CONTENT ADVISORY
domestic/sexual violence, gender violence, nudity, explicit sexual content
Canada2025116 minFrench, Mandarin with English subtitles2slgbtq+, Drama, Reel Asian Award Winner, Romance
Feng Xia, 53, lives a modest but decent life in Montreal: She has a house and is married with two children. But she finds herself growing dissatisfied with her loveless marriage and cloistered life of obligation. After taking a conversational French class, Feng Xia finds the city has opened up to her in new ways, including curious dalliances with dating apps. There, she meets Camille, a Quebecois woman who challenges her spiritually and sexually. Their affair awakens Feng Xia’s long-buried desires during a glowing Montreal summer.
The iconic Joan Chen fearlessly takes on the challenging role of Feng Xia, dexterously shifting between timid matron and sensuous explorer. Director Xiaodan He creates no easy answers, though, determined to show the complexities and conflicts of being a middle-aged Chinese mother in Montreal who yearns to break out. For those like Feng Xia who carry the weight of life’s duties, self-discovery can have collateral damage.
– Aram Siu Wai Collier
Joan Chen
Charlotte Aubin
John Xu
Xiaodan He
Xiaodan He, a Montreal-based Chinese Canadian filmmaker, studied film production at the Beijing Film Academy of China. After immigrating to Canada, He founded Red Dawn Productions, which received financing for five feature film projects. He is the first Chinese immigrant director and producer to receive governmental grants in Quebec and in Canada for a feature film.
7 Nov, 2025 8:15 pm
TIFF Lightbox C3AA
CONTENT ADVISORY
domestic/sexual violence, gender violence, nudity, explicit sexual content
IN PERSON ACCESSIBILITY
This film is being presented with English subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated).
Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Join us for a Q&A session immediately after the screening moderated by Reel Asian's artistic director Aram Siu Wai Collier, with director Xiaodan He.
Join us for the closing event of the 29th Reel Asian, "So You Think You Can Pitch" Live Finale. Five emerging filmmaking teams will compete for a prize package to help realize their short films.
We each bring our own style to the table — whether that's upholding tradition or breaking it, following the rules or bending them. These films explore familial complexity through play, transformation, agency, and hope.
Pride celebrations are coming up, and Manok, the feisty owner of a venerable lesbian bar in Seoul, is preparing for the annual party. Except the younger organizers want a new vibe, leaving Manok’s bar on the fringes. Irritated at her obsolescence, Manok closes the bar out of spite and moves back to her rural hometown with a fresh start on her mind. But is that possible in a town run by her ex-husband? If anybody can do it, Manok can.
Founded in Toronto in 1997, Reel Asian is Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival and a year-round cultural organization dedicated to championing Asian, Asian diasporic, and Asian Canadian artists and storytellers. What began as a grassroots film festival has grown into a national platform supporting filmmakers and audiences through screenings, education, industry initiatives, artist development, and community programming presented across Toronto, the GTA, and online across Canada.
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