A Gangster’s Library in Spain
Terence Stamp plays a criminal turned informant who retreats to the south of Spain to read until his old life catches up with him. Following news of English actor Terence Stamp’s death this past week, I rewatched The Hit (1984), an unusual pensive thriller. Ten years after testifying against his […]
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Film Studios Around China
Across mainland China entire towns have been constructed around producing movie and TV content. For “Once Upon a Time in Shanghai,” I visited over a dozen major film production sites, though many more exist. The title refers to the origin of China’s film industry in Shanghai, but film and tv […]
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Book Talk at JF Books in DC
I recently spoke about my book “Once Upon a Time in Shanghai” at JF Books in Washington DC. The shop is a great addition to the city, specializing in books about China, foreign policy, and political science and providing a space for book talks and community events. JF Books started […]
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Photographs Need Not Hang
Two photography retrospectives on exhibit in Warsaw take an expansive view of the medium, going beyond the constraints of a two-dimensional framed print on the wall.
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It started with a Kiss
When the U.S. negotiated a military alliance with the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to put American soldiers on Spanish soil, the chief hurdle they faced, according to an account in the Saturday Evening Post, was “the Spaniard’s well-known pride.” The Americans would go on to install the longest runway in […]
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Holiday in Spain
This past year, international tourism in Spain reached a breaking point. Across the country, masses of protesters shouted “tourists go home!” In Barcelona, activists attacked outdoor diners with water guns. Demonstrators occupied beaches in Mallorca and the Canary Islands. While mass tourism is not new to Spain, it has grown […]
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Beijing Book Presentation with the RASBJ
In the fall of 2025, I was back in Beijing for the first time post-COVID and 10 years after I first started photographing Chinese film sets. I shared my photobook project at an event organized by the Royal Asiatic Society of Beijing and hosted at La Maison Lyonnaise. In conversation […]
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Alex Cox’s Last Movie in Almeria
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Alex Cox is currently at work on what he is calling his ‘last movie.’ And, of course, it involves shooting in Almería. Last month I had the extraordinary opportunity to visit the set.
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China Film Production Base
Things were very quiet on my recent visit to the China Film Group Production Base in Huairou, outside Beijing.
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Beijing Film Studio Update
When I the old Beijing Film Studio site in 2018, the surviving buildings were slated for demolition.
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