All feature works are eligible for this award.
$2,000 cash prize
Three Sisters, Lee Seung-won
Jury Statement
This feature film showcases superb performances by actors and powerful close-ups utilized by the director to let the audience closely follow the lives of three sisters facing their dark past brought upon by chauvinistic patriarchy. Unfolding like a road film, Three Sisters is more than just a message about anti-patriarchy, anti-military dictatorship and the dark history of Korea. In the end, each sister finally stands up for their respective hopes and happiness.
All first feature films are eligible for this award:
$1,500 cash prize + CineSend Files Team Annual Plan (valued at $4,500)
Inbetween Girl, Mei Makino
Jury Statement
The jury awards CineSend and Front Row Insurance Best First Feature to Inbetween Girl by debut director/writer Mei Makino. In this coming-of-age story set in Galveston, Texas, Mei weaves an indelible story of race, marginalization, and female liberation.
All documentary films are eligible for this $1,500 cash prize, donated by Karla Bobadilla, Diang-Yee Iu, Immanuel Lanzaderas, Sonia Sakamoto-Jog, Victoria Shen and Jason Tam
This Stained Dawn, Anam Abbas
Jury Statement
This vibrant and clamorous film shines its lens on contemporary Pakistan, and more importantly, its women, as they prepare for the multi-city Women’s March in 2019. From striking images of 10,000 protesters in the streets of Karachi, to intimate portraits of young women organizing in living rooms and on roof tops, This Stained Dawn is a reminder that the fight for gender equality is relentless, universal, and far from over.
All feature filmmakers under the age of 30 are eligible for this award.
$500 cash prize
Taipei Suicide Story, KEFF
Jury Statement
We gave the Change Connect Under 30 award to KEFF’s Taipei Suicide Story. A brilliant, playfully downbeat concept allied with economical use of resources, crisp, precisely designed cinematography, and spot-on performances makes this low budget conceptual mini-narrative fascinating to contemplate, while also giving it a real emotional punch.
All shorts filmmakers under the age of 30 are eligible for this award.
$500 cash prize
F1-100, Emory Chao Johnson
Jury Statement
F1-100 by Emory Chao Johnson was selected as the winner of the Reel Asian Under 30 Award for its fresh portrait of a young artist facing a unique set of struggles made even more complicated by the global pandemic. We appreciated the intimacy, creativity and timeliness of this film, as well as the challenges that both featured artist and filmmaker faced in their exploration of identity.
Sorry For The Inconvenience, Jane Chow
Jury Statement
We would also like to recognize this film for it’s poignant, well-crafted story of a family struggling in the time of COVID. We found this film to be a beautiful love letter to Chinatowns, and to the sacrifices made by their communities to survive.
All short works made by emerging Canadian artists (with credits fewer than 4 films) are eligible for this prize of post-production services.
$5,000 value
FICTIONS, Alice Liu
Jury Statement
The complexity of an intergenerational mother-daughter relationship is told with gentle sensitivity. There is an honesty to the characters and we were impressed by the directorial voice.
Srikandi, Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto
Jury Statement
For its ability to capture its characters’ emotional nuances and its well-crafted storytelling, we would like to give a honorable mention to Srikandi by Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto.
All short films and videos are eligible for this prize. Opportunity to broadcast on Air Canada’s in-flight entertainment screens on all Air Canada flights.
Jury Statement
The seven films selected for this award are undeniable standouts, showcasing an eclectic mix of narrative styles and perspectives across Asia and the Asian diaspora. As a set, these films find substance in their exploration of the personal, whether that be in Sasha Lee’s unexpectedly melancholic synth-y pop song in Misery Loves Company or the deadpan delivery of Kayla Abuda Galang’s Tagalog language tutorial. The winning films manage to find balance and a certain lightness, unafraid to linger on the darker and sometimes bleak reality of our enduring, uncertain present.
Age of Youth
Myo Thai Khin
A Trip To Heaven
Linh Duong
Misery Loves Company
Sasha Lee
Sexy Sushi
Caleen Koh Yee Lin
I Don’t Feel at Home Anywhere, Anymore
Viv Li
A Guitar In The Bucket
Boyoung Kim
Learning Tagalog With Kayla
Kayla Abuda Galang
All films made by female-identified Ontario-based artists are eligible for this award.
$1,000 cash prize, $500 in programming gift certificates, and 2 one-year memberships to WIFT Toronto
A Hundred Joys, Amanda Ann-Min Wong
Jury Statement
A Hundred Joys encapsulates the community, the people and the environment of East Chinatown, Toronto in such a heartwarming way. We could feel the love that the filmmaker had for the people and the neighbourhood.
All animated works are eligible for this award. In recognition of Michael’s significant contribution to the animation community as a creator and mentor, Reel Asian is renaming the AnimAsian award in honour of his legacy. Read more about this award here.
Cash prize of $1,200
4 North A, Jordan Canning & Howie Shia
Jury Statement
For the Michael Fukushima Animasian Award we selected Jordan Canning & Howie Shia’s 4 North A. We were impressed with how the film beautifully captured small moments, both mundane and vibrant; the powerful emotion of memory; and the incredible isolation of grief, even amidst the shared space of hospital life.
The winner of the Reel Asian Audience Award—Feature is selected through a tally of votes from the viewers of the 25th edition Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.
