The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is thrilled to reveal award-winning Interdisciplinary Visual and Media Artist Paul Wong as the recipient of this year’s 2024 Fire Horse Award. The award honours an Asian Canadian individual who has made an extraordinary contribution to the film and media-arts community. In celebration of Asian Heritage Month, the third annual Awards Ceremony and Fundraiser for the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival will take place on May 23rd at the Shangri-La Hotel Toronto.

To purchase tickets, please visit: www.reelasian.com/fire-horse-event

The Fire Horse Award was introduced in 2021 to honour individuals who embody the spirit of originality, creative thinking, and visionary leadership. The award, named after festival founder Anita Lee, holds significant importance within the Asian Canadian film and media arts community and serves as a tribute to those who have made extraordinary contributions and left a lasting legacy.

This year’s Fire Horse Award Ceremony will be hosted by Canadian media darling, author, and Etalk senior correspondent, Lainey Lui, adding her signature flair and energy to the occasion.

The nomination for the 2024 Fire Horse Award comes from esteemed figures in the arts community, including Lisa Steele and Kim Tomzak, the recently retired founders of Vtape, and the Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson.

“The jury is honoured to present the third annual Fire Horse Award to Vancouver artist Paul Wong, a bold pioneer in Canadian visual and media art. For fifty years and counting, Paul has been the creator of ground-breaking, large-scale public art installations that challenge stereotypes and our notions of belonging,” said the 2024 Fire Horse Award Jury Filmmaker/Academic Ali Kazimi, Filmmaker/Inaugural Fire Horse Award recipient Keith Lock and Journalist/Podcaster Hannah Sung. “Throughout his long career, he has modelled a commitment to building community and advocacy which has been influential on newer generations of media artists. We hope this award brings renewed attention to his entire body of work, especially to younger generations, given his career longevity and social impact. As a visual and media artist, storyteller, community-builder, advocate and curator, Paul fiercely embodies the qualities of the Fire Horse Award, as he dedicates his talent and energy to breaking down barriers, uplifting Asian Canadian communities and sparking cultural change.”

“In Paul Wong, the Fire Horse Award jury has chosen a one-of-a-kind artist whose work—which never shied away from exploring his queer, Asian and Canadian identities—has been recognized by his peers throughout his 50-year-plus career.” said Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival Executive Director Deanna Wong. “Considering also his tireless community work, activism and advocacy, Wong is truly the embodiment of this award and we can’t wait to present him with it this May.”

Hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, Paul Wong is a pioneering figure, known for his innovative work in visual and media art. With a career spanning over five decades, Wong has continuously pushed the boundaries of storytelling, working outside mainstream conventions. His illustrious career is marked by numerous accolades, including the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Art (2005) and the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Visual Arts (2016). In 2023, Wong received the Outstanding Artist Award from the Federation of Gay Games and was presented with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Emily Carr University of Art and Design (ECUAD).

He recently completed a year-long residency titled 身在唐人街/OCCUPYING CHINATOWN. Inspired by hundreds of letters and familial artifacts of his late mother Suk Fong Wong. Wong created intimate exhibitions, public art pieces, artist talks, events, workshops, and the website www.occupyingchinatown.com.

The Fire Horse Award recognizes one Asian Canadian member of the film and media-arts community. This member demonstrates qualities of the Chinese zodiac symbol in their work: Fire Horses are changemakers, creative thinkers, and visionary leaders who significantly impact the larger community. The award was created on the occasion of Reel Asian’s 25th Anniversary in 2021 to honour Reel Asian founder Anita Lee, whose groundbreaking work and determination has made Reel Asian a staple in Canada’s festival landscape. Lee served at the National Film Board of Canada for 18 years, for the last 14 as Executive Producer, Ontario Centre, and was appointed as Toronto International Film Festival’s Chief Programming Officer in April 2022, a new position where she continues to carry on the spirit of the Fire Horse.

This year’s recipient will be awarded $25,000 in cash, of which Golden Globe Award Winning Canadian film and television star Sandra Oh has committed $50,000 over five years. This contribution matches a generous lead donation from donor Ha-kyung Helen Song. More recently, Pan Asia Food Co., Ltd. has also pledged $25,000 over the next five years to the award. The company has been serving the Korean community in Canada for over 50 years. Ongoing contributions from the Reel Asian community will ensure the sustainability of the award for years to come.

The recipient will also receive the Fire Horse Award sculpture designed by Toronto- based artist and curator Myung-Sun Kim. The award design, a floating, malleable form, evokes the relationship between body and memory, our familial and cultural inheritances across the diaspora.

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is pleased to announce that its event sponsor for this year’s 2024 Fire Horse Award is Shaftesbury, an award-winning creator and producer of original content for television, film and digital.

“I’m thrilled to join Reel Asian in wholeheartedly supporting the Fire Horse Award,” said Sandra Oh. “By honouring trailblazers of the Asian Canadian media arts community, we are recognizing ourselves. It deeply matters who makes our images, and to these pioneers we owe a debt—and our promise to keep striving to tell our stories to the world. Let’s pause to celebrate those who blazed those trails—it’s beautiful and necessary.”

About Reel Asian

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (Reel Asian) is a unique showcase of contemporary Asian cinema and work from the Asian diaspora. As Canada’s largest pan- Asian film festival, Reel Asian® provides a public forum for Asian media artists and their work and fuels the growing appreciation for Asian cinema in Canada. Reel Asian will be showcasing special projects featuring prominent artists, content creators, up-and-coming filmmakers and will also include the “Reel Ideas” program for creative minds in the industry to connect online. Works presented at Reel Asian include films, videos, and other media artworks by Asian artists in Canada, the U.S., Asia and all over the world.

Winners at the 2023 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival have been announced. The Festival, now in its 27th edition takes place through November 19, 2023.

RBC Best Canadian Feature Film Award
THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS by Fawzia Mirza

This audacious film takes us on a captivating joyride through Bollywood dreams, the swinging Karachi of the 60s via the generational conflicts within a contemporary Pakistani family. Full of theatrical flair, bold design, and a hint of camp The Queen of my Dreams marks the debut of a strong new voice, making Fawzia Mirza a filmmaker to keep a close eye on.

Osler Best Feature Film Award
TERRESTRIAL VERSES by Alireza Khatami & Ali Asgari

An uncomfortably captivating feature of revealing scenes between regular Tehranis and their frustrating interactions with oppressive authority figures. The jury recognizes the duo’s homage to classic Iranian cinema with performances so convincing one may mistake the film for a stylized documentary. The film’s austere form kept the jury riveted and is a challenge to audiences everywhere to consider personal agency in the face of tyrannical oppression.

Cinesend Best First Feature Award
Q by Jude Chehab

Chehab artfully blends home movies along with her striking cinematography to contemplate desire, spiritual longing, and family bonds. Resisting the urge to over-explain, her storytelling allows mystery to simmer, resulting in a complex, emotionally nuanced portrait. In honour of this bold new voice, the jury awards Jude Chehab’s Q the Best First Feature prize.

