This film is part of the Shorts Presentation: HERE WE ARE shorts programme.
Iran, New Zealand20224 minFarsi with English subtitlesAnimation, Directed By Women, Experimental
Back-and-forth movement blends discrete pictures into each other, contrasting the memory of innocent childhood life in a remote, peaceful environment against the surrounding political affairs of post-revolutionary Iran.
Zahra Salarnia
Zahra Salarnia is an Iranian artist based in New Zealand. She seeks to explore alternative and unconventional methods for making and presenting animation.
This film is part of the Shorts Presentation: HERE WE ARE shorts programme.
In our inaugural First Films event, award-winning Asian Canadian filmmakers show the first films they’ve ever made. They will reveal their origin stories—that time they caught the movie bug; the place their creative voices first started cracking.
Chloe Abrahams’ debut feature, is an enveloping, hypnotic, urgently personal meditation on family, memory, identity, violence, and love.
The Sari-Sari Xchange is a project that seeks to amplify Asian representation in the creative emerging media industries in Canada, particularly through a community-building residency program that engages artists with digital and extended reality (XR) technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, 360 cinema, game-engine animation, and 3D scanning.
Iran202377 minPersian with English subtitlesToronto Premiere
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. Featuring dynamic and fine-tuned performances, the 11 vignettes with conversations (and confrontations) between onscreen citizens and offscreen interrogators are striking in their ability to feel absurd and regrettably real at the same time, a place where the mundane and the menace coexist. Through these stories, we see how citizens respond to and resist these restraints until the final vignette’s staggering conclusion.
Alireza Khatami and Ali Asgari’s most recent collaboration came together after authorities shut down one of Khatami’s films. The two drew solace from Ghazal poetry, directly citing the poet and filmmaker Forugh Farrokhzad’s poem, “Terrestrial Verses.” Deceptively simple and brilliantly composed, Khatami and Asgari’s Terrestrial Verses emerged from the Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran and draws upon empathetic connections to how ordinary people everywhere navigate and struggle in relation to power.
– Aram Siu Wai Collier
Majid Salehi
Gouhar Kheirandish
Sadaf Asgari
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard, 2023
Alireza Khatami & Ali Asgari
Alireza Khatami is an award-winning Iranian American filmmaker based in Canada. Born into the indigenous Khamseh tribe in Iran, he is influenced by his heritage’s rich storytelling traditions. His films poignantly investigate the interconnection of memory, trauma, and power dynamics, often through a philosophical lens and with a dark sense of humor.
Ali Asgari is a prominent figure in Iranian cinema, with more than 200 awards to his name. His films focus on the precarious lives of individuals living on the margins of society in Iran.
PG
12 Nov, 2023 2:30 pm
TIFF Bell Lightbox C3–
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 Alireza Khatami.
In our inaugural First Films event, award-winning Asian Canadian filmmakers show the first films they’ve ever made. They will reveal their origin stories—that time they caught the movie bug; the place their creative voices first started cracking.
The Sari-Sari Xchange is a project that seeks to amplify Asian representation in the creative emerging media industries in Canada, particularly through a community-building residency program that engages artists with digital and extended reality (XR) technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, 360 cinema, game-engine animation, and 3D scanning.
There’s no need to be certain about what’s next as this collection of shorts places us in a position to face specific pivotal moments of reckoning. Whether we’re feeling stuck or turbulent in the chaos of transition, can we remain gentle to ourselves?
Canada, Indonesia, Iran, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, USA2022-2023TRT: 1h37Indonesian, Mandarin, Dutch, Farsi, Tamil, Burmese, English, Cebuano, TagalogAnimation, Dark Comedy, Directed By Women, Drama, Experimental, History, Science Fiction
Societal, political, and magical forces at play beyond our control, this programme brings together a variety of filmmaking approaches to reflect on what can remain in troubling times, and along with it, agency to construct the narrative.
*Directors in attendance starred.
