Wee Asian is free and drop-in. Screenings take place at 11 AM and 1:30 PM.
No tickets required!
2022-2023TRT: 1h07English, Urdu, Ilocano, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Kannada, Japanese, Farsi, Korean, 2slgbtq+, Aboriginal + Indigenous, Animation, Directed By Women, Documentary, Environment, Experimental, Family-friendly
Be warmed by friendship and held by the depth of feelings in this collection of wholesome shorts for all ages in a relaxed screening environment. Stick around to participate in fun and simple art activities post-screening.
Relaxed screenings will take place in Innis Town Hall at 11 AM & 1:30 PM. Activities will take place in the St. George Lobby from 11 AM–3 PM.
*Directors in attendance starred.
Canada20232 minNo Dialogue Animation, Directed By Women, Family-friendly
A lonely traveller plans to explore a small town, when a stranger suddenly joins him.
This film has no dialogue and is presented without captions.
Michelle Chen
Michelle Chen is an artist based in Burlington, Ont. A colour enthusiast with a passion for background painting, she can often be found cooking (and eating), or cuddling with her cat, Goober.
Pakistan, USA202216 minUrdu with English subtitlesAnimation, Comedy, Directed By Women, Drama, Family-friendly
Iman, a privileged six-year-old Pakistani girl, embarks on a mission to save her beloved pet goat from being eaten on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Mahnoor Euceph
Mahnoor Euceph is a Pakistani American writer and director. She immigrated from Pakistan to Los Angeles at age eight and quickly learned that nobody else cares about cricket.
USA20233 minEnglishAnimation, Comedy, Family-friendly, Japan
Daigoro, a baby thunder god, dreams of being as powerful as his father.
Ryotaro Sawada, Agatha Tiara Christa
Growing up, Ryotaro Sawada turned to his daydreams to be entertained, only to find out that there were people called animators who could bring those daydreams to life. He hasn’t looked back since.
Agatha Tiara Christa, also known as Rara, is a 3D animator and layout artist from Indonesia. She believes that these small things create stories and always includes them in her work.
Canada20232 minEnglish, Ilocano, Vietnamese with English subtitles2slgbtq+, Animation, Documentary, Experimental, Family-friendly
A poetic glimpse into a love story.
*Dinaly Tran
Dinaly Joyce Tran is a queer, trans, nonbinary Filipinx Vietnamese community organizer and artist. They are always hoping to make things that feel homey, in their art, their organizing, and on their Animal Crossing island.
Hong Kong20229 minCantonese with English subtitlesAnimation
Things that we thought were gone may not truly leave us—perhaps they are still with us somehow.
Step C. & Kai Chung Ng
Step C. is an animation director, illustrator, educator, and art director based in Hong Kong.
Kai Chung Ng is an animation artist and the founder of Point Five Creations.
India20227 minEnglish, Kannada with English subtitlesAboriginal + Indigenous, Animation, Directed By Women, Environment, Family-friendly, First Feature
A little girl stumbles into a sacred grove near her village in south India.
Nandini Rao, Nirupa Rao, Kalp Sanghvi
Nandini Rao was the winner of the 2021 Cannes residency program and is based in Paris.
Nirupa Rao is a botanical artist based in Bangalore whose work is inspired by field visits and close collaboration with natural scientists.
Kalp Sanghvi is an animation filmmaker who graduated from the Indian National Institute of Design and is based in Sydney.
Japan, USA202212 minFarsi, Japanese with English subtitlesAnimation, Drama, Family-friendly, Mystery
Mehrdad, an Iranian boy, befriends an old Japanese woman in a graveyard in Tokyo.
Liam LoPinto
Liam LoPinto is a filmmaker and animator based out of New York City who is an assistant manager at the Moviehouse in Millerton.
South Korea202311 minKorean with English subtitlesAnimation, Drama, Family-friendly, Fantasy
A grieving boy finds his late mother’s hair caught in the shower drainage hole and gets swept into the “Hair Universe,” an unknown world underneath the bathtub.
Jinuk Choi
Jinuk Choi is a Korean filmmaker based in New York.
Taiwan, USA20235 minEnglishAnimation, Comedy, Directed By Women, Family-friendly, Music
Nonoko the cat and Haro the rabbit dance to share a bittersweet goodbye on their graduation day.
Wanci Hua
Wanci Hua is a Taiwanese animator, currently studying at California Institute of the Arts. She loves telling whimsical and tender stories through the art of animation.
18 Nov, 2023 11:00 am
to 18 Nov, 2023 3:00 pm
Innis Town HallWee Asian is free and drop-in. Screenings take place at 11 AM and 1:30 PM.
No tickets required!
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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 arrange for accessible seats.
Bring your own t-shirt or use a vintage Reel Asian one to upcycle it into your own DIY festival tote - no sewing required! Customize your new tote with patches, buttons and pins (not provided)! This activity is created by Minikino, a short film organization based in Bali, Indonesia.
11 AM–3 PM
How can we reimagine our relations to pigeons? Would there be something you'd like to say or share with our fellow pigeons? Write a letter or draw a picture and ``mail`` it to the Pigeon Band!
11 AM–3 PM
Colour in or out of the lines with the festival creative colouring sheet. Transform it into a flower vase!
11 AM–3 PM
London-based and Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS)-resident artist Ivyy Chen embarks on a journey to create a neverending loop of moving chairs. In order to do so, she'll need your help to create the frames, and along the way, you'll learn the building blocks to create a hand-drawn animation!
1 PM–3 PM
A job interview, a children’s clothing store, a government registry office. These are just some of the everyday sites for which the characters of Terrestrial Verses must navigate cultural, religious, and institutional constraints imposed on them.
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.
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.
The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival, showcasing bold contemporary cinema by Asian and Asian diasporic artists from Canada, the U.S., Asia, and around the world. Held each November in Toronto, Reel Asian presents a dynamic lineup of film screenings, panels, and special events, with programming and education initiatives continuing throughout the year. Founded in 1996, Reel Asian celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026, marking three decades of championing underrepresented voices and fostering dialogue through film and media arts.
401 Richmond Street West, The Commons (Suite 448)
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8 Canada
(416) 703 – 9333
info@reelasian.com
Charitable number: 870021383RR0001