SHORTS AWARDS

Reel Asian Best International Short Film Award
默 (TO WRITE FROM MEMORY) by Emory Chao Johnson

The jury recognizes To Write From Memory by Emory Chao Johnson as the Winner of Reel Asian Best International Short Film Award in the spirit of enunciating the unspeakable feelings of a personal experience with unrelenting honesty.

National Film Board of Canada Best Emerging Canadian Short Film Award
ABBY by Fanny Lord-Bourcier

Drawing from the director’s personal journey, Abby is an animated short that offers a poignant exploration of the unspoken feelings of isolation experienced as a transracial adoptee, all expressed with a gentle and sincere voice.

Air Canada Short Film or Video Award
ADAGIO by Emma Zuck
JUNGLEFOWL by Kalainithan Kalaichelvan
SAWO MATANG by Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto
THE REPAIR SHOP (L’ATELIER) by Namaï Kham Po
UNIBROW by Nedda Sarshar
PIXELS OF THE ORIENT by Warren Chan

Each film is sharply unique thanks to each director’s distinct perspective, yet each delves into the universal complexities of connection and the struggles, fears, and hopes of being truly seen.

Michael Fukushima Animasian Award
THE SEA ON THE DAY WHEN THE MAGIC RETURNS (마법이 돌아오는 날의 바다) by Ji-won Han

This captivating short employs ingenious visuals to explore personal desires and the essence of the human experience. Its delicate storytelling and open vulnerability linger, leaving a lasting resonance.

OUTSTANDING PERFORMER AWARDS

Armstrong Acting Studios Outstanding Performer in a Canadian Feature Film
Amrit Kaur, The Queen of My Dreams

The jury was captivated by Amrit Kaur’s range of performance and her ability to embody two distinct women in one film, which is why we enthusiastically present her with Outstanding Performance in a Canadian Film in The Queen of My Dreams.

Armstrong Acting Studios Outstanding Performer in a Canadian Short Film
Sherrylyn Vivero, APOY

Sherrylyn brought a special nuance to her performance as the main character’s mother, which made her incredibly engrossing to watch. The complex emotions she is able to convey in this charged piece showcases that she is truly a talent to watch.

Tickets here.

Now in its 27th edition, the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is back on today through November 19, 2023. The Festival features Pan-Asian talent in the Arts & Media through events and cinema.

This year’s Festival boasts 15 features and 57 shorts from Canada, India, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States. Programming targets all age groups, including young ones with their Wee Asian programme. Reel Asian will also present three thoughtful and creative multimedia experiences through their RA:X programme and welcome a number of esteemed industry professionals for their Reel Ideas conference.

Kicking-of the Festival this year is TIFF ’23 selection THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS by Director Fawzia Mirza, starring Amrit Kaur (The Sex Lives of College Girls) and Hamza Haq (Transplant). The Film will get national distribution early 2024 via Cineplex Pictures. It all ends on a high note with the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN PITCH: Live Finale at CSI Annex.

Check-out this year’s programming schedule here.

Some highlights from Opening Night here:

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

Following its world premiere at the Calgary International Film Festival, the feature-length documentary WE WILL BE BRAVE will be celebrating its hometown premiere at the 27th edition of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival on November 11, 2023.

Directed by Toronto’s Chrisann Hessing, the documentary follows the journey of Toronto’s “Good Guise” collective, who are committed to sparking conversations around healthy masculinity through art. From photography and beatboxing to poetry and martial arts, the artists in the collective share their unique lived experiences and welcome others to join in their mission of finding radical alternatives to shame and punishment. As each of them grapples with upheavals in their personal lives, their resolve is further tested by a dire lack of resources and the burden of racialized discrimination. WE WILL BE BRAVE is a story about personal evolution, healing and an unlikely brotherhood forged in vulnerability.

“We’re thrilled to bring the film to audiences in Toronto, where we shot the film and where the Good Guise are based,” said director Hessing. “We’re excited to contribute to the cultural conversations surrounding men’s mental health and raise awareness about the Good Guise collective and their important work.”

The film was produced by Tanya Hoshi and Chrisann Hessing with the support of Telefilm Canada’s Talent to Watch Program, Hot Docs Cross Currents Fund and the Indigenous Screen Office.

Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival tickets can be purchased at: https://www.reelasian.com/festival-events/we-will-be-brave/.
Learn more about the film by visiting www.wewillbebrave.ca or checking it out on Instagram and Facebook.

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (Reel Asian), Canada’s premier pan-Asian festival, today announced its 2023 programming lineup, which will open with Canadian filmmaker Fawzia Mirza’s debut feature The Queen of My Dreams. From November 8 to 19, 2023, the Festival will take audiences on a cinematic journey, transcending borders and bringing the world closer together. This year’s lineup consists of 15 features and 57 shorts from Canada, India, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States. Reel Asian will also present three thoughtful and creative multimedia experiences through their RA:X programme and welcome a number of esteemed industry professionals for their Reel Ideas conference. For the full programming lineup and ticket information visit reelasian.com.

“The continued success and popularity of Asian cinema in Hollywood has brought our collective stories and experiences to the forefront, leading to significant growth in our community’s industry both abroad and in Canada,” said Deanna Wong, Executive Director, Reel Asian. “We’re so proud to welcome audiences back to the festival, which aims to bridge cultural divides, inspire meaningful conversations, and celebrate Asian voices. There is a need for our stories now more than ever and we hope to continue offering a bigger and better festival each year.”

Below highlights Reel Asian’s programming. For the full Festival programme and schedule, please visit reelasian.com or view the 2023 Programme Guide here.

FEATURES
[*] indicates expected attendance

THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS (Opening Night)
Dir. Fawzia Mirza * | Canada 2023 | 97 min. | Urdu, English
When Azra, a queer Muslim grad student, hears of her father’s sudden death, she flies back to her ancestral home in Karachi, Pakistan for the funeral, where she is received by her conservative mother, Mariam, perpetually disappointed by Azra’s choices. As a self-assured Azra wrestles with Karachi’s customs and norms, we time travel back to Mariam’s own life in the city 30 years ago, a remarkably different era in Pakistan’s political and cultural history.
Official Selection at TIFF 2023
WED, NOV 8 • 7:30 PM • HOT DOCS TED ROGERS CINEMA

THE TASTE OF MANGO
Dir. Chloe Abrahams | United Kingdom 2023 | 73 min. | English
Chloe Abrahams’ debut feature, is an enveloping, hypnotic, urgently personal meditation on family, memory, identity, violence, and love. At its centre are three extraordinary women: the director’s mother, Rozana; her grandmother, Jean; and the director herself. What emerges is a delicately layered, personal and collective portrait of coping with physical and sexual violence, the damage of grief and estrangement, and the possibilities of hope, joy, healing, and reconciliation.
THURS, NOV 9 • 5:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

