Category: 2025 Entries
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Hisham Matar,Β The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land In Between,Β Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2016, 256 pgs.Β You walk into a memoir anticipating something deeply personal. You expect to encounter…
![[REVIEW] βA Memory of Absence: Hisham Matarβs πβπ π
ππ‘π’ππβ by Varsha Nair](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/hisham-matar-the-return-fathers-sons-and-the-land-in-between-2.jpg?w=660)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “From Silence to Sound: Kaori Laiβs Microhistorical Poetics of the White Terror” by Serena De Marchi Kaori Lai (author), Sylvia Li-chun Lin and Howard Goldblatt (translators), Portraits in White, Columbia…
![[REVIEW] “From Silence to Sound: Kaori Laiβs Microhistorical Poetics of the White Terror” by Serena De Marchi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/portraits-in-white-by-kaori-lai.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Quan Manh Ha and Quynh H. Vo (translators), Longings: Contemporary Fiction by Vietnamese Women Writers, Texas Tech University Press, 2024. 260 pgs. Vietnamese literature in English translation is…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βFinding Meaning in the Very Act of QuestioningβπΏπππππππ : πΆπππ‘ππππππππ¦ πΉπππ‘πππ ππ¦ ππππ‘πππππ π πππππ ππππ‘πππ β by Rebecca Maine](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/longings-contemporary-fiction-by-vietnamese-women-writers.jpg?w=907)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Jerrold Tarog (director), Quezon, 2025. 135 min. βAny man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are…
![[REVIEW] βTarogβs ππ’ππ§ππ: A Definition of Machiavellian Politicsβ by Gene Michael M. Atanacio](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/jerrold-tarog-director-quezon-2.png?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: We are honoured to present the personal reflection βCurriculum Vitae in Silenceβ and the poem of the same title by Liu Hongbin, a Chinese British poet of Tiananmen exile. He was shaped by a childhood torn between pastoral…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Curriculum Vitae in Silence” by Liu Hongbin](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/marble-feature.webp?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Chris Martinez (director), Kontrabida Academy, 2025. 107 min. Teleserye (drama), whether on television or in motion pictures, has long been a mainstay of afternoon and evening entertainment in…
![[REVIEW] βChris Martinezβs πΎπππ‘ππππππ π΄ππππππ¦ and the Anatomy of a Filipino Teleseryeβ by Bryan Elijah Trajano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/chris-martinez-director-kontrabida-academy-2025.-107-min.jpg?w=1000)
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Chris Song’s Note: Liu Yichangβs εδ»₯ι¬― (1918β2018) short story βRiotβ εδΊ, set against the backdrop of the 1967 Hong Kong Riots, is a hauntingly experimental meditation on violence, urban alienation, and the blurred boundary between the living and the inanimate.…
![[TRANSLATION] “Riot” by Liu Yichang, Translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/liu-yichang-and-chris-song-1.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Pillion & Box Hill. Editor’s note: We are delighted to present Hongwei Baoβs essayistic film review, which blends cultural history, theory, and critique through the…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βRiding Together: πππππππ and the Radical History of Queer Cinemaβ by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pillion-film-review-2025-cha-an-asian-literary-journal-hongwei-bao.png?w=1024)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS James Albon (author and illustrator), Love Languages, Top Shelf Productions, 2025. 176 pgs. The book begins with six pages of vibrant illustrations depicting people of diverse cultural backgrounds at…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βLife Outside the Bubble in James Albonβs πΏππ£π πΏππππ’ππππ β by Vanessa Winghei Yeung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/lovelangs_jalbon-2.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Uno Chiyo (author), Rebecca Copeland (translator), The Story of a Single Woman, Pushkin Press, 2025. 106 pgs. Everything in Uno Chiyoβs The Story of a Single Woman, translated from…
![[REVIEW]Β βThe Trembling of Memory: Self and Society in Uno Chiyoβs πβπ ππ‘πππ¦ ππ π ππππππ πππππβ by Wani Nazir](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/uno-chiyo-author-rebecca-copeland-translator-the-story-of-a-single-woman-pushkin-press-1.jpg?w=977)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Larissa Lai, The Lost Century: A Novel, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022. 374 pgs. Published in 2022 and penned by one of the most influential Chinese Canadian writers, Larissa Lai,…
![[REVIEW] βAlternative Local and Translocal Hong Kong Histories in Larissa Laiβs πβπ πΏππ π‘ πΆπππ‘π’ππ¦β by Yiwen Liu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/larissa-lai-the-lost-century.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βThe Mountains Speak: The Himalayan Arc” by Abhinav Tulachan Namita Gokhale (editor), The Himalayan Arc: Journeys East of South-east, HarperCollins India, 2018. 352 pgs. Namche Bazaar has always been my…
![[REVIEW] βThe Mountains Speak: πβπ π»ππππππ¦ππ π΄ππβ by Abhinav Tulachan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/namche-bazaar-the-himalayan-arc-journeys-east-of-south-east-copy.jpg?w=695)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kawika Guillermo, Nimrods: A Fake-Punk Self-Hurt Anti-Memoir, Duke University Press, 2023. 240 pgs. Fuck βem all. Squares on bothsides. I am the only completeman in the industry.βBurroughs, Naked Lunch…
