When the audience gathers at night, the air feels heavy. The daughter becomes muse; the performer, a confidante. You hide in the green room. Thick with greasepaint, you reveal.
In My Mother’s Closet
Adri Almeida and Carolyn Wu • Canada • 2017 • 12:53 • English
Adri, a young Indian trans woman, navigates a world that refuses to see her as she is, and finds her truth through musical theatre and magical femme friendship.
Adri Almeida is a singer, theatre artist and a powerful, vulnerable, fierce brown femme committed to disrupting the “cis-tem.” Carolyn Wu is a queer Asian director, writer, editor and cinematographer committed to storytelling that centres voices of queer and trans people of colour.
Heaven of Children
Amir Masoud Soheili • Indonesia • 2016 • 5:00 • Indonesian and Farsi with English subtitles • North American Premiere
A young boy and girl are exploring an abandoned cinema when they stumble upon the reel of Majid Majidi’s award-winning Iranian film, Children of Heaven. After their viewing is interrupted, the two bike to a lake and try to imagine how the film would end.
Amir Masoud Soheili is an internationally awarded short filmmaker. He studied film at Seni institute in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
The Lion
Jon Chiang • Canada • 2017 • 8:16 • English
After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Vancouver-based hip-hop artist Francis Arevalo shares his journey into healing through music and performance.
Jon Chiang is a filmmaker and cinematographer based in Vancouver, B.C.
Flip the Record
Marie Jamora • USA • 2016 • 14:42 • English • Canadian Premiere
Set in 1984 San Francisco during a small but burgeoning moment in Filipino-American hip-hop culture, this film tells the story of Vanessa, a Filipino-American teenager who with the aspiration to perform as a DJ practices on her brother’s turntables on the sly.
Marie Jamora is an award-winning director, editor, and producer originally from Manila, Philippines.
Aarsa
Kawa Hatef • USA • 2016 • 17:56 • English and Hindi with English subtitles
Raju, a janitor at a dance studio, is enamoured by Kathak, a classical Hindustani dance form. He watches a teacher give lessons as she prepares her students for an upcoming show. After an unsuccessful performance and an altercation with her spouse, the teacher returns to the studio, only to discover Raju wearing her costume.
Born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1983, Kawa Hatef is a filmmaker. He is currently writing a second feature screenplay titled Lucky.
Letters from Home
Danica Pablo • Singapore • 2017 • 12:43 • English, Tagalog with English subtitles • World Premiere
Angie, a Filipino domestic caregiver, looks after an elderly woman with visual impairment in Singapore. She occasionally reads self-written letters out to her, claiming that they are from her distant son who hasn’t visited in years. Torn between longing to return to her hometown in the Philippines and ensuring her employer is cared for, Angie goes to find her employer’s son.
Disconnection has always been a reoccurring theme in Danica Pablo’s work. In her films, she seeks to reflect her collective experiences with her family.
Guo Mie
Joseph Chen-Chieh Hsu • Taiwan • 2017 • 30:00 • Minnan Chinese with English subtitles • Canadian Premiere
65-year-old Miss Lin, a stoic matriarch and grandmother, sings karaoke in a taxi on her way to and from the market everyday. After hearing news of her estranged ex-husband’s death, she struggles to come to terms with Tsai, the woman her husband was with after their marriage ended.
Joseph Chien-Chieh Hsu attended New York University Tisch Asia and acquired his MFA in Film Production. He was an alumnus at Talents Tokyo in 2014, and Kyoto Filmmaker Lab in 2015.