Articles

Director Lynne Ramsay has never been deterred by challenging material, and her adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s novel Die, My Love is no exception. I was lucky enough to view an early screening of the highly anticipated film at Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF) and, despite the mixed commercial reception, I found myself siding with the contrastingly positive view taken by critics. Ramsay’s consistent and bold direction makes Die My Love an immersive experience that deman

I feel like I’m in a constant waiting game. Waiting for you to let me in Waiting to see you again Waiting for, forever. Time is suspended. Miles stretch like elastic Sound won't echo Foundations remain scaffolding and Everyone knows your name. The phantom I’ve framed my future around, Framed it for— Like a piece of unknown artwork, with an unwilling muse. Still, you hang on the interior of my mind. Is this a requited feeling? Do they know the artist or have I remained a frame

Pressed into my hands without consolation, already hemmed and labelled, size only guessed at. I learned its limits the way you know the seams of a borrowed coat: the stabbing pinch high in the underarm when I reach too far, the sudden gape when I bend, the slow drag across my back when I turn away. It comes with me regardless, clinging along my shoulders, cupping the base of my skull, settling over me with the dull inevitability of weather. Some days it is almost indifferent;

Nobody likes being lied to, especially in music. We want to believe that the artists we connect with understand our experiences, or at least speak from a place of truth. And because of that, nothing feels worse than discovering an artist is faking it. Rick Ross rapping about being a drug kingpin while actually working as a correctional officer is a classic example. But the real question is: who feels betrayed when these lies surface? There are two types of listeners: the ingr

Last week I spent an incredible Saturday roaming across the city-centre venues of Leeds as part of the Live at Leeds in the City 2025. As someone who truly loves live music, it felt like the perfect opportunity to dive deep into the UK indie scene. The concept itself is irresistible: a multi-venue one-day event, held this year on Saturday 15th November, across various venues throughout Leeds city centre. With one wristband you could go from local bars to larger venues in the

It’s a sunny morning in May, and instead of getting out of bed, washing my face, or doing anything even slightly productive, I submitted to the will of Mark Zuckerberg and opened Instagram Reels. A few (dozen) scrolls later, there is a break in the goofy memes and NBA edits: a man wearing a suit, a tie, and a massive grin was strolling across my screen, sharing some Islamophobic comments he had received due to being the “first Muslim elected official to ever run for mayor.’’

This November, Hyde Park Picture House hosted a selection of films from Queer East, a festival spotlighting LGBTQ+ cinema from East and Southeast Asia. Five years in, the festival has grown into a go-to for queer stories you almost never see on UK screens. While Western queer cinema has expanded in visibility over the past decade, films from Asia’s LGBTQ+ communities remain far less accessible. Queer East shakes things up by spotlighting films that disrupt neat, fixed ideas o