OKIKU AND THE WORLD せかいのおきく
Dir. Junji Sakamoto 攫㘭朇㮼 | Japan 2023 | 90 min. | Japanese with English subtitles
Set near the end of the Edo period, the film presents a fresh take on the time and on samurai culture. Okiku (Haru Kuroki) is the daughter of a fallen samurai. The two of them now live in a tenement far from luxury. One day, she meets Chuji (Kanichiro) and love blooms. The problem is that Chuji is a manure man who collects excrement to sell to farmers. Despite the downfall of samurais, there is still a social gap between them.
THURS, NOV 9 • 8 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

SMALL FRY
Dir. Joongha Park * | South Korea 2023 | 95 min. | Korean with English subtitles
Ho-jun, a flailing actor, has found relative success as a social media influencer, hawking fishing hacks. He preps his live stream at his preferred fishing spot, only to be disrupted by an obnoxious stranger, Director Nam, a hotshot independent film director about to shoot his first feature. He’s invited rising actress Hee-jin for a quiet pondside chat to convince her that his film will be a star-making breakout role—only Hee-jin isn’t sure about Director Nam’s film, or his ulterior motives. As the day progresses, links between Ho-jun, Director Nam, and Hee-jin entwine and unravel to reveal each character’s ambition, pettiness, and pathos as they try to reel in their respective dreams.
FRI, NOV 10 • 5:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

IN FLAMES
Dir. Zarrar Kahn * | Canada, Pakistan 2023 | 98 min | Urdu with English subtitles
Mariam, a medical student, is dealing with her grandfather’s passing, her grieving mother, and preparing for upcoming exams. When an estranged and suspiciously helpful uncle re-enters their lives and promises support with their property and finances, Mariam senses trouble. At school, she meets a charming fellow student who presents a tempting option of marriage and financial security, a supposed avenue of freedom and autonomy. When Mariam begins to feel haunted by the presence of men around her and the spirits of those long gone, escape starts to seem elusive.
Official Selection at Cannes 2023 and TIFF 2023
FRI, NOV 10 • 8 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

RIVER リバー、流れないでよ
Dir. Junta Yamaguchi | Japan 2023 | 82 min. Japanese with English subtitles
From the team behind Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (Reel Asian Official Selection,2021) comes Junta Yamaguchi’s latest time loop comedy. Set in a quaint inn along the Kibune river near Kyoto, staff and guests find themselves stuck in a continuous two-minute time loop. Mikoto, a waitress, returns to the river bank after each loop, plunging into a relentless cycle of perplexing scenarios. Her coworkers, the cook, and the mystified guests all grapple with mounting confusion. Despair and disorientation engulf those at the inn, as the uncanny sensation of repeatedly returning to the same moment leads to a frantic quest for answers.
FRI, NOV 10 • 8 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

WE WILL BE BRAVE
Dir. Chrisann Hessing * | Canada 2023 | 78 min. | English
The Good Guise is an artist collective in Toronto formed to spark conversations around healthy masculinity. From photography and beat-boxing to poetry and martial arts, these talented artists share their unique lived experiences with inspiring confidence and welcome others to join in their mission of finding radical alternatives to shame and punishment. As each of them grapple with upheavals in their personal lives, their resolve is further tested by a dire lack of resources and the burden of racialized discrimination.
SAT, NOV 11 • 12 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

STARRING JERRY AS HIMSELF
Dir. Law Chen | USA 2023 | 75 min. | Mandarin, English
A genre-bending mystery that shakes up notions of traditional storytelling. Jerry Hsu is a loving father of three, a recent divorcé, and has been keeping a secret. The Taiwanese immigrant and Orlando resident has been accused by the Chinese police of being an accomplice in an international money-laundering scheme. In an effort to clear his name, Jerry agrees to help the police with busting the operation. Hiding his role in the investigation from his family, Jerry’s world begins to unravel with each step he takes deeper into the conspiracy.
SAT, NOV 11 • 2:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

Q
Dir. Jude Chehab * | USA, Lebanon 2023 | 93 min. | Arabic, English
Jude Chehab, a Lebanese American cinematographer and filmmaker, has always known her mother and grandmother to be women devoted to their Muslim faith. During a trip to Lebanon, Chehab is propelled by a curiosity to understand the quest for love, acceptance, and meaning that brought three generations of women in her family to pledge loyalty to a secretive matriarchal religious order operating clandestinely in the country.
Best New Documentary Director Award, Tribeca Film Festival 2023
SAT, NOV 11 • 5 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

TIGER STRIPES
Dir. Amanda Nell Eu | Malaysia 2023 | 95 min. | Malay with English subtitles
Free-spirited 12-year-old Zaffan is the first of her friends to get her period and experience the body-changing horrors that come with puberty and menstruation. Set in a kampong, or a Malaysian village, structured around patriarchy and religious expectations, she tries to conceal her pubescent traits out of fear of ostracization. Panic spreads in the village when a monster or demonic spirit is rumoured to be roaming the surrounding jungle. Exposed by her peers, Zaffan eventually learns to embrace herself in the face of exclusion and cultural condemnation.
Critics’ Week Grand Prize, Cannes 2023
Selected to represent Malaysia at the 96th Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category
SAT, NOV 11 • 7:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

TERRESTRIAL VERSES
Dir. Alireza Khatami * and Ali Asgari | Iran 2023 | 77 min. | Persian with English subtitles
A job interview, a children’s clothing store, a government registry office. These are just some of the everyday sites for which the characters of Terrestrial Verses must navigate cultural, religious, and institutional constraints imposed on them. Featuring dynamic and fine-tuned performances, the 11 vignettes with conversations (and confrontations) between onscreen citizens and o!screen interrogators are striking in their ability to feel absurd and regrettably real at the same time, a place where the mundane and the menace coexist. Through these stories, we see how citizens respond to and resist these restraints until the final vignette’s staggering conclusion.
Official Selection at Cannes 2023, Un Certain Regard
SUN, NOV 12 • 2:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

SEAGRASS
Dir. Meredith Hama-Brown * | Canada 2023 | 115 min. | English
Judith, a Japanese Canadian woman, and her reluctant white husband attend a week-long couple’s retreat on a coastal British Columbia island, their two daughters in tow. With Judith grieving the recent loss of her mother and her connection to her Japanese Canadian identity, the couple’s disconnect grows as she finds herself infatuated with another, seemingly perfect, interracial couple at the retreat. The parents’ rift impresses upon their daughters, as Emmy, the fearful younger sister, becomes increasingly anxious, while the eldest, Stephanie, cautiously navigates the preteen social dynamics of day camp.
FIPRESCI Prize, TIFF 2023
SUN, NOV 12 • 5 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

