Lists
Evergreen ranked roundups and recurring desk picks: top 10s, top 50s, and shortlists worth bookmarking.
For readers who want the culture beat organized and scored, updated on a reference schedule rather than the news cycle.
Loved Madame in Saigon? Five Vietnamese films you can actually find next: Song Lang for Saigon stage world, The Third Wife for period power, Furie for action heat, The Scent of Green Papaya for the Oscar gateway, and Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell for Cannes slow cinema.
Image: Studio68 / Breaking Glass Pictures
Five Asian American directors who proved indie specificity can scale: Destin Daniel Cretton on Spider-Man opening day, Justin Lin, Chloé Zhao, Lee Isaac Chung, and Lulu Wang.
Image: Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios
Five Hong Kong films for the queue after Daniel Wu's Cold War 1994 return and NYAFF Best from the East: the prequel itself, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, Night King, We're Nothing at All, and Overheard.
Image: Well Go USA / Media Asia
Five starter Asian Canadian books by mood: a Korean diaspora spy novel, a Toronto nail-salon family comedy, a Filipino Canadian second-chance romance, a Calgary-born fantasy classic, and a Giller-winning short story collection.
Image: Silver Dovelet (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Five Asian horror films that build a Halloween runway without a drama dump: Ringu for cursed-media dread, The Wailing for folk fog, Train to Busan for kinetic zombie cinema (plus its August 4K theatrical return), Exhuma for occult blockbuster scale, and Impetigore for Indonesian folklore prestige.
Image: Svetlov Artem (CC BY 3.0)
Five Indian films that train the eye for Ramayana's Diwali 2026 bet: Baahubali 2 for two-part epic scale, RRR for Western crossover heat, KGF Chapter 2 for Yash's mass grammar, Dangal for Nitesh Tiwari's emotional blockbuster, and Ponniyin Selvan I for literary epic craft.
Image: Sriram Narasimhan (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Five August 2026 night markets that still justify the trip: Richmond for North America's largest Asian-style market, 626 Arcadia for the SoCal destination weekend, Queens for last Saturdays before the US Open break, Toronto Waterfront for a ticketed lantern weekend, and Argyle Chicago for Uptown Thursdays through late August.
Image: GoToVan (CC BY 2.0)
Finished Agent Kim Reactivated? Five next watches by lane: So Ji-sub’s harder noir, a daughter’s revenge sprint, uncle-niece assassin family on Disney+, parent-protection supers, and July’s school-catharsis binge.
Image: SBS
Five anime that make this week’s San Diego panels land: a modern Gundam on-ramp, My Hero Academia after its true finale, Castle in the Sky for Ghibli’s 40th, Sailor Moon for the Sunday room, and one comfort rewatch for Otakon recovery.
Image: 金琛玮 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Five Asian and Asian-diaspora artists making the season more interesting, from Jemerine Chan's self-produced pop to HANRORO's searching Korean rock and Wasia Project's after-dark chamber pop.
Image: HANRORO
A platform-by-platform July 2026 K-drama premiere list for diaspora viewers: Disney+ idol rom-com, KBS thriller debuts, Netflix horror-fantasy, and the chart holdovers still worth catching up on.
Image: beautypl (CC BY 3.0)
A July 2026 snapshot of the Korean dramas actually charting on Netflix's global non-English top 10: what each show is, why it broke through, and which one matches your weekend mood.
Image: Netflix (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Ten Asian-founded or Asia-rooted beauty brands with real North American retail or e-commerce presence, selected for shoppers building a routine beyond Sephora aisle defaults.
Image: Donald Trung Quoc Don / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
A ranked starter list for viewers new to K-drama: ten series that teach format, tone, and fandom habits without requiring a 120-episode historical epic on day one.
Image: tvN / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Ten pan-Asian and diaspora food festivals across North America worth planning around in summer 2026, from night markets to waterfront weekends and theme-park-adjacent Japanese fairs.
Image: Kidfly182 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Mina Park
The Goldscene Desk