HOW AN ULTRA-NATIONALIST RELIGIOUS GROUP BECAME ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR FILM PRODUCERS IN JAPAN (Inverse)

Politics, power, Japanese new religions, assassinations and indoctrination form part of a deep-dive investigation into the filmography and ideology of Happy Science. For Inverse, you can read the piece here.

Print Cover Features for Play Magazine (UK) and other physical print work

Over the course of the last 12 months, I have conducted a number of pieces for physical media outlets such as Lost in Cult, EDGE Magazine and Play Magazine. For Play Magazine, this has included the publication of two cover features centered on Wo Long and Like a Dragon: Ishin, a feature on gaming movies, […]

Running Forward, Looking Back: animation director Naoko Yamada ponders her past and her future with two new music-infused films (Letterboxd Journal)

I sat down with Naoko Yamada as she looked back on her career to date and forwards to the future in light of the world premiere of her latest short film, Garden of Remembrance. You can read the full interview for Letterboxd Journal here.

Tokyo International Film Festival celebrates the next generation of Japanese filmmaking talent (Little White Lies)

Among a number of reviews and interviews conducted for the site, I summarized the offerings found at the recent Tokyo Film Festival I attended in a press capacity, and how the event sought to celebrate the next generation of Japanese filmmaker. You can read about this event over at Little White Lies here.

Digital Duels: How Yu-Gi-Oh! players are enjoying the TCG – without needing cards (Dicebreaker)

As the Yu-Gi-Oh card game continues to evolve and expand its efforts into digital realms, certain players are complementing or taking their interactions with this long-running franchise into the virtual realm, playing the TCG without a single real card being required. After speaking with players across the community, read the feature over on Dicebreaker here, […]

Fostering Love: The Quiet Girl’s unspoken empathy (Letterboxd Journal)

Following the film’s world premiere at Berlin Film Festival (the movie is now in the longlist for Best International Feature Film representing Ireland at the time of writing), I spoke with director Colm Bairéad to dive deep into the film’s themes and development. You can read the full feature over on Letterboxd Journal here.

NieR Fan Festival Provides an Unlikely Crossover Within an Unlikely Franchise (Crunchyroll)

As NieR Automata celebrated its 5th anniversary on the eve of its new anime, I went to their fan festival to report on this celebration of this unlikely success story. Read about this event over on Crunchyroll here.

Certain Affinity on reaching “AAA quality on a AA scope” (Gamesindustry.biz)

As Certain Affinity make the jump from support studio to lead developer on their own project, I spoke to the team at the studio about the challenges of making the jump, and the lessons learned on their journey taking the reigns. You can read my piece for gamesindustry.biz here.

A Year Of Springs dev npckc “never planned” on making games, but wanted to tell kinder LGBTQ+ stories (Rock Paper Shotgun)

I sat down with indie developer npckc at Bitsummit in Kyoto to discuss an accidental jump into games development, telling LGBTQ+ stories they want to tell, and their latest project. Read the interview on Rock Paper Shotgun here.

Neptune Frost’s Radical Sci-fi Future (the verge)

The afrofuturist anti-capitalist musical Neptune Frost challenges viewers to consider the impact of our current technology-fueled society and the way its harms can be transformed into a radical force for change. Check out my feature for The Verge here.