MUSTACHE
Dir. Imran J. Khan * | USA 2023 | 83 min. | Urdu, English
When 13-year-old Ilyas’s parents yank him out of his comfortable Islamic private school and force him to adjust to life in public school, he develops a plan to change their minds. After a staged fondness for non-halal food and explicit music fails to sufficiently scandalize his parents, Ilyas asks his whip-smart former classmate, Yasmeen, to help devise a more foolproof plan. However, underneath those faux concerns, what really preoccupies prepubescent Ilyas is his wispy, dark mustache growing much sooner than that of his peers, prompting a self-loathing born and reinforced by the taunting and teasing of classmates.
Audience Award, Narrative Feature, SXSW 2023
SUN, NOV 12 • 7:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

RELICS OF LOVE AND WAR
Dir. Keith Lock * | Canada 2023 | 40 min. | English
The venerated Chinese Canadian filmmaker Keith Lock narrates the story of how his mother married his father in Australia, who was training with other Chinese Canadian veteran volunteers for the top secret suicide mission, Operation Oblivion. This incredible story is set against the backdrop of the Second World War, a time when Chinese Canadians could not vote, swim in pools, or hire white women for their businesses.
TUES, NOV 14 • 7 PM • INNIS TOWN HALL

BABY QUEEN
Dir. Lei Yuan Bin | Singapore 2023 | 62 min. | Mandarin, Malay, Teochew, English
A tender and joyful relationship between Singaporean drag queen Opera Tang and her 90-year-old grandmother, who makes many of her performance costumes. The film follows the rhythm of Opera Tang’s day-to-day activities and conversations with chosen family, loved ones, and community, capturing the struggles and joys of being queer through the quiet notation of the personal.
WED, NOV 15 • 7 PM • INNIS TOWN HALL

SHORTS
This year’s Shorts programming includes:

S-EXPRESS MALAYSIA: MADE BY MALAYSIA: Initiated in 2002, S-Express has become an annual showcase from Southeast Asia. This year, Reel Asian presents S-Express Malaysia, programmed by Chong Lee Yow of Mini Film Festival, featuring five films depicting one’s ability to (un)trap themselves from limitations set upon them, be it bodily, mind, or soul, to achieve relief and victory. FRI, NOV 10 • 5:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

LET’S BE FRIENDS: These shorts look at the soft to even slightly off-kilter bonds we find in one another, the realms we exist in, and ultimately, ourselves, despite ongoing change—no friendship bracelets required. SAT, NOV 11 • 12 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

UNSUNG VOICES 12: Six fearless emerging filmmakers embarked on a summer-long filmmaking journey online. Reel Asian is proud to present their world premiere here in the 12th edition of Reel Asian’s filmmaking program. SAT, NOV 11 • 2:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

EMERGENCE: There’s no need to be certain about what’s next as this collection of shorts places us in a position to face specific pivotal moments of reckoning. Whether feeling stuck or turbulent in the chaos of transition, can we remain gentle to ourselves? SAT, NOV 11 • 5 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

UNDER THE INFLUENCE: More to the situation than what it seems, these shorts choose to examine, tease, and redefine the forces that pull us to make a decision. SAT, NOV 11 • 7:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

HERE WE ARE: With societal, political, and magical forces at play beyond our control, this programme brings together a variety of filmmaking approaches to reflect on what can remain in troubling times, and along with it, agency to construct the narrative. SUN, NOV 12 • 2:30 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

THE STRANGE, THE ODD AND THE FAMILIAR: Hmm … this doesn’t seem right?! This programme asks us to sit with the discomforting feelings that arise when we begin to confront the unknown in what we believe to know. SUN, NOV 12 • 5 PM • TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX
RA:X
Storytelling beyond the screen. RA:X is Reel Asian’s programming section with interactive elements and innovative storytelling tools that seek to engage audiences in new and exciting ways. All exhibitions and accompanying events are free.

MULTIMEDIA EXHIBITION AND PROGRAM – PIGEONHOLE
Visit the Pigeonhole, nest and rest from the festival chaos, listen to collaborative pigeon music, watch raw footage, compose your own ditties, and collage a flock of desired futures together with other attendees. This immersive multimedia installation is inspired by artist Emmie Tsumura’s evolving relationship with a motley crew of pigeons who visit her kitchen windowsill to eat snacks and hang out on toy keyboards. NOV 8–19, BACHIR/YEREX PRESENTATION SPACE, 401 RICHMOND ST, 4TH FLOOR, VARIOUS TIMES

INTERACTIVE WALK AND TALK – EIGHTY THOUSAND STEPS
As a child, Crystal Chan loved when her “Pawpaw” (“grandmother” in Chinese) shared life lessons through fables as the two took walks together. Now Crystal realizes Pawpaw was sharing her journey as a child refugee, hiding tragedy behind adventure. Listeners gradually learn about the heartbreaking contrast between real violence and a child’s interpretation of it. As the listener walks to the store or through a park, they’re forced to examine their steps and stories next to a refugee’s. THURS, NOV 16, THE COMMONS AT 401 RICHMOND ST, 4TH FLOOR, VARIOUS TIMES

MINI SYMPOSIUM AND EXHIBITION – THE SARI-SARI XCHANGE
A project that seeks to amplify Asian representation in the creative emerging media industries in Canada, particularly through a community-building residency program that engages artists with digital and extended reality (XR) technologies. There will be a mini-symposium in the morning around issues and accessibility of XR technology, and a public exhibition of works-in-progress will follow in the afternoon. FRI, NOV 17, THE COMMONS AT 401 RICHMOND ST, 4TH FLOOR, 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM

CANADIAN SPOTLIGHT – FIRST FILMS
In the inaugural First Films event, three award-winning Asian Canadian filmmakers will present and discuss the first films they’ve ever made. The program celebrates their earnest creation, irrational confidence, and the miracle of early- (or pre-)career filmmaking. FRI, NOV 17 • 7 PM • INNIS TOWN HALL

HERE I AM, Dir. Sami Khan, 2010, 10 min.
Sami Khan’s most recent film The Last Out, co-directed with Michael Gassert, won the 2023 Emmy for Outstanding Business and Economics Documentary.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON, Dir. Renuka Jeyapalan, 1999, 5 min.
Renuka Jeyapalan’s debut short Big Girl won the TIFF 2005 Best Canadian Short Film Award and she also directed episodes of Kim’s Convenience, Workin’ Moms, Murdoch Mysteries, Ginny and Georgia, among others. Renuka’s acclaimed feature Stay the Night screened at 2022 Reel Asian.

HACKING ‘TIL MY LEGS FALL OFF, Dir. Joyce Wong, 2004, 8 min.
Joyce Wong’s directing credits include the popular shows Workin’ Moms, Baroness von Sketch, and Run the Burbs and she directed the critically acclaimed feature Wexford Plaza (2016).

