Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
In Vietnam, radio is dominated by the state broadcaster, the Voice of Vietnam, whose plethora of programmes is estimated to reach more than 90 per cent of households across the country. The Vietnamese filmmaker and artist Phạm Ngọc Lân turns this ubiquity into a beguiling exploration of connections between people and their contexts in his short The Story of Ones (2011). Bouncing from scene to scene in a manner that mimics flipping between radio stations, the short provides brief glimpses into the everyday lives of people in Vietnam as they tune in to broadcasts of melodramas, emotional call-in advice shows and love songs. With each sequence unfolding like a puzzle, the film is simultaneously confounding and engrossing, revealing a distinctive characteristic of Vietnamese life while defying facile interpretations.
Director: Phạm Ngọc Lân
video
Biology
Journey deep into the Philippine forest in search of the world’s largest, rarest eagle
95 minutes
video
Art
What does an AI make of what it sees in a contemporary art museum?
15 minutes
video
Fairness and equality
How the first woman of colour to be elected to the US Congress remade education
21 minutes
video
History of ideas
Tantra is, and was, a subversive philosophy of feminine power
19 minutes
video
Rituals and celebrations
From roaring fire and molten glass an artist creates a healing ritual
13 minutes
video
Ecology and environmental sciences
Producing food while restoring the planet – a glimpse of farming in the future
7 minutes
video
Archaeology
Ancient Greek sculptures were colourful. Why does the white marble ideal persist?
6 minutes
video
Economics
We all play by economic rules set by men. What could a feminist economics look like?
30 minutes
video
Ecology and environmental sciences
Yo-Yo Ma performs a work for cello in the woods, accompanied by a birdsong chorus
4 minutes