Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
Japan’s elderly population is surging, and its birthrate is one of the lowest in the world. Concurrently, more women than ever are entering the workforce, making households with two working parents the norm rather than the exception. This confluence of demographic and societal changes has created a crisis of caregiving – a challenge that’s even more pronounced in a culture that practices ‘oya-koko’, or filial piety, and where office culture can be extremely competitive. The Academy Award-winning US director Megan Mylan’s Taller Than the Trees follows the daily life of Masami Hayata, a Tokyo ad executive, who embodies the changes that Japan is undergoing. With his wife frequently out of town for her job as a flight attendant, Hayata takes on the role of domestic caregiver, attending to their six-year-old son, as well as his mother, who is in the late stages of dementia, in addition to his considerable corporate responsibilities. Mylan traces Hayata’s delicate work-life balance with a light and intimate touch, crafting a film that deftly renders the personal as a reflection of broader shifts in society.
video
Design and fashion
Refined towards imperfection – a ceramic artist recreates a rare Korean treasure
15 minutes
video
Wellbeing
Through a poetic account of childhood trauma, one woman reclaims her past
28 minutes
video
Politics and government
‘Without a poster, you don’t exist!’ – on the curious political banners of Mumbai
20 minutes
video
Global history
The famed medieval map that stretched beyond Earth to heaven, history and myth
5 minutes
video
Earth science and climate
A biologist on the sorrows of documenting the Great Salt Lake’s collapse
6 minutes
video
Design and fashion
Household items are reborn in a ‘visual symphony of everyday objects’
11 minutes
video
Human rights and justice
Meet the man who uncovered the scandal of nuclear testing in South Australia
13 minutes
video
Global history
The strange journey of the Parthenon Marbles to the British Museum
10 minutes
video
Animals and humans
Laura fights to protect the magnificence of wild horses running free
6 minutes