WEE ASIAN
Free selection of wholesome shorts for all ages and generations to come together, in a relaxed drop-in screening environment. Attendees will also have an opportunity to participate in fun and simple art activities post-screening. SAT, NOV 18 • 10:30 AM – 3 PM • INNIS TOWN HALL

This year’s Wee Asian short film lineup includes:
MON AMI – Canada
EID MUBARAK – USA, Pakistan
GORO GORO – USA
HI ADING – Canada
EVERYWHERE – Hong Kong
SPIRIT OF THE FOREST – India
THE OLD YOUNG CROW (今昔カラス) – Japan
HAIR UNIVERSE (ݚܵசڿਅફ) – South Korea
DANCE ON! NONOKO! – USA, Taiwan

REEL IDEAS
The Reel Ideas conference unites industry professionals, including screenwriters, producers, filmmakers, and performers, to engage in candid discussions about the challenges and successes of starting from scratch, all while drawing inspiration from our roots. Paving a new pathway for today’s storytellers and advocates, celebrating their contributions and giving them their well-deserved recognition.

This year, Reel Ideas presents From the Ground Up, learning from our origins, creative journeys, and the path to forging unique trajectories.

HOW TO FAIL AS A POPSTAR: THE CLUMSY ART OF FINDING YOURSELF (screening and panel)
Discover the comedically honest and heartwarming story of the CBC Gem original short-form series How to Fail as a Popstar. Unravel the creative evolution of the series, which was adapted from Vivek Shraya’s hit play and subsequent book, tracing its journey from page to stage to screen. Vivek and the creative team will join for an insightful conversation about adapting for film, the realities of the music industry, and the power of one’s intersecting identities.
Panelists: Vivek Shraya (creator/artist), Vanessa Matsui (director), Ayesha Mansur Gonsalves (actor)
THURS, NOV 16 • 7 PM • HOT DOCS TED ROGERS CINEMA

JOURNEY BACK: EXPLORING ORIGIN IN FILMMAKING AND CREATING CHARACTER OUT OF “HOME”
There is a profound connection filmmakers forge when revisiting their roots through a cinematic lens. This in-depth conversation explores how filmmakers turn places into their own dynamic character, and unpacks the emotive pull of returning, despite its tensions and contradictions.
Panelists: Fawzia Mirza (director/writer), Zarrar Kahn (director/screenwriter)
THURS, NOV 9 • 2:30 PM • FESTIVAL LOUNGE (401 RICHMOND ST W SUITE 440)

BUILDING FORCES: THE DIRECTOR PRODUCER RELATIONSHIP
The producer/director relationship is a partnership constantly in flux. What is required for these roles to work harmoniously? Panelists will explore the vital but tumultuous collaboration behind every successful film.
TUES NOV 14 • 1 PM • FESTIVAL LOUNGE (401 RICHMOND ST W SUITE 440)

TO THE WRITERS’ ROOM: CANADIAN TV WRITERS ON CREATIVITY, COLLABORATION AND RESISTING TOKENISM (Online YouTube Live Roundtable)
Step into the thrilling world of TV writing as talented writers share their insights into crafting a successful series, advancing careers in the writers’ room, and promoting diversity in showrunning. Explore their creative processes, approach to pitching, and how they navigate tokenism and stereotypes while fostering collaborative writers’ rooms.
Panelists: Rob Michaels (writer/director/comedian), Léa Geronimo (writer/director), additional TBA
WED, NOV 15 • 4:30 PM • ONLINE YOUTUBE LIVE ROUNDTABLE

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN PITCH?
A fun and exciting way to support emerging filmmakers, as the five finalists pitch their projects to esteemed jurors for a chance to win an amazing prize package toward kick-starting or finishing their film. Cheer on a new generation of filmmakers, and let the future of Asian Canadian cinema inspire!
SUN, NOV 19 • 5 PM • CSI ANNEX

For more information, visit reelasian.com.

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival gratefully acknowledges the support of government partners Canada Council for the Arts, Telefilm Canada, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Province of Ontario, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Ontario Creates, and Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund; and the support of Premier Partners Crave and Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada.

About Reel Asian
The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (Reel Asian) is a unique showcase of contemporary Asian cinema and work from the Asian diaspora. As Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival, Reel Asian® provides a public forum for Asian media artists and their work, and fuels the growing appreciation for Asian cinema in Canada. This year’s festival runs November 8–19, 2023, showcasing special projects featuring prominent artists, content creators, up-and-coming filmmakers and will also include the “Reel Ideas” program for creative minds in the industry to connect online. Works presented at Reel Asian include films, videos, and presentations by artists in Canada, the U.S., Asia and all over the world.

Last night, the winners of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (Reel Asian) were revealed at the digital awards ceremony. This year, Canada’s leading pan-Asian film festival returned with a hybrid in-person and virtual format and included programming available across Canada. Co-host of CTV’s The Social, Etalk co-anchor, and founder of LaineyGossip.com, Lainey Lui hosted the online awards ceremony, revealing the winners for the juried features and shorts prizes. The ceremony also included performances by local Toronto artists Sakako and Ley Vara. The Festival which opened on November 9 and runs until November 20 is screening 77 films from regions including Canada, the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, India, Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Australia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. Tickets for online screenings and other events — including the closing night live musical presentation of Canadian Spotlight artist Romeo Candido’s web series Topline at Isabel Bader Theatre — are still available at reelasian.com.

“Every year we’re enamoured by the diverse stories being told and our 26th hybrid-edition is no different,” said Deanna Wong, Executive Director, Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. “It’s undeniable that this year’s jury chose films that are exceptional, showcased a range of styles and highlighted timely subjects that reflect perspectives across the Asian diaspora.”

Feature films honoured include the Opening Night film Riceboy Sleeps, which won the Reel Asian Best Canadian Feature Film Award; winner of the Reel Asian Best Documentary Award, The Grizzlie Truth; and the CineSend Best First Feature Award, presented to Bad Axe.

Independent juries comprised of distinguished creatives, filmmakers and industry professionals selected this year’s award winners.

Features Jury: Ada Tseng, Sami Khan, Aashna Thakkar

Shorts Jury: Micah Kernan, Kim Sun-woo, Chris Chong Chan Fui

2022 Reel Asian Award Winners

Air Canada Short Film or Video Award:

All short films and videos are eligible for this prize and will have the opportunity to broadcast on Air Canada’s in-flight entertainment screens on all Air Canada flights. ​​The jury selected four films for this year’s Air Canada Short Film award, highlighting a great mix of perspectives and styles. All films showcase the reality of unsettled moments in life, while leaning into humour, beauty and the resilience of relationships.

Everything will be All Right (Farhad Pakdel, Canada)
Jury statement: This short film did a great job of capturing the moments at the start of COVID, when so much felt uncertain. Farhad was able to seize a moment in time that reflected the unknown.

Desi Standard Time Travel (Kashif Pasta, Canada)
Jury statement: This film was so heartwarming. It really allows an audience a moment to reflect on family and how at the end of the day we are all doing the best we can.

Further & Further Away (Polen Ly, Cambodia)
Jury statement: Further & Further Away is such a unique look at the struggle of needing to leave a place you are comfortable with, but it can be made easier with the thoughts of what are truly important in life.

