Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
There’s been a French presence in what is today the southern American Midwest near the Mississippi River since 1673. Naming their colony ‘the Illinois Country’ for the native Illiniwek tribes who inhabited it, these first French settlers traded with, preached Catholicism to, and intermarried with local Indigenous communities, resulting in a distinct French Creole heritage and dialect that still reverberates, albeit faintly, in the region today. In this short, the Missouri-born artist Brian Hawkins pairs stunning animation built from watercolours with audio of one of the last native speakers of Illinois Country French recounting a whimsical local folktale that’s been nearly lost to time. Unfolding like a beautiful picture book sprung to life, Hawkins’s work is at once a wondrous act of creativity and of cultural preservation.
Director: Brian Hawkins
Narrator: Pierre Aloysius Boyer
video
Wellbeing
Born in China, Zee seeks a gender-affirming life in the American Midwest
11 minutes
video
Rituals and celebrations
A whale hunt is an act of prayer for an Inuit community north of the Arctic Circle
8 minutes
video
Music
The peculiar beauty of a song caught between composition and improvisation
3 minutes
video
Rituals and celebrations
A beginner’s guide to a joyful Persian tradition of spring renewal and rebirth
3 minutes
video
Politics and government
How it looked to Afghan women to see the Taliban return to power
33 minutes
video
Love and friendship
Love looks a bit different for a chain-smoking couple in a small apartment
11 minutes
video
Biography and memoir
Passed over as the first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight carved out an impressive second act
13 minutes
video
The ancient world
The six priestesses who kept the flame of ancient Rome alight at risk of death
5 minutes
video
Engineering
A close-up look at electronic paper reveals its exquisite patterns – and limitations
9 minutes