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Welcome to Streamers on the Rise, where we find streamers who are growing their channels, content, and audiences in extraordinary ways. Each week we’ll talk with a creator about what goes into livestreaming–both on and off camera.

iGumdrop was three years into her computer science degree when a friend invited her to California.

She was “just so set” on graduating, she says, and spent most of her time studying. But when she wasn’t studying, she was streaming. She grew up a big fan of video games, and as she got into college, she realized she needed money for tuition. Streaming was, at first, a way for her to bring in funds. The more she did it, though, the more dedicated she became. By the time she was halfway through her degree, her streams were regularly bringing a couple hundred viewers.

Then the California invite. She needed something...

Vinland Saga's protagonist, Thorfinn, is a true pacifist that refuses to use violence in any circumstance, flipping the most overused shonen trope on his head. In this genre, the protagonists are usually kind and 'good' people who, however, will use their strength and resort to violence to protect their friends or what they hold dear. Thorfinn's absolute refusal of violence sets Vinland Saga aside in a genre overridden with stereotypes.

Shonen manga and anime fans are familiar with the 'strong but kind' type of character that has become so common it's past obnoxious. The most famous franchises have paved the way for the popularity of this stereotype. Goku is 'the gentle Saiyan', who fights only to have fun and protect Earth. Luffy fights to liberate oppressed people and to protect his dream and his nakama. The clearest example is Ichigo from Bleach, who never hurt anyone before being forced...

If there is something we could call a trend judging from the selection of Asian films at PÖFF, it is stories about strong women told by men who are listening to female’s voices and observe what is going on around them. In the light of current events in Iran, Ahmad Bahrami’s monochrome drama “The Wastetown” is devastatingly mind-boggling. The script draws directly from the wellspring of everyday life in Iran, focusing on one woman’s fight for personal justice. With dialogues crafted with straightforward simplicity of conversation that happen off screen, but pregnant with meaning, Bahrami returns to a solitary hero with an impossible mission. Entirely shot on a scrapeyard battered by the wind and surrounded by snowy mountains, the film profits from the claustophobic setting that makes its protagonists feel the full weight of psychological entrapment.

The only time we see someone outside this gated graveyard is...