Please be advised that there will be no badgeholder redemptions for opening night. Badgeholders must purchase tickets for this show.
Canada2024110 minEnglishDirected By Women, Drama
What would you give up to ensure a world with no war, no poverty, and a stable climate? Your phone? Your car? Your life? That’s the question that looms over Ann Marie Fleming’s near-future fable, where the solution to our world's ills is for humans to die by their 50th year.
It’s not all doom and gloom. For teenage Kiah (Keira Jang), it’s her first day of work as a Documenter. Her world of peace in sun-soaked Powell River, B.C., is all she knows, and she's getting trained by Daniel (Joel Oulette), a seasoned convener of death ceremonies. Meanwhile, Ellie (Sandra Oh) puts on a parent’s brave face for Kiah’s venture into adulthood while making her own empty-nest arrangements.
Veteran director and Reel Asian alum Fleming tackles this existential yarn with warmth and charm, while never avoiding the tough questions: What would you give up? And how do you reconcile the horrors with the beauty of this remarkable world?
– Aram Siu Wai Collier
Sandra Oh
Keira Jang
Joel Oulette
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Toronto International Film Festival, 2024
Vancouver International Film Festival, 2024
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 2024
Ann Marie Fleming
Ann Marie Fleming was born in Okinawa and is now based in Vancouver. Her body of work as a filmmaker includes fiction, documentary, and animation. She’s directed short films including You Take Care Now (1990) and Blue Skies (2002), and features such as The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam (2003) and Window Horses (2016). Can I Get a Witness? (2024) is her latest film.
13 Nov, 2024 7:00 pm
Hot Docs Ted Rogers CinemaAA
Please be advised that there will be no badgeholder redemptions for opening night. Badgeholders must purchase tickets for this show.
CONTENT ADVISORY
Depictions of death and dying, self-harm
Please find a list of local and affordable resources below that are arranged alphabetically by name, with the focus or format of their support.
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This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated). Live ASL will be present and projected on screen for the introduction and Q&A. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Information on available captions will be added soon, thank you for your patience.
Join us for a Q&A immediately after the screening with director Ann Marie Fleming.
Join us at CSI Annex for the Opening Night Gala Party after the screening of CAN I GET A WITNESS?.
PWYC at the door!
9:30PM at CSI Annex
Enchanted Booth will be joining us at this year’s gala with their Mirror Photo Booth, so make sure to stop by their booth for a fun photo experience.
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This space is wheelchair and step-free accessible via a staff-operated lift.
The rest of the venue, including the accessible washrooms, is all on one level.
This event may include loud music, flashing lights, and crowds. A calmer,
quieter respite room is available for those with environmental
sensitivities.
Please click below to advise us of your access needs for this event.
Layla is a struggling Palestinian drag queen who often finds creative ways to make ends meet, surrounded by a small, supportive group of close friends within the North London queer scene. A stuffy corporate event performance goes terribly wrong, making Layla and their outrageous antics go viral, and they meet the seemingly-dull-in-comparison marketing executive Max. Despite their very different worlds, a transformative love affair ensues, much to the annoyance of their close friends, who are highly skeptical of how healthy or affirming this relationship could possibly be.
Deep in debt, with a house and a university-bound kid, plus a marriage on the rocks, reformed gambler Lucky sees his luck run out after getting scammed in a tax-fraud scheme. Ashamed and desperate to keep it from his family, he returns to underground backroom gambling dens, playing for big payouts to relieve the debt and win back his family’s favour. Meanwhile, each family member, unaware of Lucky’s troubles but feeling the money crunch, too, resorts to unsavoury means to dig out of their hole.
Join us for an in-depth conversation about Ann Marie Fleming's CAN I GET A WITNESS?, Reel Asian's opening night film this year. This thought-provoking movie examines a near-future society grappling with climate change, mortality, and the value of life. Fleming draws inspiration from her personal experiences, including her time in Vancouver's West End and the environmental upheaval of Stanley Park.
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.
401 Richmond Street West, The Commons (Suite 448)
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8 Canada
(416) 703 – 9333
info@reelasian.com
Charitable number: 870021383RR0001
