It’s 1978 in Pakistan, amid guitar riffs and late-night shows, rockstar Lenny from the Christian community is offered the chance to reinvent himself as a state-sanctioned singer.
Oscillating between the past and the present, a woman sits in a hospital room, alone with her dying father.
Painstakingly detailed, director Honami Yano tells the story of a little girl who reflects on the last summer with her father.
Director Boyoung Kim takes us into a world where everything you need can be rented from huge vending machines. A girl does whatever she can to become a guitarist, despite others choosing otherwise.
Highlighting the rich tenacity of Toronto’s East Chinatown community, this film explores the area’s people, sidewalks, and businesses, giving voice to their experiences of community, identity, anxieties, and hopes for the future.
What would you do if you bumped into your high school sweetheart? On a peculiar tour bus to Mekong Delta, 50-year-old Tam is hopeful for a chance of reconciliation—or maybe he's not.
Employees at a plasticware store, Sithu and Min Htet, plan a mission for Sithu to elope with a girl.
Eager for an escape from family, Safiya moves out to a sublet of an acquaintance, Ahu. Her new place is peaceful, but she soon comes across a journal with entries that take her on a reflective journey—Ahu’s journal.
A series of rhythmically repeated images of self-caress and cleansing are used to express an Asian woman's sense of emerging self, her growing strength, and her desire for the erotic touch of another.
On a quest to rebuild home, an alien encounters a reverent worshipper, a cynical construction worker, and a mysterious medium, observing their varying ideas of home.
How much would you put into a relationship? Bubble brings us along on a couple's date that takes a strange plunge into vegetarian cuisine.
Confronting intergenerational trauma, two sons of a Karen woman reunite with their father, a former Air Force officer.
After trying on a binder and a packer for the first time, Krishna, a trans man, has to face his own insecurities during his journey of overcoming his fear of passing and of coming out.
Driving in a rural Albertan neighbourhood, a young woman is stopped by a middle-aged Punjabi woman standing on the side of the road; things take a turn for the uncanny, as the young woman is presented with a choice that will change the course of her life.
Mrs. Wang, an elderly widow, combs the beach in search of treasure and discovers a gold tooth that magically changes her lonely life.
Set to an expressive soundtrack, Vangie is a miserable contractual sales lady who uncovers the ultimate jaw-dropping secret to regularization in a desperate attempt to save her job.
Visually transformative, Eyes and Horns is a captivating and immersive experience that delves into the destruction of gender binaries and boundaries.
Combining multiple artistic formats, this intimate portrait is a transnational meditation through time and space of an international art student studying abroad in the United States.
Struggling with finding her artistic voice, Jessie is an aspiring photographer and art student trying to balance her role as a daughter in her larger family.
After the fall of Saigon in 1975, Thao and Sao Maï, two sisters separated by the war, exchange letters to connect and relieve their loneliness.
Subverting the body-horror genre, Fresh Blood follows 14-year-old Maya, who is left to process her own fears of entering womanhood alone when she gets her first period.
A video poem about one woman's longing and desire for another whom she is shy to approach.
Set in a rural coastal village in the Philippines, Mona trains under her mother to start work as a professional mourner for hire.
Commissioned by the Polaris Music Prize to honour the 2020 shortlist nomination of Pantayo’s self-titled debut, Huwag Mataranta! follows BB, who finds her power in a mystical night market run by figures of Filipino folklore.
Wistful and witty, director Viv Li succinctly recounts the nine days she spends in her hometown of Beijing after being abroad for 10 years.
Imperfectly Complete features a resonating performance from Burmese American Chrissy Aung in the role of Lucy, who struggles whether to reveal the truth of herself when the blind guitarist she cares for is about to regain his vision.
Independence Day takes a shallow-end dive in presenting what a picnic might look like within the Filipinx diasporic experience in North America.
A disquieting fable with dark humour, a child tries to gain her father's affection, but the family dog proves to be a fierce rival.
On a late summer day, Wutt Yee plans to chase a better chance in life at the cost of neglecting her own happiness.
Looking to pick up something new? In this lesson, Kayla teaches you conversational phrases, common expressions, and much, much more in Tagalog.
Tenderly dedicated to their chosen family, Sky, a non-binary Chinese American drag sensation, returns to their hometown and ends up confronting their estranged father about childhood memories that continue to haunt them.
76-year-old Arturo Madrid reminisces on the hardships, wonders, and realities of migrating from the Philippines to the United States in this tender and poetic documentary.
