETWEEN a young man and an older woman sets off a series of events that ignites a murderous mob in a fictional Malabar village in Chronicle of an Hour and a Half by debut author Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari. It’s a tale where the slighted moral compass of a community perpetrates vigilante justice spurred by social media.