Phuong Le
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Articles by Phuong Le
Out of Sight review – mountain idyll on the Swiss border is a gilded cage for distressed asylum seekers
Located on the Swiss-Austrian border, the Bürglkopf mountain is a picture-perfect Alpine landscape, with its verdant fields and scenic trails. The tranquil idyll is a popular holiday spot, with thousands of tourists each year. Some visitors, however, are less welcome than others. Nestled among the lush forest on the mountaintop is a so-called deportation camp, where asylum seekers are held for months, even years.
Bad Reputation review – powerful look at sex workers’ fight for dignity on the Uruguayan streets
A sex worker and activist living in Uruguay, Karina Núñez is a force of nature. The charismatic subject of Marta García and Sol Infante’s galvanising documentary, she is introduced by way of a somewhat provocative image: a closeup of her chest, tucked behind a lacy brassiere. The shot, however, is far from objectifying: Núñez is fully in control, and her breasts are simply a tool of her trade.
A Place in the Sun review – subversive exposé of picture-postcard luxury in the Canary Islands
Every year, millions of tourists flock to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean where the sun always shines. Through static shots resembling picture postcards, Mette Carla Albrechtsen’s pastel-hued documentary captures the leisure activities on offer: cerulean rooftop pools, pristine sandy beaches and raves that stretch into dawn.
How VictoriaLogs Stores Your Logs in a Columnar Layout
If you run VictoriaLogs, your day-to-day comes down to three things: sending logs, querying them, and setting retention so the disk does not fill up. Everything else happens quietly on disk.
The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine review – scavenger’s story reveals a rich seam to mine
Mon, 22 June 2026 at 6:00 am UTC 'His body etched with physical toil' …. The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine. Photograph: True Story Out on the remote archipelago of Tierra del Fuego in Chile, Toto Gesell holds on to a profession that hails from bygone times: gold prospecting. Every day, come rain or shine, he puts on his rubber boots and heads to a local creek, where he searches for specks of gold the old-fashioned way: with a pan, a shovel and a homemade sluice.
Nightwatchers review – desperate struggle of migrant crisis under surface of picture-postcard ski resort
With its rustic wooden chalets and spectacular alpine peaks, the French ski town of Montgenèvre has long been a popular holiday destination. Looking past these postcard-perfect vistas, Juliette de Marcillac's absorbing documentary paints a very different picture, focusing instead on a humanitarian crisis that festers beneath the snow-white image of an idyllic locale.
Enhance Green Space Accessibility To Improve Quality Of Life In Hanoi's Inner City
Home > Libraries > LIBRARIESPUBLISHING > LIBPUB_SERIALS > CIB-CONFERENCES > Vol. 2 (2026) urban green space, geographic information system (GIS), accessibility, urban planning, Historical inner-city area of Hanoi Le, Phuong M.T. and Nguyen, Huong T.D. (2026) "Enhance Green Space Accessibility To Improve Quality Of Life In Hanoi's Inner City," CIB Conferences: Vol. 2 Article 46. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/3067-4883.2204 DOWNLOADS COinS
My Memory Is Full of Ghosts review – deeply moving visual hymn for the bombed-out Syrian city of Homs
The western Syrian city of Homs is only a husk of its former self. Previously a major industrial centre, the region became a key battleground between 2011 and 2014, for Bashar al-Assad’s army and rebel forces. Amid the immense bloodshed, hundreds of thousands of civilians were either displaced or trapped inside their own homes.
My Memory Is Full of Ghosts review – deeply moving visual hymn for the bombed-out Syrian city of Homs
Stillness … My Memory Is Full of Ghosts. Photograph: PR The western Syrian city of Homs is only a husk of its former self. Previously a major industrial centre, the region became a key battleground between 2011 and 2014, for Bashar al-Assad’s army and rebel forces. Amid the immense bloodshed, hundreds of thousands of civilians were either displaced or trapped inside their own homes.
The Guest review – the risks of protecting refugees in the Poland-Belarus danger zone
Political war games … The Guest. Photograph: True Story It all begins with a knock. In a small Polish town on the border with Belarus, Maciek and his family have taken in 27-year-old Alhyder, a Syrian refugee seeking shelter from the freezing weather and police patrols. Since 2021, the area has become increasingly militarised after Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, in a purely political move, offered up the Belarussian border as a new migration route into the EU.
