The Shrinking Freedom of Indian Cinema
Honey Trehan’s “Panjab ’95,” a film on Sikh activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, has been stuck in censorship limbo for three years as India’s film board demands cuts. The case reveals the unprecedented pressure felt by Indian filmmakers as the Modi government cracks down on cinema.
The Afterlives of Assad’s Prisoners
When the Assad regime collapsed, the doors of its prisons were flung open to release tens of thousands of political prisoners. A year later, three former detainees — one rebuilding his family, one turning his trauma into film, one determined to forget everything — trace the uneven road of life after captivity.
How Cafe Culture Is Reshaping Tehran
Cafes in Iran have been transformed, as young people look for new places to socialize, learn skills that might be useful abroad and embrace a new marker of taste. They are also attracting attention from the authorities for mimicking bars and nightclubs, which are prohibited by law.
Making the Case for American Power
Shadi Hamid discusses his new book, “The Case for American Power,” with Faisal Al Yafai.
From Band Aid to Breadbasket: Ethiopia’s Struggle To Rewrite Its Story of Hunger
Forty years after “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” cast Africa as a place “where nothing ever grows,” Ethiopia’s prime minister declared the country self-sufficient in wheat, and even ready to export. But in Oromia, farmers tell another story — of shrinking plots, costly reforms and a risky plan for collective farming.