Canada, Indonesia202321 minIndonesian, Mandarin, Dutch with English subtitlesDirected By Women, Drama, Science Fiction
In a post-New Order Jakarta, native Indonesians (Pribumi) are legalized to perform the black magic ritual babi ngepet to balance their economy against Chinese Indonesians.
*Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto
Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto is an Indonesian writer and director currently residing in Toronto. Her works explore genre films as a medium to depict current political, social, and cultural issues.
Iran, New Zealand20224 minFarsi with English subtitlesAnimation, Directed By Women, Experimental
Back-and-forth movement blends discrete pictures into each other, contrasting the memory of innocent childhood life in a remote, peaceful environment against the surrounding political affairs of post-revolutionary Iran.
Zahra Salarnia
Zahra Salarnia is an Iranian artist based in New Zealand. She seeks to explore alternative and unconventional methods for making and presenting animation.
Canada, India, Sri Lanka202318 minTamil with English subtitlesDrama, History
In a small village in northern Sri Lanka, a young girl is forced to confront the consequences of a deadly civil war as a wounded freedom fighter is brought into their home.
*Kalainithan Kalaichelvan
Kalainithan Kalaichelvan is a Tamil Canadian writer, director, and producer whose films have screened at festivals such as the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Rhode Island International Film Festival, and Reel Asian.
Myanmar202218 minBurmese with English subtitles2slgbtq+, Drama, Romance
Out of work and forced to marry a man she dislikes, young San Kyi plans to run away with her best friend, but complications unfold.
Aung Phyoe
Aung Phyoe is a writer, director, and film editor. He’s currently working on his first feature length film Fruit Gathering.
USA202314 minFarsi with English subtitlesDirected By Women, Drama, History
In the height of the Iran–Iraq war, Caroline takes the final car ride with her father through the Iranian countryside.
Julia Elihu
Julia Elihu is an Iranian American writer, director, and producer.
Philippines202322 minEnglish, Cebuano, and Tagalog with English subtitlesDark Comedy, Fiction, Monster, Science Fiction
Between nuclear reactors and military curfews, 14-year-old Jani lives in a dystopian world oppressively devoid of empathy. Together, she and her slippery new friend Kiefer the talking catfish gear up to strike a surreal blow for freedom.
Stephen Lopez
Stephen Lopez graduated from the University of Santo Tomas in 2012 with a degree in nursing. But due to the glut of underpaid health-care professionals in his country, he decided to be broke on his own terms and become a filmmaker instead.
PG
Content Warning: depictions of blood, self-harm, bullying and violence
12 Nov, 2023 2:30 pm
TIFF Bell Lightbox C4–
This programme is presented with English subtitles. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Tam Fam Lit Jam
More to the situation than what it seems, these shorts choose to examine, tease, and redefine the forces that pull us to make a decision.
Hmm … this doesn’t seem right?! This programme asks us to sit with the discomforting feelings that arise when we begin to confront the unknown in what we believe to know.
There’s no need to be certain about what’s next as this collection of shorts places us in a position to face specific pivotal moments of reckoning. Whether we’re feeling stuck or turbulent in the chaos of transition, can we remain gentle to ourselves?
Iran202110 minutesPersian with English subtitlesComedy, Drama, Women Filmmakers
A young boy feels obliged to write a will for a dying woman who lives alone.
ACCESSIBILITY
This film is presented with open English subtitles in-person and digitally.
RATING
RATED PG
Content warning: Death and dying
Ilnaz Kheyrkhah
Born in Iran, Ilnaz Kheyrkhah has a law degree from the International University of Ghazvin. Company is her first film.
This film is a part of the Encounters shorts programme.
Canada, Iran, USA72 minutesEnglish and other languages with English subtitlesAnimation, Documentary, Drama, Experimental, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Women Filmmakers
Missed chances, unspoken conversations, fated meetings, connections sparked in the most unexpected places: these shorts delve into the weight of all our relations in their fullness and in their absence.