No Winter Holidays review – haunting portrait of female companionship in Nepal’s frozen highlands
Beguiling human dynamics in a cold climate … No Winter Holidays. Photograph: True Story In the valley of Dhorpatan in western Nepal, winter arrives with unforgiving intensity. Clouds of freezing mist gradually descend, making the rocky terrain look starkly barren, a lonesome void amid vertiginous mountain ranges. At this time of the year, most of the inhabitants migrate south to warmer regions – except for two.
We’re Nothing at All review – bus explosion sets off Hong Kong drama of grief, prejudice and queer identity
Visually fascinating … Ansonbean (left) and Anson Kong in We're Nothing at All. Photograph: Publicity image Prolific Hong Kong film-maker Herman Yau is back with an ambitious, sprawling drama that is, at best, an awkward composite of his past works. We’re Nothing at All kicks off with a moment of rupture: on a seemingly ordinary Valentine’s Day in Hong Kong, a double-decker bus suddenly bursts into flames.
Inside USCIS: EB-5 Fireside Chat with Recently Departed IPO Executive Leadership
Join us for a rare and candid EB-5 discussion featuring Ricky Murray, who recently departed USCIS but previously served in executive leadership roles at the Immigrant Investor Program Office (IPO), where he last served as the number two-ranking official overseeing internal operations within the program. We'll also be providing a roundtable discussion with leading perspectives from the law firm of KLDP LLP and the broker dealer of New World Ventures US.
Tycoon review – impressive debut shows dystopian future-LA in the grip of a food-distributing megacorp
Dynamically rendered … Tycoon Photograph: Publicity image Brimming with indelible images, Charlotte Zhang’s brilliant debut locates the roots of a dystopian future in the here and now. Set around the 2028 Summer Olympics, the film imagines a Los Angeles gripped by paranoia and conspiracies; and a livestock disease has led to a ban on all meat production, leaving the main source of protein distribution – powdered insects – in the control of a megacorporation called Ootheca Inc.
A Few Feet Away review – Buenos Aires slacker tries to balance app life and real sex in vivid hookup drama
Closer encounters … Max Suen in A Few Feet Away Photograph: Publicity image In the age of online hookups, signals of attraction – once felt in a significant look or a brush of the hand – are now transmitted by way of screens. Laying bare the gamification of dating, Tadeo Pestaña Caro’s probing debut follows 20-year-old slacker Santiago (Max Suen), lost in a cycle of thwarted desire in Buenos Aires.
Relentless Memory review – a vital oral history of the plight of the Mapuche people
Mon, May 18, 2026 at 6:00 AM UTC An urgent warning to future generations … Relentless Memory. Photograph: True Story (Photograph: True Story) Between 1862 and 1885, the Mapuche Indigenous people rose up to defend their homeland against invading outsiders. For these acts of bravery, they were deported, tortured and massacred at the hands of the Chilean and Argentinian military.
My Father’s Diaries review – haunting home-video excavates trauma of Srebrenica massacre
Harrowing … My Father's Diaries. Photograph: True Story For years, film-maker Ado Hasanović has wanted to ask his father, Bekir, about his harrowing experiences during the Bosnian war but their conversations usually ended with curt, abrupt answers that obscured rather than illuminated the past. Bekir might be uncommunicative, but his collection of self-taped films and diary entries recorded during the height of the conflict tells a different story.
Queer as Punk review – joyous portrait of Malaysian LGBTQ+ rebels making noise
Defiant … Shh…Diam! lead singer Faris in Queer as Punk. Photograph: Publicity image For queer Malaysian punk band Shh … Diam!, every live gig is a small miracle. Their name translates as “Shut up!”, a powerful and defiant cry in a country rife with homophobia. Favouring distorted riffs, heavy drums and swaggering lyrics, the band’s powerful sound seeks to drown out the noise of prejudice and discrimination.
Queer as Punk review – joyous portrait of Malaysian LGBTQ+ rebels making noise
For queer Malaysian punk band Shh … Diam!, every live gig is a small miracle. Their name translates as “Shut up!”, a powerful and defiant cry in a country rife with homophobia. Favouring distorted riffs, heavy drums and swaggering lyrics, the band’s powerful sound seeks to drown out the noise of prejudice and discrimination. Their courage, as well as their simple joie de vivre, thrum through Yihwen Chen’s documentary portrait.