![[REVIEW] β ‘________________________’: Rererecapitulating Kawika Guillermoβs Devastatingly Wondrous πππππππ : π΄ πΉπππ-ππ’ππ ππππ-π»π’ππ‘ π΄ππ‘π-ππππππ” by Jason S Polley](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/kawika-guillermo-devastating-nimrods-a-fake-punk-self-hurt-anti-memoir-.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Ang Lee. Ang Lee (director), The Wedding Banquet, 1993. 108 min. Ang Leeβs 1993 film The Wedding Banquet opens with a sequence in which Wai-Tung…
![[REVIEW] “Filial Piety and Farce: Negotiating Family and Queerness in Ang Lee’s πβπ πππππππ π΅ππππ’ππ‘” by Jade GuΒ](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/ang-lee-director-the-wedding-banquet-.webp?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Sean Wang (director), Didi, 2024. 96 min. In Chinese culture, parents often address their children by their familial roles, a gesture of affection and intimacy. My mother calls me…
![[REVIEW] βThe Weight of Love: Sean Wangβs π·πππ and the Chinese American Familyβ by Theodora Yu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/sean-wang-director-didi-2024.-2.jpg?w=625)
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TIFF 2025 β 10. The Archivistβs Film: A Conversation on Kunsang Kyirongβs 100 Sunsetβ 9. She Was Screaming into Silence: A Conversation on Cai Shangjunβs The Sun Rises On Us Allβ 8. You Don’t Belong to Anyone: A Conversation on…
![[TIFF 2025] βShe Was Screaming into Silence: A Conversation on Cai Shangjunβs πβπ ππ’π π
ππ ππ ππ ππ π΄ππβ by Nirris Nagendrarajah, Cai Shangjun & Han Nianjin](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/cai-shangjuns-the-sun-rises-on-us-all-2025.-131-min.jpg?w=1000)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kevin Alambra (director), Warla, 2025. 111 min. I have just watched Warla. I cannot claim any lived experience concerning trans issues; however, I found myself uneasy with the bluntness…
![[REVIEW] βπππππ: A Crime of Passionate Advocacy?β by Matthew Ordonez](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/warla_kv.png?w=600)
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Earlier this week, the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 was awarded to the Hungarian novelist LΓ‘szlΓ³ Krasznahorkai βfor his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.β Coverage in outlets such…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Whose Words Win the Nobel? On Translators and the Question of Literary Recognition” by Kabir Deb](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/copy-of-copy-of-taken-as-strictly-true-neuroscience-and-sinology-in-laszlo-krasznahorkais-f09d90b7f09d9192f09d91a0f09d91a1f09d919ff09d91a2f09d9190f09d91a1f09d9196f09d919cf09d919b-f09d918.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Johannes SchΓΆnherr, North Korean Cinema. A History, McFarland, 2012. 224 pgs. My experience with the three books on North Korean cinema I had read up to this pointβPaul…
![[REVIEW] βJohannes SchΓΆnherr’s ππππ‘β πΎπππππ πΆπππππ:Β Rise (and Fall?) (and Rise again?) of the Propaganda Machineβ by Cyril Camus](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/johannes-schonherr-north-korean-cinema.-a-history-1.jpg?w=838)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Kiriti Sengupta. Kiriti Sengupta, Selected Poems, Transcendent Zero Press, 2025. 228 pgs. It has been more than a decade since the medical practitioner turned poet,…
![[REVIEW] “The Stillness Between Fire and Water: On Kiriti Senguptaβs ππππππ‘ππ πππππ ” by Abhik Ganguly](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/selected-poems-final-1-scaled-e1754154149300.webp?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Mallika Bhaumik, When Time is a Magic Jar, Red River Press, 2025. 108 pgs. When Time is a Magic Jar by Mallika Bhaumik is like finding an old, dusty…
![[REVIEW] βWhen the Jar Spills Time: Reading Mallika Bhaumikβs πβππ ππππ ππ π πππππ π½ππβ by Wani Nazir](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/when-time-is-a-magic-jar.jpg?w=1024)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mending Bodies. β Hon Lai Chu (author), Jacqueline Leung (translator), Mending Bodies, Two Lines Press, 2025. 240 pgs.β Michael Shanks (director), Together, 2025. 102 min.…
![[REVIEW] “The Fantasy of Wholeness through Body Horror in Hon Lai-chuβs πππππππ π΅πππππ and Michael Shanksβs πππππ‘βππβ by Charlie Ng](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/the-fantasy-of-wholeness-through-body-horror-in-hon-lai-chus-mending-bodies-and-michael-shankss-together.png?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: In this interview, poet and critic Tiffany Troy speaks with translator Chenxin Jiang about her recent rendering of for now I am sitting here growing transparent (Zephyr Press, 2025) by Hong Kong poet, filmmaker, and scholar Yau Ching.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “On Translating Hong Kong Identity, Resilience, & Longing” by Tiffany Troy and Chenxin Jiang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/71e5yoi5wl._sl1500_-1.jpg?w=1023)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ThuαΊn (author), Nguyα» n An LΓ½ (translator), Elevator in SΓ i GΓ²n, New Directions, 2024. 192 pgs. Nobel laureate Patrick Modiano once wrote that βit is not the future which counts,…
![[REVIEW] “Truth, Lies, and the Mask We Choose: On ThuαΊnβs πΈπππ£ππ‘ππ ππ πππ πΊππ” by Michael Londra](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/f09f9381-return-to-first-impressions-f09f9381-return-to-cha-review-of-books-and-films.jpg?w=881)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Eva Yip Man-lai (director), Cecilia Lau (organiser), Yat Yat Kingdom, 2025. In the world of theatre, actors often serve as vessels for the stories of others, portraying characters born…
![[REVIEW] “Between Play and Pain: πππ‘ πππ‘ πΎππππππβs Tender Confession” by Dawna Fung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/e3808ae4b880e4b880e9818ae6a882e5a0b4e3808b.jpg?w=1015)
Cha 