Accessibility
This programme is presented with a mix of open captions, English subtitles, and no captions.
Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, U.K., USA2018–202560 minVarious languages with English SubtitlesAvailable Online
Through animation’s unique ability to push boundaries and reimagine narratives, this programme reflects the formative dreams that continue to shape Inside Out and Reel Asian. Step into this chaotic but tender journey with us.
For: time travellers; plane counters; animation lovers; dancers; weirdo blobs; fans of Lu and Kelly
*Directors in attendance starred.
Lu Linares
Co-Curator
Lu Linares is a Peruvian Canadian festival programmer and arts administrator whose work is shaped by their experiences as a queer immigrant. They are currently the programming and industry manager at the Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival.
Germany202413 minEnglishAnimation, Available Online, Non-binary, Queer, Transgender
Sam, a deviant artist and proud flower person, is spending one last day in a flower spa with his mother before his final performance act.
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).
Ariel Victor Arthanto
Ariel Victor Arthanto is an Indonesian-born animation filmmaker and illustrator based in Berlin, crafting vibrant 2D worlds that mix playful compositions, bold figures, and character-driven storytelling across film and illustration.
South Korea20203 minKorean with English subtitlesAnimation, Available Online, Music, Queer
One night, while Seolgi is lying on a grass field with friends, a shooting star falls and dark intrusive thoughts hit her, bursting with movement and blooming bright colours.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is being presented with English subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated).
Sasha Lee
Sasha Lee is an animator who likes plants and animals.
Taiwan, U.K.20246 minMandarin with English subtitles2slgbtq+, Animation, Available Online, Gay
I’ve practised these words for 20 years now, but maybe being candid isn’t the best idea. I’m starting my countdown again — another 20 years. Maybe it will be the right time by then.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is being presented with English subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated).
WeiFan Wang
WeiFan Wang is an animation director based in Taipei and London. His practice consists of self-reflective animations that explore intimate and unspoken emotions.
Singapore, USA20238 minNo dialogue2slgbtq+, Animation, Available Online, Experimental, Non-binary, Queer
One night, a person brushes a dog's teeth and turns into a bus.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film has no dialogue (no audio + visual descriptions).
Exyl
Exyl is a filmmaker working under the umbrella of experimental animation. They love work that is cheap. They care about being honest. They hate thinking about being marketable.
Taiwan, UK2018 6:00No dialogue2slgbtq+, Animation, Available Online, Experimental, Gay, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Non-binary, Queer, Transgender
Comprising over 2,000 hand-painted frames, Adorable presents a journey of a queer person, illustrating modern queer society, where discrimination, freedom, and love coexist.
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).
Cheng-Hsu Chung
Cheng-Hsu Chung is a Taiwanese animation artist and director based in Berlin. Chung’s artistic practice focuses on surreal images and character performances in animation to articulate the changing nature of emotion, modern love, and the experiences queer bodies encounter.
Canada20196 minEnglishAvailable Online
With pulsating neon-light animation, Reviving the Roost is about community complexity and longing — an elegy to a lost space as much as it is director Vivek Shraya’s ode to a now-closed iconic Edmonton gay bar.
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).
Vivek Shraya
A three-time Canadian Screen Award winner, Vivek Shraya is an artist whose body of work crosses the boundaries of music, literature, visual art, theatre, TV, film, and fashion.
Malaysia, Sweden20229 minNo dialogue2slgbtq+, Animation, Available Online, Environment, Family-friendly, Queer, Romance
Newly orphaned and freshly wounded from a loss, a boy lends his companion a prosthetic arm for the day. This is a slow and meditative film about everyday gestures of love, communicated through our universal understanding of body language.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film has no dialogue (no audio + visual descriptions).
Gabriel Gabriel Garble
Gabriel Gabriel Garble works across animation, film, and geology, exploring how imagery and material ecologies intertwine.
South Korea20259 minKorean with English subtitlesAnimation, Available Online, Directed By Women, Drama
A girl unexpectedly bumps into her childhood best friend and finds herself torn between rekindling their lost connection or letting the moment slip away forever.
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).
Hanna Kang
Hanna Kang is a graduate of the Korea National University of Arts.
6 Nov, 2025 8:30 pm
TIFF Lightbox C4PG
This programme is presented with a mix of open captions, English subtitles, and no captions.
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
Flashing strobe lights; depictions of violence
Reuniting with the cast of her highly acclaimed 2017 festival hit, Village Rockstars, Rima Das returns with a standalone sequel centering Dhunu, now a teenager, who lives in a small village in Assam, India, and dreams of becoming a musician. While Dhunu and her friends navigate the vulnerable transition between childhood and adulthood, weighing new responsibilities and priorities, the elders around them face harsher circumstances brought on by predatory land developers and climate change, affecting their livelihoods and sense of community.
Six emerging filmmakers embarked on a months-long filmmaking workshop this past summer. We’re proud to present their world premieres here in the 14th edition of Reel Asian’s filmmaking program.
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