One night, Seolgi is lying on a grass field with friends when a shooting star falls and dark intrusive thoughts hit her, bursting with movement and blooming bright colours.
Two Filipino Canadians candidly reflect on how separating from their mothers during immigration has affected their mental health and family cohesion.
Nectar is a portrait film that explores the beauty and complexities of fatness, queerness, race, joy, desire, and body autonomy.
After losing his best friend, an elderly pug named Henry must depend on his owner for help.
A film you won’t forget, One Night Elsewhere takes place in a sleepy rural village, offering a surrealistic countryside night journey with a monk, a villager, and a piece of meat.
When a highly respectable family moves into the neighborhood, Kira grows suspicious of her new neighbors' seemingly flawless daughter.
Inspired by director Aiken Chau’s experiences at the dinner table, a fly wreaks havoc on a family's dinner at a restaurant.
Inspired by the 12th- to 13th-century Japanese picture scroll Bird and Beast Character Caricature, this animation presents one unfolding scroll featuring Japanese and English wordplay through marine animals.
When Frances and her children come upon a seemingly abandoned little girl, their attempts to help have unforeseen consequences.
While offering a proper funeral to a severed bird’s head, Ah Ger is unexpectedly visited by the ghost of her grandmother, who urges her to help find and care for her egg.
Sentient and existential, Sushi begins to wonder if there’s more to life than serving himself out to consumers.
Life at home for Maya isn’t the best, but things are different when she’s with her friend, Neelam. After a heated argument with her parents, Maya goes over to Neelam’s. The tensions that rise between them reveal the undeniable love and hurt they carry.
In Los Angeles’s Chinatown, Sammi tries to help her parents keep their seafood restaurant afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A modern retelling of an Indonesian myth of the same name, Anjani struggles to regain control as her mother tries to sell the house that doubled as her father's puppetry studio.
Aisha believes it was the endless rain, while Ambadi insists it was the sea. Amid their bickering, three children embark on a quest to trace the origins of their village stream.
An endearing portrait of director Ian Bawa’s father as he attempts to give life and marital advice to his bodybuilding and image-obsessed son in this hybrid semi-autobiographical short.
Amid a textured beauty salon and late-night vibes full of tension, Pich navigates her restrained interest in the delivery man, who spends his evenings driving through Phnom Penh's streets.
Sweet Memories is an ode to nostalgic memories of childhood crushes, featuring the 1977 Hawaiian track “Lihue” by Nohelani Cypriano.
Dokkaebi (Korean goblins) watch our deeds and may choose to help or punish us accordingly. This Short/Documentary/Music Video explores different aspects of Dokkaebi via original music that incorporates a mix of traditional Korean drumming with rock, jazz, and turntables.
After 91 years of continuous operation, a camera captures the last breath of Nakagawa Photo Studio, the first photo studio in northern Peru founded by Masao Nakagawa.
The echoes of grief linger decades after in a South Asian family that didn’t—couldn’t—get around to talking about it.
All cards are on the table when Noor brings Luz home for the first time on the family's annual game night.
Trina encounters another version of herself as a paramilitary fighter for the Tamil Tigers and begins to question the ways in which we rebel.
Actors Ahn So-yo and Kim Jae-rok return in director Albert Shin’s latest film as two anonymous strangers who meet in a motel room by the sea.
A fresh take on the Malaysian female monster Penanggalan, Chin is an overworked nurse at the maternity ward who finds joy when she is alone and can finally eat.
In the middle of a raging winter storm, 350 women from across Canada met in Winnipeg to attend the 1986 National Conference of Immigrant & Visible Minority Women to form a national organization representing the needs of two million Canadians.
watering is a semi-autobiographical short film through which the filmmaker reflects on the passing of their childhood dog, and how it continues to inform their navigation of daily life.
Filmmaker Christine Wu wayfinds her shifting relationship to Hong Kong, as someone who is now observing the region from afar.
Aishwarya Narayanan clashes with her coach father and questions the meaning of success while vying for a spot at the prestigious National Spelling Bee.
A young, queer, non-binary, Muslim storyteller walks us through the spaces and people that have shaped her healing and growth from some of the most trying moments in her past.
Set across three separate timelines, a couple struggle to openly love each other.
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is a unique showcase of contemporary Asian cinema and work from Asia and the Asian diaspora. Works include films and videos by artists in Canada, the U.S., Asia and all over the world. As Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival, Reel Asian provides a public forum for Asian media artists and their work, and fuels the growing appreciation for Asian cinema in Canada.
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