Madhu (Tanmay Chowdhary & Tanvi Chowdhary, India)
Jury statement: Madhu, dir. Tanmay and Tanvi Chowdhary, is filled with vivid colours and unique shots. It captures a beautiful moment in time showcasing two young women enjoying themselves.

Michael Fukushima AnimAsian Award:
All animated works are eligible for a $600 cash prize.

To Kill the Birds and the Bees (Calleen Koh, Singapore)
Jury statement: For the Michael Fukushima AnimAsian Award, the jury selected To Kill the Birds and the Bees directed by Calleen Koh. This film tackled the way gender cultures and norms are viewed by various generations and delivers a strong message that navigates the conflict caused by differences in thoughts. The film’s tempo and witty comedic elements intensified the film’s intent and left a lasting impression on the jury.

Armstrong Acting Studios Outstanding Performer in a Canadian Feature and Short Film:
The award recipients will receive full class tuition coverage of a class at Armstrong Acting Studios. $2,250 value.

Feature winner – Riceboy Sleeps (Actor, Ethan Hwang)
Jury statement: For his role in Riceboy Sleeps, Ethan Hwang receives the Armstrong Acting Studios Outstanding Performer in a Canadian Feature Film. Hwang’s riveting performance as Dong-Hyun marks the arrival of one of North America’s most promising young actors.

Shorts winner – Knots (Actor, Kim Villagante a.k.a “Kimmortal”)
Jury statement: For the Armstrong Acting Studios Outstanding Performer in a Canadian Short Film Award, the jury selected Kim “Kimmortal” Villagante in Knots. We were very impressed by Kim’s performance in this film, in the way they brilliantly played the main character who struggles with various external factors. In particular, we noted the change in emotional performance in the final scene by Kim was outstanding.

DGC Ontario and WIFT Toronto Film Award:
All films made by female-identified Ontario-based artists are eligible to receive a $1,000 cash prize. $500 in programming gift certificates and two one-year memberships to WIFT Toronto.

Wherever you are, Wherever I am (Kay Chan, Canada)
Jury statement: The jury would like to present the DGC Ontario and WIFT-T Film Award to Wherever You Are, Wherever I Am by director Kay Chan. Chan’s poetics in the spoken word and visual expression of their cross-cultural ancestry sets new perspectives that live within our skin and thrive upon the lands that define us. A lyrical film that crafts a simple sentiment into a grand movement of compassion.

Nathalie Younglai Award:
All Canadian short filmmakers over the age of 40 with fewer than two writer/director credits (film OR television) in the last five years are eligible for a $2,500 cash prize.

Winner – Natalie Pelletier
Jury statement: Congratulations to Natalie Pelletier, an Indigenous middle school teacher who went back to school for filmmaking and is writing her first drama pilot about an Indigenous woman who helps others while being haunted by an evil ghost from residential school. We admire Natalie’s courage and making such a drastic career change to pursue her dreams, the strength of her vision, and I believe her pilot can get her into writing rooms which embodies what this award is about.

National Film Board of Canada Best Canadian Short Film Award:
All short works made by emerging Canadian artists (with credits fewer than four films) are eligible for this prize of post-production services. $5,000 value.

majboor-e-mamool (Haaris Qadri, Canada)
Jury statement: The winner of the NFB Best Canada Short Film Award is majboor-e-mamool by director Haaris Qadri. Director Qadri took great care and attention in a simple trip to the doctor. The duty of a daughter to her mother reveals a delicate balance of resistance, authority, and unconditional care. With an outstanding mature performance by the lead performer, the film handles the eternal and universal story between mother and daughter with great warmth and subtlety.

Honourable mention – Tehura (Wei Li, Canada, French Polynesia)
Jury statement: The jury would also like to give an honourable mention to the debut short film animation Tehura by director Wei Li for the film’s powerful and cutting take on the colonial gaze.

Reel Asian Best Documentary Award:
All documentary films are eligible for this $1,500 cash prize, donated by Karla Bobadilla, Diang-Yee Iu, Immanuel Lanzaderas, Sonia Sakamoto-Jog, and Victoria Shen.

The Grizzlie Truth (Kat Jayme, Canada)
Jury Statement: This year’s Reel Asian Best Documentary Award goes to The Grizzlie Truth from filmmaker and superfan – Kat Jayme. In this expertly crafted, engaging and delightful documentary, we follow Kat’s journey to discover the truth behind why her beloved NBA basketball team, the Grizzlies, were moved from Vancouver to Memphis. Featuring candid interviews with players, team owners, coaches, and fans, she leaves no stone unturned in her search for answers. But the real revelation is Vancouver’s continuing emotional connection to the sports team and the community of fans which endures. Sports have the power to inspire and unite, to uplift and heartbreak. The Grizzlies were a way for Kat to connect with her family, with her roots in Canada and the Philippines. We applaud her positive, heartwarming, and authentic portrayal of Asians finding connection and community through sports.

CineSend Best First Feature Award:
All first feature films are eligible for this award: $500 cash prize and CineSend Files Team Annual Plan (valued at $4,500)

Bad Axe (David Siev, USA)
Jury statement: The jury awards the CineSend Best First Feature to Bad Axe. In this personal documentary, director David Siev turns the camera on his family in rural Michigan during the pandemic, as the adult children come back to their hometown to help their parents with their family restaurant. Siev courageously and delicately documents each family member’s vulnerabilities, and captures the complex emotions that arise from generational trauma and the racial tensions that are exacerbated during this time.

Osler Best Feature Award:
All feature works are eligible for a $2,000 cash prize.

Free Chol Soo Lee (Eugene Yi & Julie Ha, USA)
Jury statement: The jury awards the Osler Best Feature Film Award to Julie Ha and Eugene Yi’s Free Chol Soo Lee, a moving and brilliantly constructed documentary that sheds light on a pivotal moment in American history and offers us all urgent lessons on how to navigate our fraught present. Relying on exhaustive research, stellar editing, and deep empathy, Ha and Yi’s film provides not just compelling historical and social insight, but a profound and ultimately tragic portrait of an Asian-American icon. Free Chol Soo Lee is an absolute must-see film for Asian-Americans, Asian-Canadians, and everyone who is interested in understanding the full cost of fighting injustice.

Reel Asian Best Canadian Feature Film Award:
All Canadian feature films are eligible for a $1,000 cash prize.

Riceboy Sleeps (Anthony Shim, Canada)
Jury statement: This beautifully crafted film highlights the need for community and familial connection. From its heartrending script, its haunting cinematography, and an incredible cast of actors – this film is a clear standout in Canadian cinema this year. Through its genuine reflection of an immigrant single mother and the growing pains of her son as a second generation Korean in Canada, this film attempts to heal the wounds of loss and grief between loved ones. The recipient of the Reel Asian Best Canadian Feature Film Award goes to Anthony Shim’s Riceboy Sleeps.