My Father’s Diaries review – haunting home-video excavates trauma of Srebrenica massacre
For years, film-maker Ado Hasanović has wanted to ask his father, Bekir, about his harrowing experiences during the Bosnian war but their conversations usually ended with curt, abrupt answers that obscured rather than illuminated the past. Bekir might be uncommunicative, but his collection of self-taped films and diary entries recorded during the height of the conflict tells a different story.
Breakwater review – troubled souls cross class and age barriers in nicely judged debut feature
Bound by trauma … Daniel McNamee, left, and Shaun Paul McGrath in Breakwater. Photograph: Breakwater Pictures This evocative debut feature from Max Morgan is a film of many contrasts. One is the May-December attraction between Otto (Daniel McNamee), a theology student and aspiring violinist, and John (Shaun Paul McGrath), a middle-aged fisher with a shadowy past. The worlds that they inhabit seem poles apart.
The Eukrainian review – heroic portrait of the diplomat trying to haul Ukraine into Europe
Committed … Olha Stefanishyna in The Eukrainian. Photograph: © Viktor Nordenskiöld/FreetownFilms After the Russian invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian deputy minister Olha Stefanishyna embarked on the herculean challenge of steering her country’s pathway into the European Union. Shot over the course of two years, Viktor Nordenskiöld’s documentary portrait closely chronicles her race against time, as the war escalates.
The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder review – excavating the memories of civil war in Mozambique
Cloaked in darkness … The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder. Photograph: True Story Lasting from 1977 to 1992, the Mozambique civil war left deep scars on the psyche of the whole nation.
The Trial review – searing record of Argentina’s courtroom reckoning with its brutal ‘dirty war’
Focus on survivors … The Trial. Photograph: True Story From 1974 to 1983, the Argentine military junta waged a “dirty war” against its own citizens under the pretext of national security. Tens of thousands of people from all social strata were marked down as subversives, and “disappeared” – murdered at the hands of the state.
Departures review – airport meet triggers love lost and found in a haze of hookups and hangovers
Old wounds … David Tag in Departures. Photograph: Peccadillo Pictures Do you believe in life after love? So goes Cher’s dance anthem, and it’s the eternal quandary also probed by Neil Ely and Lloyd Eyre-Morgan’s funny yet touching drama. As well as writing and co-directing, Eyre-Morgan stars as Benji, a thirtysomething lonely heart yearning for genuine connection, only to be let down by a string of bad boyfriends.
Chagrin Valley review – the ins and outs of care home life inside an uncanny artificial paradise
Chagrin Valley Photograph: PR IMAGE In the main hall of the Lantern, a retirement home in Ohio’s Chagrin valley, the ceiling consists of glass panels painted to resemble blue skies. The chirping of birds wafts through the corridors, styled after the front porches of typical mid-century houses, except these are all indoors. Like the lighted roof, the sounds of nature are entirely artificial.
Intact mTOR signaling in gastric X/A-like cells is required for bone homeostasis
Abstract Introduction: Beyond its primary digestive functions, the stomach serves as an endocrine organ, secreting peptides that regulate appetite and energy balance. Among its enteroendocrine populations, X/A-like cells play a pivotal role in controlling food intake, glucose homeostasis, and lipid deposition. The secretion of X/A-like cell-derived hormones, including ghrelin and nesfatin-1, is regulated by the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway.
House of Gloss review – tender portrait of a young trans couple finding refuge in new kind of family
Joyful … Opal (left) and Lana in House of Gloss. Photograph: PR IMAGE In the small flat shared by Opal and Lana, a young queer couple living in Dundee, love is everywhere. Countless photos of them on fun outings line the walls, interspersed with colourful sketches by Lana, a talented graffiti artist. Scattered around Opal’s makeup table are beautiful wigs, with which she transforms into a glamorous drag persona at night. As trans femme, they face immense discrimination from the outside world.