$2,500 cash prize
Islands, Martin Edralin
Martin Edralin is a Filipino Canadian, Toronto-based filmmaker. His first short film, Hole (2014), won the grand prize at Clermont-Ferrand, jury prizes at Locarno and Seattle, and screened at Sundance, TIFF, and BFI London. His second short, Emma (2016), was selected in TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten and won Best Live Action Short at the Rhode Island IFF. Islands is his debut feature film.
The winner of the Reel Asian Audience Award—Short Film is selected through a tally of votes from the viewers of the 25th edition Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.
$1,500 cash prize
This year the audience choice for short film resulted in a first-place tie between two oustanding films
Perfect Restaurant, Aiken Chau
Aiken Chau is a Chinese Canadian artist and animator who enjoys storytelling and creating characters. A graduate from the Sheridan College animation program, he experiments with animation of all mediums.
Ahu’s Journal, Weeda Azim
Weeda Azim is one of the four emerging filmmakers who embarked on a summer-long filmmaking journey online in our Unsung Voices program. She is an Afghan Canadian writer and filmmaker based in Toronto. Her ultimate goal is to embrace chaos and failure in her work, to create in order to understand herself, and to meet like-minded individuals along the way.
Angela Sun
Angela Sun is a Mad, plus-size, first generation/ settler actor, theatre creator, producer, writer, and arts administrator of East Asian descent. She is also known for her advocacy for cultural diversity, size-inclusivity, and access for the invisible disability community. She has worked with many emerging and established artistic organizations throughout her career including CBC Arts, Theatre Passe Muraille, Cahoots Theatre, Durham Art Gallery, Toronto Fringe, The Gardiner Museum, The Bentway, the National Theatre School, Outside the March, and more.
Ann Pornel
Ann Pornel is a Canadian Comedy Award winner and winner of the 2017 Entertainer of the Year award from My Entertainment World. Ann’s unique perspectives on diversity, body image and inclusion have garnered her spots at NBC’s Break Out Comedy Festival and JFL 42. You can hear Ann as a panelist on CBC’s BECAUSE NEWS or on award-winning television shows such as ODD SQUAD, THE BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW, THE BEAVERTON and THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES.
Shelly Kraicer was born in Toronto, Canada, and received a BA in philosophy at Yale University. He lived in Beijing, China, for 11 years, where he studied Chinese language and researched contemporary Chinese language cinema. A frequent visitor to Hong Kong, he has written extensively on Hong Kong cinema and curated retrospectives on the Fourth Generation of Chinese directors and on Hong Kong director Johnnie To. Kracier has published in Cinema Scope, Cineaste, the Village Voice, and The New York Times, as well as translated subtitles for over 40 recent Chinese films. He is currently a programmer at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Lee Won-suk
Head of Incheon Film Commission, Lee Won-suk is also a film director from South Korea. Lee made his filmmaking debut with the romantic comedy How to Use Guys with Secret Tips (2013), which won the Golden Mulberry Award (Audience Award) at the 15th Far East Film Festival and the Bronze Prize for Best Asian Feature at the Fantasia International Film Festival in 2013. His second film, the period drama The Royal Tailor (2014), screened at Reel Asian in 2015. Lee’s upcoming comic thriller musical feature Killing Romance tells the story of a retired actress who marries an island chaebol and meets a 3-time-test-taker who lives next door.
Jan Wong
Jan Wong is a journalist and academic. Her first of six books, Red China Blues: My Long March From Mao to Now, was named one of Time magazine’s top ten books of 1996. It remains banned in China. A third-generation Canadian born and raised in Montreal, she first went to China in 1972 at the height of the Cultural Revolution as one of only two Westerners permitted to enrol at Beijing University. Wong later was China correspondent for the Globe and Mail. Her coverage included the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. She lives in Toronto.
Puiyee Leong
Puiyee Leong is an arts manager and film programmer based in Singapore. She was the Programme Manager of the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) from 2014 – 2019, taking lead of the Short Films programme. She was part of the Short Films pre-selection team with the Busan International Film Festival 2020, and the 2020-2021 Short Films selection team of the Bangkok-ASEAN Film Festival. Leong is currently the Senior Manager at Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film, where she manages the film programmes and projects.
Rupali Morzaria
Rupali Morzaria is a designer and film programmer currently based in Tiohti:áke/ Montreal. She is the founder of SanghumFilm, a film collective and resource dedicated to celebrating the range of cinematic forms from and about the Indian subcontinent.
Tim Chiou
Tim Chiou is an actor from Los Angeles, known for his roles in shows such as Seal Team, Silicon Valley, iZombie, and Interrogation. He is honoured to be a part of the festival, appearing in three different features this year:I Was a Simple Man, Definition Please, and See You Then.
Lead Sponsor
Special Sponsors
with support from
$8,000 cash prize + more than $3,500 in services
Nedda Sarshar
$1,000 cash prize + more than $350 in services
Helmann Wilhelm
Alice Wang
Anubhav Singh
Nikki Shaffeeullah
Victoria Morado
Media Director, NBCUniversal
Richard Young
Screenwriter and Actor
Aisha Jamal
Filmmaker & Film Programmer, Hot Docs International Documentary Festival
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is a unique showcase of contemporary Asian cinema and work from Asia and the Asian diaspora. Works include films and videos by artists in Canada, the U.S., Asia and all over the world. 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.
401 Richmond Street West, The Commons (Suite 448)
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8 Canada
(416) 703 – 9333
info@reelasian.com
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