50 tickets are made free with the generous support of the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Toronto.
South Korea202395 minKorean with English subtitlesCanadian PremiereDrama, First Feature
Ho-jun, a flailing actor, has found relative success as a social media influencer, hawking fishing hacks. He preps his live stream at his preferred fishing spot, only to be disrupted by an obnoxious stranger whose bad vibes are ruining the morning. The stranger is Director Nam, a hotshot (and hot-headed) independent film director about to shoot his first commercial feature. He’s invited rising actress Hee-jin for a quiet pondside chat to convince her that his film will be a star-making breakout role—only Hee-jin isn’t sure about Director Nam’s film, or his ulterior motives. As the day progresses, links between Ho-jun, Director Nam, and Hee-jin entwine and unravel to reveal each character’s ambition, pettiness, and pathos as they try to reel in their respective dreams.
In an impressively lean and resourceful production, Small Fry director Joongha Park and co-writer Howon Kim (who also stars as Ho-jun) have crafted a funny, biting, and heartfelt meta film commentary about the strains on artistic process and purpose, especially when confronted with the demands of the commercial industry.
– Aram Siu Wai Collier
Howon Kim
Seonghwan
Chaeyoung Leem
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Jeonju International Film Festival, 2023
Arizona International Film Festival, 2023
San Diego Asian Film Festival, 2023
AWARDS
Best Acting Prize, Jeonju International Film Festival, 2023
Best First Feature, Arizona International Film Festival, 2023
Joongha PARK
Born in 1980 and majoring in environmental engineering, Joongha Park started making films because he wanted to make stories about the environment and humans. His short film Sweet Potato Family (2015) won the Bucheon Choice Audience Award at the BIFAN 2015.
PG
10 Nov, 2023 5:30 pm
50 tickets are made free with the generous support of the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Toronto.
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This screening is presented with English subtitles. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Join us for a Q&A immediately after the theatrical presentation with Director Joongha Park & Writer/Producer/Actor Howon Kim.
Jude Chehab, a Lebanese American cinematographer and filmmaker, has always known her mother and grandmother to be women devoted to their Muslim faith. During a trip to Lebanon, Chehab is propelled by a curiosity to understand the quest for love, acceptance, and meaning that brought three generations of women in her family to pledge loyalty to a secretive matriarchal religious order operating clandestinely in the country.
Free-spirited 12-year-old Zaffan is the first of her friends to get her period and experience the body-changing horrors that come with puberty and menstruation.
When Azra, a queer Muslim grad student, hears of her father’s sudden death, she flies back to her ancestral home in Karachi, Pakistan for the funeral, where she is received by her conservative mother, Mariam, perpetually disappointed by Azra’s choices. As a self-assured Azra wrestles with Karachi’s customs and norms, we time travel back to Mariam’s own life in the city 30 years ago, a remarkably different era in Pakistan’s political and cultural history.
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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