Q review – freedom, lies and transgressions in emotional fallout from a secretive Muslim women’s movement
Solidarity or submission? … Q Photograph: PR IMAGE Opening the Pandora’s box of her family secrets, Jude Chehab makes a complex and moving documentary debut that unfolds both as an investigation and as a kind of intergenerational therapy. For decades, her mother, Hiba, was devoted to al-Qubaysiat, a highly secretive female Muslim order that operates in Lebanon and Syria. Chehab’s grandmother Doria had also been a follower, and the film-maker herself was initiated into the group as a young girl.
The Last Blossom review – a yakuza faces his final reckoning in affecting anime
Weighing good and bad deeds … The Last Blossom Photograph: pr An original story from director Baku Kinoshita and writer Kazuya Konomoto, this is the kind of quiet, contemplative anime feature that rarely gets a theatrical release. Enveloped in the dusk, the film opens in a lonely prison cell, home to the elderly former yakuza Akutsu. Now on his deathbed, he finds an unexpected confidant in … a talking balsam flower.
Breaking the Cycle review – meet the charismatic Thai politician striving to change his country’s history
Stunning rise … Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit giving his final pre-election speech to over one million viewers. Photograph: PR IMAGE With his disarming good looks, pro-democracy activist and businessman Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit resembles an actor rather than a typical Thai politician. Heir to the country’s largest car manufacturer, he is blessed not only with personable charisma but also inexhaustible funds.
Naima review – triumphant note of hope fuels engrossing insight into the immigrant experience
‘Unable to maximise her full potential’ … Naima. Photograph: True Story Naima, the charismatic subject of Anna Thommen’s engrossing documentary, and is always on the move. The film opens with her taking a deep plunge into a bright blue swimming pool, an image that embodies her struggles as a Venezuelan migrant in Switzerland. Naima dives deep into life goals with a fierce passion, yet she often finds herself buffeted by currents.
Bouchra review – Prada-wearing coyote is anti-identitarian alter ego in film that maps queer experience
Animal magic … Bouchra Photograph: Publicity image Queer people who struggle with family acceptance often resort to misrepresenting their daily existence and rely instead on white lies, omissions, and ellipses. In Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani’s debut feature, the process of spinning fiction out of real life can be at once painful and generative. Bouchra, the magnetic protagonist, is a lesbian Moroccan film-maker based in New York, and understands this paradox all too well.
Terraforma review – unhurried portrait of Ascension Island’s human-made nature
Terraforma. Photograph: PR HANDOUT From the dark belly of the ocean rises Ascension Island, a rocky outpost in the Atlantic Ocean born from volcanic eruptions and sediments accumulated over millions of years. While its formation feels like an act of cosmic creation, much of its landscape is human-made. During the Victorian era, British botanists brought plants to be cultivated locally, transforming a once barren land into a green oasis.
Photophobia review – down in the Kharkiv rail tunnels with a 12-year-old as the bloodshed rages overhead
Small joys in days of darkness … Photophobia. Photograph: True Story While war rages on, hope continues to take root underground in Ivan Ostrochovský and Pavol Pekarčík’s moving documentary. Shot in the Kharkiv metro in Ukraine, the film follows Nikita, a spirited 12-year-old, during his daily routines in what has become a cavernous bomb shelter. Seeking refuge from the endless bombing and shelling, thousands call the metro their new home, bringing with them the barest of necessities.
Macdo review – Mexican camcorder drama sees bickering siblings throw insults, telenovela style
Not all it seems … couples reveal all in Macdo’s camcorder footage. Photograph: Publicity image Home videos – especially the kind shot on early digital camcorders – appear etched with the texture of memories. For their fiction feature debut, Racornelia maximises the imperfections of this format to mount a documentary-style study of warts-and-all family dysfunction. Set in 1990s Mexico City, the first half of the story unfolds over a tumultuous Christmas Eve dinner between bickering relatives.
Ways to Traverse a Territory review – documenting an ancient and disappearing way of life
Pastoral life … Ways to Traverse a Territory. Photograph: True Story A poetic calm subsumes Gabriela Domínguez Ruvalcaba’s languid documentary, shot among the mossy hills of Chiapas in Mexico. Here dwells the indigenous Tzotzil community which has kept a pastoral way of life against the march of time. Apart from the odd forest ranger and passerby, Ruvalcaba’s film focuses almost entirely on the Tzotzil women.
