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Independent guides / East, South and Southeast Asia

Asian cinema, one banner at a time

Plain guides to the film traditions of Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan, India and Southeast Asia: who made what, why it mattered and where to begin.

Unroll the guidesWhere to start

The big picture

Many cinemas, not one

Asian cinema is not a single style. It is dozens of national and regional film cultures, each with its own history, studios and audiences. Japan's postwar masters, Hong Kong's genre factories, the Korean boom of recent decades and India's many language industries have little in common except that they are worth your time.

These guides pick the facts that are well documented, such as prizes, release years and directors, and explain them in plain words. Start with the Hong Kong guide if you like action, the Japanese guide if you like classics, or the Korean guide if you came for Parasite.

The site does not review films or rank them. It tells you what to look for, and then leaves the watching to you.

Six hanging banners

The reel of regions

Scroll sideways. Each banner unrolls a guide to one cinema tradition.

First steps

Three ways to begin

  1. Pick one door

    A country, a director or a genre. The beginner's guide lists five gateway films with very different moods.

  2. Follow a thread

    Like Seven Samurai? Read about Japan's golden age. Like Crouching Tiger? Try Chinese and Taiwanese cinema.

  3. Widen the map

    Look beyond the famous names with India's regional industries and Southeast Asian film.

Rows of empty red cinema seats facing a blank screen

Quick answers

Questions newcomers ask

What is Asian cinema?
A broad term for the film cultures of Asia, which differ widely by country, language and period. This site covers East, South and Southeast Asia in separate guides, starting from the beginner's guide.
Which Asian film should I watch first?
A mixed shortlist is in the beginner's guide: Seven Samurai, Pather Panchali, Chungking Express, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Parasite.
What is Infernal Affairs?
A 2002 Hong Kong crime film directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, remade in 2006 as The Departed. Read more in the Hong Kong guide.
Is Bollywood the same as Indian cinema?
No. Bollywood means Hindi-language films made mainly in Mumbai. India has many other film industries, covered in the India guide.