Availabile only to to Ontario audiences
USA202191 minEnglish Ontario PremiereComedy, Drama, Women Filmmakers
Monica (Sujata Day), a former spelling-bee champion, lives at home with her ailing mother and tutors young spelling-bee hopefuls whose parents hover around, in hopes that their children will follow in her footsteps. When she is offered a dream job in another city, she considers accepting it, until her estranged brother Sonny (Ritish Rajan) shows up unexpectedly, opening up old wounds and familial tensions.
Day’s directorial debut is a comedy-drama that isn’t afraid to layer themes of intergenerational tensions, mental health stigma, and complicated sibling dynamics to create a touching portrait of a family trying to heal from a difficult past. Through the talents of an impressive cast of supporting actors, Day directs and simultaneously embodies an endearing and relatable image of a spirited millennial on a journey of acceptance and letting go, as she commits to a more meaningful relationship with her family, herself, and her own sense of freedom.
- Mariam Zaidi
Sujata Day
Ritesh Rajan
Anna Khaja
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Seattle Asian American Film Festival, 2021
Asian American International Film Festival, 2020
AWARDS
Best Narrative Feature, CAAMFest Forward, 2020
Outstanding Directorial Debut Feature Film, South Asian Film Festival of America, 2020
Sujata Day
With her infectious personality and unique sense of humor, Pittsburgh native Sujata Day has established herself in Hollywood as a multi-hyphenate performer, creator, writer, and director. Day is known for her starring role as CeCe in Issa Rae’s The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. She is honoured to be the 2019 HBO Visionaries ambassador.
Availabile only to to Ontario audiences
12 Nov, 2021 7:00 pm
to 14 Nov, 2021 6:59 pm
PG
This presentation has no captions.
An Active Listener will be available to offer one-on-one peer support for viewers who may find the content of this presentation triggering. More info on how to access here.
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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 and Asian diasporic 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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