Lupin the IIIrd the Movie: The Immortal Bloodline review – eye-popping fan-service in latest in anime franchise
The gang’s all here … Lupin the IIIrd the Movie: The Immortal Bloodline. Photograph: ©MP/T Created by manga artist Kazuhiko Katō, AKA Monkey Punch, Lupin the IIIrd has lived a thousand lives since his 1967 debut. A devil-may-care thief with a dazzling set of skills, the character has crossed over from comic pages to anime, live-action films, and even video games.
Collective Monologue review – sensuous zoo study foregrounds contacts between keepers and creatures
Minute gestures … Collective Monologue. Photograph: Sovereign Film Distribution Traditional zoos are zones of hierarchy; animal voyeurism is encouraged but interspecies interactions are curbed, if not outright forbidden. Shot in various conservation parks and rescue centres across Argentina, Jessica Sarah Rinland’s sensuous documentary poetically foregrounds the physical and emotional contact that occurs between animals and their carers, even within these spaces of surveillance.
Larry (They/Them) review – trans photographer’s colourful creative journey into everyday life
The full rainbow … Larry (They/Them). Photograph: Concerto Films For non-binary trans photographer Laurence Philomène, art, life and identity are intimately entwined. Though drawing from art history, their photographs strike a distinctive note with their pastel colours; capturing queer subjects, including Philomène themself, in restful poses, these portraits bloom in soft hues of pink, purple, blue – the full rainbow.
Do You Love Me review – exhilarating documentary is ode to the collective courage of Lebanese people
Mercurial … Do You Love Me? Photograph: PR As freewheeling as a travelogue, Lana Daher’s mercurial documentary eschews talking heads and voiceover, drawing instead from more than 20,000 hours of archival footage to channel the resilient spirit of Beirut. Reflecting the non-linear movement of history, the film abandons chronology, zigzagging between disparate events, film clips and newsreels, TV programmes and home videos.
Los Saldos review – prodigal big-city son reconnects with his heritage in rural Spain
‘The emotional journey of reconnecting to one’s heritage’ … Los Saldos. Photograph: True Story Raúl Capdevila Murillo’s debut documentary has all of the components of a thrilling retro western. Set to a rousing score, the opening titles feature giant letters in bold yellow, splattering over the horizon of a dusty landscape. Then we get the return of the prodigal son, fresh from the hubbub of the so-called civilised big city.
Cell‐Stress‐Free Percutaneous Bioelectrodes (Adv. Mater. 5/2026)
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Seeds review – stunning film following struggling Black farmers in the American south
The seasons of life … a still from Seeds. Photograph: Publicity image Brittany Shyne’s stunning documentary observes Black farmers in the American south over the course of seven years, and portrays the beauty and the hardships of working with the land. The black-and-white cinematography lends a visual sumptuousness to the rituals of harvest: we see giant machines extracting cotton buds from open bolls, leaving behind a whirl of white fluffs fluttering in the air.
Guián review – celebration of multicultural identity through a Chinese grandmother in Costa Rica
In search of her roots … Nicole Chi Amén went looking for the Guangdong home her grandmother left when she emigrated to Costa Rica. Photograph: True Story Nicole Chi Amén, a Costa Rican woman of Chinese descent, has always been on the outside looking in. The opening scene of her moving debut feature replicates this predicament visually: her face pressed against a metal barricade, she looks through a hole in the opaque facade with interest.
Dreams Travel With the Wind review – communing with the spirits to preserve Indigenous culture in Colombia
‘Mesmerising’ … Dreams Travel With the Wind. Photograph: PR Spirituality and history collide in Inti Jacanamijoy’s debut documentary, shot among the rugged, enigmatic terrain of La Guajira, Colombia, the birthplace of his grandfather, José Agustín. Now in his 90s, the older man muses on the inevitability of death, all while looking back on his painful upbringing as a Wayuu Indigenous person.
A French Youth review – bullfighters grapple with the horns of valour and acceptance
Mortal danger … A French Youth. Photograph: Extérieur Jour/True Story In southern France, the ancient and controversial tradition of Camargue bullfighting remains to this day. In contrast to more lethal forms of the sport, participants – or raseteurs – win points by snatching various ribbons attached to the bulls, each of which comes with a cash prize up to thousands of euros.
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