Honourable mention – Big Fight in Little Chinatown (Karen Cho, Canada)
Jury statement: We’d also like to give an honourable mention to Big Fight in Little Chinatown directed by Karen Cho. This urgent story of gentrification, racism, and the importance of maintaining family legacies dove deep into some of North America’s most overlooked cultural hubs. Through the many deeply personal stories told, this film helps paint a fuller picture of how Chinese communities in the diaspora have taken control over their narrative through organizing and activism.

Blue Ant Media Audience Choice Feature Film Award
The winner of the Reel Asian Audience Award—Feature is selected through a tally of votes from the viewers of the 26th edition Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. $2,500 cash prize.

Reel Asian Audience Choice Short Film Award
The winner of the Reel Asian Audience Award—Short Film is selected through a tally of votes from the viewers of the 26th edition Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. $500 cash prize.

(Both awards will be announced on Reel Asian’s social media at the end of Festival.)

The 2022 Reel Asian Awards Ceremony can be watched here.

The 2022 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival kicked-off tonight with Opening Night Gala RICEBOY SLEEPS starting things on a high note. The acclaimed Feature from Vancouver’s Anthony Shim recently won the Platform Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival, and also nabbed the Audience Award at the Busan International Film Festival shortly after. The Film was followed by a Q&A with Shim and its stars Choi Seung-yoon and Ethan Hwang, and it centers on a mother and son who immigrate from South Korea to Canada, facing hardships here as a rift grows between them.

A Reception was held at the Annex Hotel prior to the Premiere, with notable guests in attendance including Shim, Choi and Hwang. The Festival, now in its 26th edition, is comprised of Symposiums, Features, Shorts and the opportunity for Filmmakers to pitch.

Others in attendance were:

A Reel of highlights:

The 2022 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival goes through November 20, 2022 in-person and online. More here.

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the 2021 Reel Asian International Film Festival, takes place between November 10-19, 2021 with the theme being “HERE FOR THE BIGGER PICTURE“. Canada’s only pan-Asian Film Festival, will be available almost Canada-wide, a majority of it being virtual this year.

Martin Edralin‘s ISLANDS is set to kick things off as the Opening Night film! The Film premiered at SXSW 2021! Edralin and cast members will be in attendance too for a Q&A in-person.

The festival is proud to celebrate Governor General award-winning artist Ali Kazimi this year as the Canadian Spotlight Artist, with a focus on three of his feature-length documentaries. Continuous Journey, Random Acts of Legacy, and Shooting Indians look at intersectional community building and notions of history and friendship. Kazimi’s works, in addition to the live-streamed Canadian Spotlight Artist Talk alongside photographer Jeffrey Thomas, will be viewable on the Reel Asian website. The Canadian Spotlight Artist was produced in collaboration with imagineNATIVE and SAVAC.

An overview of this year’s Programmes at the 2021 Reel Asian International Film Festival.

Reel Asian X (RA:X) – Absence|Presence

Absence|Presence is a series of panel conversations, screenings and workshops reintroducing Desh Pardesh to Reel Asian’s audiences and community. Desh Pardesh was a multidisciplinary arts and culture festival that engaged with political issues of South Asia and its diasporas through a multi-day festival and conference, taking place in Toronto every year from the late 1980s until 2001. The festival programmed works and conversations about feminism, class, sexuality, access, disability, race, caste, imperialism, and capitalism, centering on the voices and experiences of underrepresented and marginalized voices within the South Asian diaspora. Absence|Presence seeks to honour and remember the histories of radical arts and culture spaces like Desh that paved the way for numerous queer diasporic art collectives and programs in the city, including SAVAC. From 2013 – 2017, SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre) worked on an oral history project aimed at collecting the stories of the organizers, artists, participants and community activists behind the festival.

FEATURES

The features programme represents the filmmaking community as a whole and spotlights the breadth of talent from master storytellers to first-time feature makers. This programme gives audiences a chance to settle in with a familiar voice or discover a new filmmaking perspective. They will be transported to different worlds through a variety of genres, including from experimental to environmental docs to political and fictional tales of family, self, home, community, and culture. 

Thoughtfully examining family and loneliness while retaining an undercurrent of levity, Islands tells the story of Joshua, a shy middle-aged Filipino immigrant, who has lived in the comfort of his parents’ home his entire life. As their health declines, he longs for a partner, terrified of being alone after they pass.

In Frederik Hana and Marius Lunde’s Codename: Nagasaki, the two friends weave together a genre-bending cinematic search for answers in this unique, and captivating documentary. Another documentary being featured this year is Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust, Ann Kaneko’s account of generations of women coming together to defend their land and water. The award-winning drama Drifting will screen for the first time in Canada at this year’s festival. Writer/director Jun Li shows audiences a grittier side of Hong Kong, a marked contrast to the often glamorized version portrayed in film. In Chen Yu-hsun’s My Missing Valentine, audiences are whisked into the life of a young woman who lives life a step ahead of everyone else. Her whirlwind ways finally catch up to her when she wakes up to realize she has mysteriously missed an entire day … one that may hold the key to true love. Already a festival favourite across the world, Debbie Lum’s Try Harder! is a documentary set within San Francisco’s most competitive high school, where students vie for admission into elite universities. In Mari Walker’s thoughtful and compelling film See You Then, two people reconnect a decade after breaking up, one of them having transitioned. In Three Sisters from Lee Seung-won, the title characters gather in their hometown for their father’s birthday, but their little brother’s abnormal behaviour brings to light some things they’d all rather stay hidden. Junta Yamaguchi’s film Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is a fantastical tale about a cafe owner who discovers that the TV in his cafe suddenly shows images from the future, but only two minutes into the future. The documentary This Stained Dawn is a riveting account of the preparation behind the multi-city Aurat March (Women’s March) in Pakistan. Canadian filmmaker Anam Abbas follows the organizers of the march as they negotiate a deeply surveilled, paranoia-inducing, and often physically violent space in the hopes of spurring a revolution. A former Scripps Spelling Bee champion must reconcile with her estranged brother when he returns home to help care for their sick mother in Sujata Day’s Definition, Please. Pallavi Paul’s The Blind Rabbit is a mid-length experimental film touching on police brutality in Delhi, India, that will be sure to spark engaged discussion. A product of Telefilm’s prestigious Talent Fund, Emilie Serri’s Damascus Dreams is a documentary that is at once very personal while also touching on universal themes of homeland and identity. Muzzamer Rahman’s Hail, Driver, is the story of Aman, who after the death of his father decides to become an illegal e-hailing driver in Kuala Lumpur. Written and directed by KEFF, the film Taipei Suicide Story is a gripping tale of human connection that takes place over the course of one night in Taipei. The South Korean Digital Video Editing with Adobe Premiere Pro: The Real-World Guide to Set Up and Workflow from visionary director Hong Seong-yoon successfully combines horror, comedy, and romance into a truly unique cinematic experience. 

