15 YEARS OF REEL ASIAN

Reel Asian® commemorates its 15th anniversary with a series of free celebration screenings, beginning with WHITE ON RICE, a festival favorite from 2009. This special event kicks off a series of new initiatives to recognize the organization's 15 years of celebrating the incredible diversity of Toronto, including larger venues to accommodate growing audiences, a multi-venue media art installation, special guest filmmakers from across Asia and the world, and a major expansion into Richmond Hill. From November 8-13 (Toronto) and November 18-19 (Richmond Hill), the festival will present more than 50 films and videos from over twelve countries, including Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, the United States and Canada.

"Reel Asian gives voice to and represents the diversity of the Asian community ... it's not about breaking stereotypes, it's about offering a more complex understanding of that multiplicity" - Heather Keung, Artistic Director of Reel Asian

Reel Asian is Canada's longest-running and largest showcase dedicated to contemporary cinema by East Asian and Southeast Asian moviemakers from around the world.

Over the past 15 years, Reel Asian has risen to become the leading exhibitor of coveted Asian works with a film repertoire including over 330 premieres and over 15 gallery installations at exhibition spaces in the GTA.

Founded in 1997, Reel Asian began as a 3-day event, established in response to the strong interest in Asian films in Toronto, and has since grown to a two-week festival attracting over 10,000 audience members each year. Reel Asian brings highly-anticipated premieres of award-winning international films as well as a diverse showcase of independent work made by Asian-Canadian directors.

Today's most talented and recognized Asian filmmakers presented Toronto debuts at Reel Asian – including Cannes Palme D'Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Mysterious Objects at Noon in 2002), acclaimed Hong Kong directors Johnnie To, Stephen Chow and Tsui Hark (omnibus film 1:99 in 2003), Oscar-nominated Christine Choy (Ha Ha Shanghai in 2001), and Sundance Grand Prize nominee Lixin Fan (Last Train Home in 2010) 

We thank the NFB for its tremendous support to Reel Asian and the Asian-Canadian filmmaking community over the past 15 years, and we are proud of our ongoing partnership and collaboration. We are pleased to announce a new partnership with the National Film Board in recognition of our 15th anniversary, a playlist of NFB films selected to represent the depth and breadth of Asian-Canadian filmmakers that we have had the privilege to present. Click here to view the films.