Canada202216 minutesEnglish, Arabic and French with English subtitlesDrama, Family
Amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Montreal, Leila, who has been keeping a secret from her family, finds herself in a predicament after her father falls ill and she is called back home.
ACCESSIBILITY
This film is presented with open captions in-person and closed captions digitally.
RATING
RATED PG
Content warning: Death
Farhad Pakdel
Farhad Pakdel is a Montreal-based filmmaker whose work explores identity (de)construction, liminality, absence, place, and memory.
USA20228:00EnglishDrama, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Romance, Women Filmmakers
Maggie and Celine meet in the bathroom of a Chinese restaurant while having dinner with their respective families.
ACCESSIBILITY
This film is presented with open captions in-person and closed captions digitally.
RATING
RATED PG
Emily Jampel
Based in New York City, Emily Jampel is a filmmaker from Oʻahu who currently works as a development executive at the Oscar-nominated and Peabody Award-winning production company, the Department of Motion Pictures.
Canada20229 minutesEnglish, Japanese with English SubtitlesAnimation, Documentary, Women Filmmakers
Filmmaker Natalie Murao asks her mother, “Why have I never liked tomatoes?” It’s a simple question that leads to an unearthing of a Japanese Canadian fisherman’s story during the World War 2 internment.
ACCESSIBILITY
This film is presented with open English & Japanese subtitles in-person and digitally.
RATING
RATED PG
Content warning: Trauma, racist situation
Natalie Murao
Natalie Murao is a Yonsei filmmaker and educator from unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories, whose work explores themes of generational disconnect, personal memory, and communication.
Iran202110 minutesPersian with English subtitlesComedy, Drama, Women Filmmakers
A young boy feels obliged to write a will for a dying woman who lives alone.
ACCESSIBILITY
This film is presented with open English subtitles in-person and digitally.
RATING
RATED PG
Content warning: Death and dying
Ilnaz Kheyrkhah
Born in Iran, Ilnaz Kheyrkhah has a law degree from the International University of Ghazvin. Company is her first film.
Canada202213 minutesEnglish and Tagalog with English subtitlesDrama, Family, Women Filmmakers
Musician and songwriter Kimmortal stars as Gracie who meets the younger version of herself as the two share a common thread.
ACCESSIBILITY
This film is presented with open captions in-person and closed captions digitally.
RATING
RATED PG
Stephanie Sy
Stephanie Sy is a Filipino Chinese Canadian artist born and raised on Treaty 1 Winnipeg. Knots is Sy’s debut work as a writer and director.
Canada202220:00English and Urdu with English subtitlesComedy, Drama, Family, Sci-fi
When Imran suddenly loses his dad, an opportunity to travel back in time for an evening gives him a chance to face him again.
ACCESSIBILITY
This film is presented with open English subtitles in-person and digitally.
RATING
RATED PG
Kashif Pasta
Kashif Pasta is an award-winning director, writer, and producer using film and storytelling to tell character-driven stories centered on South Asian and Muslims with a sense of joy and wonder.
12 Nov, 2022 7:00 pm
OnlineThe screening for Encounters will be shown at TIFF Bell Lightbox 4.
This shorts programme will also be shown as an online screening from Nov 14 – 20. Purchase the shorts VOD pass to watch this programme online and all other shorts in selection at the festival.
Rated PG
Join us for a Q&A immediately after the theatrical presentation with attending guests from this shorts programme, moderated by Kelly Lui.
Romeo Candido’s latest musical foray Topline takes us into the world of topliners: the people who write the lyrics, melodies, and hooks for the industry’s biggest stars.
In 1993, UFOs suddenly appeared over key cities around the world. The huge structures remained in the sky, stationary, silent, and unknown. Twenty-nine years later, with neither the origins nor the intentions of their arrival deciphered, humanity succumbs to speculations that aliens are walking among us. This feature film will also be shown as an online screening.
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