Anchoring the features programme are two films spotlighting Hawaii, Waikiki (Christopher Kahunahana) and I Was a Simple Man (Christopher Makoto Yogi), both examples of a new wave of important narrative works currently emerging from the Aloha State. These ambitious and groundbreaking films both show important Native Hawaiian and local Asian perspectives on Hawaii that they know and love; a place that had too often has its stories told by outsiders.

SHORTS

This year’s Shorts programming includes films from notable directors including Jess X. Snow, Albert Shin, and Fawzia Mirza, amongst many others.

Midnight Snack: Delectably genre-bending, this programme serves up a seven-course meal that will surely leave you questioning whether you were even hungry to begin with.

Feel The Beat: Sing along to this collection of short films featuring characters who find themselves confronting systemic, structural, and personal challenges, all while defying conventional narratives and reconstructing alternative possibilities of storytelling

In The Moment: How does one trace lineages and map origins? Derailing form and convention, each of these films pave new pathways of understanding by reconceptualizing the relations between pasts, presents, and futures.

Familycore: Amid the abundance of narratives revolving around kin, this presentation of shorts brings refreshing and surprising takes into the un/intentional family-centric storytelling landscape, offering room for possibilities and reimaginings.

Ecologies of Place: Carefully set and intentionally crafted, the site-specificity of these short films recognize the role of place as a character integral to offering layered understandings of self, community, and purpose.

Sites of Affect: Recognizing the in/tangible ways feelings and relations can influence one’s actions, these six films tenderly hold the complexities of characters, places, and memories that are more than enough just as they are.

S-Express Myanmar: Guest-programmed by Thaiddhi in partnership with the Minikino S-Express Short Film Program Exchange, this collection of short films showcases young and new voices of independent filmmakers from Myanmar amid the sociopolitical changes of the country.

Unsung Voices: Four fearless emerging filmmakers embarked on a summer-long filmmaking journey online. We’re proud to present their world premiere here, in the landmark 10th edition of Reel Asian’s filmmaking program.

REEL IDEAS

This year’s Reel Ideas conference is named “Here in The Future Past,” and wishes to ground in the present moment, looking backward and forward simultaneously through the abundant energy of the community in the now. Gathering industry professionals, filmmakers, performers, media artists, programmers, and curators, this conference reflects on how our present dialogue, work, and stories will form the foundations of memory, genealogy, and history for the future. Some of the most dynamic thought leaders in North America will be participating including, V.T. Nayani, Sagan Yee, Catherine Hernandez, JP Larocque, Khanh Tudo, and many more. This year’s sessions include (re) Rites of Passage: Asian Canada in Motion Anthology Editors’ Table Talk, Animating Place into Character, Telling “Asian” Stories, The Function of Festival in Crises II, Narrative in Other Mediums, For New Kids on The Block, and Sustainable Storytelling Careers.

CANADIAN SPOTLIGHT ARTIST

Ali Kazimi is Reel Asian’s Canadian Artist Spotlight in 2021. Appropriately for our 25th festival, the documentary filmmaker, media artist, activist, author, and educator has been a fixture in the Asian Canadian community, and we celebrate his over three decades of vital contributions to Canadian media. In 2019, Kazimi became the first Indo Canadian to receive the Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in Visual and Media Arts award winner. His documentary and media-arts work deals with race, social justice, migration, and memory, and emphasizes essential connections across racialized communities, between personal and public, through past and present. 

Born, raised, and educated in India, Kazimi came to Canada to study film production at York University in 1983. Two decades later, after receiving over two dozen awards and honours as an independent filmmaker, Kazimi returned to York, where he is currently an associate professor in the cinema and media arts department.

Reel Asian is pleased to offer a sampling of Kazimi’s seminal documentary films, as well as a suite of talks that will give greater insight into his process, and a viewing of excerpts from new works in progress. 

Inspired by his films’ spirit of friendship and collaboration, Reel Asian is presenting Kazimi’s work with our friends and neighbours imagineNative Film + Media Arts Festival, and South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC).

Wee Asian

Wee Asian is a collection of shorts filled with imagination, possibility, and nuance that will surely resonate with audiences of all ages.

This year’s Wee Asian short film lineup includes:

The Good, The Bad, The Dokkaebi

Old Dog

Your Hand in Mine

Perfect Restaurant

Sorry for the Inconvenience

Story of a Beginning

Winning in America

Polar Bear Bears Boredom

Living with Viola

Back for a second year, join the Wee Asian Arts Channel for sweet and simple pre-recorded arts activities led by a lineup of talented local artists including Rosena Fung, En Lai Mah, Natalie Mark, Basil AlZeri, and Joanna Delos Reyes. 

Public tickets will be priced at $9.49 and are on sale beginning October 20, 2021 at reelasian.com.

Now in its 24th edition, the Reel Asian Film Festival runs November 12-19, 2020, this year in a digital format available Canada-wide for the first time.

Opening the Festival this year is Ursula Liang‘s Documentary Down a Dark Stairwell which looks at how two coloured communities in New York City navigate a criminal case. The Closing Night selection is a live script reading with cast, the directors, and author of upcoming screenplay Scarborough, following three kids who find community, compassion, and resilience at a drop-in literacy centre over the course of a school year.

Other selections include:

Dust and Ashes, which unfolds over three days as a woman tries to navigate bureaucracy, her mother’s death, and a desperate desire to escape impoverishment; and A Rifle and A Bag, a documentary about a former communist rebel couple’s work to integrate into an unwelcoming Indian society following surrender. Making their Canadian Premiere at the Festival are The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time, a Western about fractured families and survival in the wake of violence; and documentary short I Do My Work, following students as the school year begins at the Afghan National Institute of Music ahead of the 100th anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence; as well as the Ontario Premiere of Moving On, chronicling family relationships, growing up, and getting old as a family moves in with their ailing grandfather in the wake of failed marriages and money troubles; and the Toronto Premiere of Mogul Mowgli, co-written by and starring Emmy-winner Riz Ahmed (Rogue One) which explores self-expression, identity, and intergenerational trauma in a story of a British-Pakistani rapper whose international breakthrough tour is compromised by a debilitating medical condition. The lineup also includes the first French-language Canadian feature to screen at the Festival, The Greatest Country In The World, set in an alternate universe with Quebec borders closed by an anti-immigrant government, desperate people try to make the best of their crumbling world; Goodbye Mother, a Vietnamese LGBTQ story chronicling a son subverting his community’s expectations of patriarchy and legacy, leading to the unearthing of family secrets; The Taste of Pho, which explores the different meanings of home to a father and his daughter; Labyrinth of Cinema, the swansong of the almost 60-year career of the late Japanese director Nobuhiko Obayashi; and an archive presentation of A.K.A. Don Bonus (1995) directed by Spencer Nakasako, a forerunner to the now-popular diary and vlog-style documentary format.

Tickets priced at just $7.99, are on sale October 15, 2020. This and more on the entire slate of selections available at http://reelasian.com.

(Photo credit: Reel Asian)