Accessibility
This programme is presented with a mix of open captions, and subtitles.
Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Canada, China, Germany, Philippines, USA2024–202594 minVarious languages with English subtitlesAvailable Online
Defiance can loudly turn heads around, or remain subtle and carefully camouflaged. Between these styles, this programme sees longings vary from self-preservation, justice, vengeance, and spectacle.
For: rulemakers, loving protectors, secret-keepers, troublemakers, daredevils
*Directors in attendance starred.
Canada202510 minEnglish, Urdu with English subtitlesAvailable Online, Drama
Naim starts to notice unsettling changes in his wife’s behaviour and increasing visits from his best friend, Javed. He and his son Talha quietly navigate their suspicions and the complexities of their family relationships.
IN PERSON: This film is being presented with English subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated).
ONLINE: This film is being presented with English subtitles for all spoken dialogue in closed captions (no sound cues indicated).
*Haaris Qadri
Haaris Qadri is an emerging filmmaker based in Toronto and London. Qadri aims to make films that blend the authenticity of naturalism with the vividness of a painter’s realism.
China, Germany, USA202523 minSichuan Chinese with English subtitlesDocumentary, Gay, Non-binary, Queer
Caught in a struggle of love, legacy, and belief, a filmmaker undergoes a series of home remedies and spiritual rituals as their Southwest Chinese family seeks to rid their queer heir of what they perceive as an unwanted entity.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is being presented with English subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated).
Hao Zhou
Hao Zhou is a filmmaker from Nanchuan, China. Their queer and feminist-themed works have screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, Locarno, Rotterdam, and SXSW.
China20247 minNo dialogueAnimation, Available Online, Directed By Women, Horror
In the desolate countryside of Northwest China, our protagonist tries to kill a strange, human-faced cockroach, which has been taken by a passerby and revered as a god of the village.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).
ONLINE: This film is fully captioned in closed captions (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).
Yinxue Li
Yinxue Li is a Beijing-based graduate from Tsinghua University, Academy of Arts & Design. Human-Faced Cockroach is Li’s first independent animated short film.
Canada202512 minEnglish Available Online
Cammie, a personified webcam that dreams of becoming a livestreamer, and Rat, an introverted rodent girl, are brought together on the digital self-help app, BetterHell. So unfolds this love story of two unlikely beings united by their fears of unrealized dreams and alienation.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).
ONLINE: This film is fully captioned in closed captions (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).
*Marissa Sean Cruz
Marissa Sean Cruz is a video, performance and digital artist born in Halifax.
Philippines2024 20:00English, Tagalog and Hiligaynon with English subtitles2slgbtq+, Available Online, Comedy, Gay, Queer, Sports
Jelson and Ipe, two students deep in love, undergo trials of mind and body as they prepare to survive a world devastated by climate change.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is being presented with English subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated).
Whammy Alcazaren
Whammy Alcazaren is a multi-awarded director and production designer. He is a University of the Philippines Film Institute graduate. He is currently in development with his feature film, Noodles, Our Love was Instant and Forever.
Canada202522 minEnglish, Mandarin with English subtitles2slgbtq+, Documentary, Non-binary, Queer
After a Chinese medicine practitioner is brutalized by police at a recent protest, his community comes together in quiet acts of healing.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).
ONLINE: This film is fully captioned in closed captions (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).
Yi Shi
Yi Shi is a queer Chinese multidisciplinary artist, tattooer, and filmmaker born in Hangzhou, China. Their lens-based work seeks to disrupt entrenched social structures by centring community voices while exploring the complexities of grief, care, and resistance.
7 Nov, 2025 8:30 pm
TIFF Lightbox C4PG
This programme is presented with a mix of open captions, and subtitles.
Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
All short films are available digitally through our Digital Shorts Pass
CONTENT ADVISORY
Depictions of transphobia, violence, trauma, sexual content
Join us for a Q&A immediately after the theatrical presentation with attending guests from this shorts programme.
November 7, 2025 at 10PM
Director's Note NARMADA: A VALLEY RISES launched my career as a documentary filmmaker — but more importantly, it was the film that transformed the way I see the world. Made against all odds, the film stands as a testament of endurance and persistence.
Celebrate the launch of the Sari-Sari Xchange Assetory, a storytelling-led virtual asset library prototype created with and for the Asian diaspora, and play with mobile resource units designed to facilitate the making and exhibition of XR creative works.
Hang out with us for Festival Happy Hour, open to the public! Grab a drink and join in on the casual activities each day.
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
