An American who moved to Japan after World War II and stayed on there to become the most significant interpreter of Japanese culture and its cinema to the world outside, Donald Richie has just left this world that will remain beholden to him for “opening up” Japan more than half a century ago.

The Marrakesh Film Festival this year sparkled with the presence of Shah Rukh Khan among a galaxy of international stars from Hollywood and Bollywood, and the big films of the year

So many autobiographies and biographies have been written, so many descriptions of life with great men and women of all persuasions and pursuits.

So many autobiographies and biographies have been written, so many descriptions of life with great men and women of all persuasions and pursuits. Among them Francois Gilot’s Life With Picasso remains memorable because of the honesty and directness of the man himself, warts and all, and of the stormy relationship he had with the author.

I had never heard of Malatya in Turkey. Having travelled to and around Istanbul, Ephesus, Izmir, Antalya but never to Ankara, I had the impression that Malatya was a district in Ankara.

In October 2010, Hanoi celebrated the 1,000th anniversary of its birth. And in continuation of the city’s the week-long celebrations came the First Vietnam International Film Festival.