Nowness

In the first of a new series of Define Beauty, Berlin-based directer Matt Lambert—known for his often-NSFW work exploring sex and intimacy—gets under the skin of our infatuation with sweat. Read more on NOWNESS

In the indigenous communities around the town of Juchitán, the world is not divided simply into males and females. The local Zapotec people have made room for a third category, which they call “muxes” - men who consider themselves women and live in a socially sanctioned limbo between the two genders.

Artist and filmmaker Quentin Jones joins forces with Miley Cyrus in a kinky collaboration, stripping away the pop phenomenon's cartoonish persona in "Miley Cyrus: Tongue Tied".

Lou, a teenage tomboy in a small Californian town, idolizes her single father. When he has a date over one night and she is cast out of the house, Lou wanders to the outer reaches of town and into a new era of teenage identity.

A young astrophysicist in a war-torn country watches the stars and black holes, holding a dialogue with her unborn daughter about the nature of light and darkness.

What does it mean to be goth—to be an outsider, to live both on the margins and in the midst of society? Filmmakers Jordan Hemingway and Alban Adam prize open the coffin on a world of darkness and light, exploring its multiplicities and intersections with subcultures and the ever-present experience of queerness.

A frazzled adulteress played by Parisian beauty Zoë Le Ber wakes up in the familiar surroundings of Bar Chateau Marmont, only to find herself trapped in a prank at the hands of her restaurant-owner lover, Fred.

There are houses, and then there’s Ricardo Bofill’s house: a brutalist former cement factory of epic proportions on the outskirts of Barcelona, Spain. A grandiose monument to industrial architecture in the Catalonian town of Sant Just Desvern, La Fabrica is a poetic and personal space that redefines the notion of the conventional home. “Nowadays we want everyone who comes through our door to feel comfortable, but that's not Bofill’s idea here,” says filmmaker Albert Moya, who directed latest installment of In Residence. “It goes much further, you connect with the space in a more spiritual way.” Rising above lush gardens that mask the grounds’ unglamorous roots, the eight remaining silos that once hosted an endless stream of workmen and heavy machinery now house both Bofill’s private life, and his award-winning architecture and urban design practice.

Marking the 30th anniversary of Derek Jarman's passing, close friend and collaborator Tilda Swinton leads a poetic tribute to the late artist and filmmaker with a slow, meditative journey into Jarman’s poem "Chroma" during a visit to Beijing.

Face to Face is an online made-to-order project created in response to the current global crisis. After a virtual consultation with Nakazato, a client will ship a simple, white shirt to the designer’s atelier in Tokyo. Based on the client’s backstory, interests and personality, Nakazato will reimagine and redesign the shirt, returning it to them as a completely new garment. This intimate and immersive experience takes fashion back to its purest form, where materials come together to tell a story about the wearer.

Sohaila, Zahra and Zeinab train every day. Their dream is to become professional fighters and to show the world that all people are equal. Director Lukas Tielke and his team spent a week in Malakasa refugee camp, outside Athens, getting to know these inspirational young Afghan women.

Two Asian-American teenagers meet in the bathroom of a Chinese restaurant while having dinner with their families.

Arab-American filmmaker Yumna Al-Arashi embraces the rhythmic rituals that have run alongside Islamic tradition throughout the centuries in this surreal and poetic short film. Piecing together old and new, Al-Rashi's dream-like imagery breathes fresh air to a subject hardly seen in positive light.

A moving recording of the late writer and renowned jazz singer Abbey Lincoln is captured in this new film from Brooklyn-born director Rodney Passé, who has previously worked with powerhouse music video director Khalil Joseph. Reading from her own works, Lincoln’s voice sets the tone for a film that explores the African American experience through fathers and their sons.

"I was born and raised along the United States-Mexico border and inhabited both countries while growing up," says Leo Aguirre, a first-generation Mexican-American writer and director. "This film is a testament to the bicultural nature of many people's experience. No Somos De Aquí, Ni Somos De Allá is the most personal project I've directed thus far." Aguirre shines a spotlight on young people's experiences of growing up in the culture of two countries. The delicately shot portraits reaveal the rich diversity of thought and expression from people who consider themselves both Mexian and American. "The film had been percolating in my mind for over two years," says Aguirre. "It consists of a lot of internal dialogues that I've had with myself as a filmmaker and as a first-generation American.

A 16mm account of the power of wearing a headscarf.

Two girls find themselves locked in an Oslo public swimming hall and bond over school gossip, boys and dancing to the psychedelic sounds of Lindstrøm.

Uprooted from the Ivory Coast and sent to live in Denmark as a child, professional boxing champion Landry “Hardkore” Kore tells the story of his eighteen-year journey from homelessness and family breakdown to international success in an elevated documentary. When Danish Director Meeto met the boxer a few years ago he knew that the conventional shaky cam athletic profile would do no justice to Kore’s philosophy, intelligence and—as the director describes—his “big heart”.

At the edge of Shirahama, a coastal tourist town in Japan, an ageing scientist works to unlock the biological secret of immortality held in the life cycle of a tiny jellyfish. At a temple in Kyoto, a Zen priest contemplates the metaphysical immortality held within a single breath. Some years ago, filmmaker Spencer Macdonald read an article in The New York Times titled "Can a Jellyfish Unlock the Secret of Immortality?" by Nathaniel Rich. Comprehensive and insightful, the article is compelling not least for its potential to deliver a revelation that defies one of life’s most fundamental truths; that we all live then die. It also shines a light on the arrogance of the anthropocene, the evolving landscape of Shirahama, and a detailed insight into the life and work of the charming and fervently curious Dr. Shin Kubota, a warm and eccentric scientist determined to harness the biological secrets of a jellyfish for humanity.