This film is part of the Shorts Presentation: UNDERCURRENTS shorts programme.
Myanmar202310 minBurmeseAnimation, Available Online, Directed By Women, Experimental
Photographic sequences painted with golds and greys animate the guilt from a childhood incident of killing an ant while washing hands in the sink, reflecting the realms of cosmos, power, guilt, prayers, and existence.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
Moe Myat May Zarchi
Moe Myat May Zarchi is a filmmaker, cultural practitioner, and audiovisual artist from Myanmar whose practice spans 10 years.
This film is part of the Shorts Presentation: UNDERCURRENTS shorts programme.
17 Nov, 2024 4:00 pm
TIFF Lightbox C4Canada, Hong Kong, India, Myanmar, South Korea2023-2024TRT: 89 minVarious languages
Seemingly stagnant on the surface, in motion underneath. These five short films trace and retrace what movements and stories might exist within us and beyond, pulling us in unexpected directions.
For: those asking questions; seeking mood-setting films and non-linear narratives
Canada202418 minEnglish, Indonesian2slgbtq+, Available Online, Directed By Women, Drama, Experimental
In 1998 Indonesia, two girls promise to stay friends forever. Twenty-five years later, after experiencing a traumatic event, Emily dreams about Rosa, her childhood friend.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
*Amanda Ann-Min Wong
Amanda Ann-Min Wong (they/she) is a Toronto-based filmmaker. Originally from Southeast Asia, their work often explores memory, nostalgia, and community from a tenderly crafted diasporic perspective.
India202415 minKonkaniAvailable Online, Drama
Two young women from a small village discuss the recent mysterious vanishing of Leela. Is there any truth in the rumours about her disappearance?
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
Tanmay Chowdhary
Tanmay Chowdhary is a filmmaker who works across a breadth of mediums including music videos, narratives, documentaries, and commercials. He founded a boutique production house called Peru Films in 2020 to champion underrepresented voices.
Hong Kong202314 minCantoneseAnimation, Available Online
A goldfish's dream of returning into her wild form uproars her long-forgotten memories, while a self-conscious monsoon is about to be uninhibited.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: this film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
Jay Hiukit Wong & Ellis Kayin Chan
Jay Hiukit Wong is a Hong Kong animation director, animator, illustrator, and comic artist.
Ellis Kayin Chan is a Barcelona-based Hong Kong animation director, animator, and visual artist.
Myanmar202310 minBurmeseAnimation, Available Online, Directed By Women, Experimental
Photographic sequences painted with golds and greys animate the guilt from a childhood incident of killing an ant while washing hands in the sink, reflecting the realms of cosmos, power, guilt, prayers, and existence.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
Moe Myat May Zarchi
Moe Myat May Zarchi is a filmmaker, cultural practitioner, and audiovisual artist from Myanmar whose practice spans 10 years.
Canada, South Korea202432 MinEnglish, Korean, FrenchAvailable Online, Directed By Women, Documentary, Experimental, History
A prismatic exploration recounting the 1950s visit of Parisian elites led by Chris Marker and Claude Lanzmann in the newly formed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the communist state that claims the allegiance of the filmmaker’s grandmother during the Korean War.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
*Helen Lee
Helen Lee is a Seoul-born, Toronto-based filmmaker whose works explore intersectionalities of place, identity, and sexuality. She works in fiction and essay films, featuring diasporic gendered subjects from feminist and transnational perspectives.
17 Nov, 2024 4:00 pm
TIFF Lightbox C4PG
Tickets for the in-cinema presentation have gone into advance rush. No more public advance tickets are available. Please join the rush line on the day of the screening when we will release unclaimed holds and reserves.
We can usually get everyone in the rush line in but rush tickets are strictly subject to availability and not guaranteed. Rush lines start an hour before the first screening of the day so the earlier you join the rush line the better your chances.
DIGITAL SHORTS
All shorts are available online via a Shorts VOD Pass. Valid from 10AM on Monday, Nov 18 thru 11:59PM on Sunday, Nov 24, 2024.
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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 book accessible seats.
Shan, an immigrant from Dongbei, China, settles in Markham, Ont., a suburb known for its welcoming Chinese community. There, Kevin, a fellow Dongbei local, pulls him into a scheme to rob a Japanese restaurant stealing business from Chinese locals. After the heist goes horribly wrong, they delve into the streets of Markham in a series of chaotic episodes
Closing out the 28th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, join us for the live So You Think You Can Pitch competition.
Trouble seems to follow Jie and his family. Training to be a competitive fencer, Jie is lost, haunted by the childhood memory of a near-drowning incident with his menacing older brother Han. Years later, a teenage Han is imprisoned after killing a competitor during a fencing match (by accident, he swears). Meanwhile, Jie's mother has been spiteful and distant ever since, with no love to give her younger son. So when Han is finally released from prison, Jie is desperate to have some family love restored — and eager for some helpful fencing and boyfriend dating tips, too. But is Han’s reformed presence for real?
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.
Content Warning: Depictions of blood and self-harm
This film is part of the Shorts Presentation: HERE WE ARE shorts programme.
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.
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.
Visit the PIGEONHOLE, nest and rest from the festival chaos, listen to collaborative pigeon music, watch raw footage, compose your own ditties, and collage a flock of desired futures together with other attendees. Check the festival website or rarara.ca for a full program schedule including artist talks and facilitated collage sessions.
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
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.
Chloe Abrahams’ debut feature, is an enveloping, hypnotic, urgently personal meditation on family, memory, identity, violence, and love.
Directed by Meredith Hama-Brown. Judith, a Japanese Canadian woman, and her reluctant white husband attend a week-long couple’s retreat on a coastal British Columbia island, their two daughters in tow. With Judith grieving the recent loss of her mother, and her connection to her Japanese Canadian identity, the couple’s disconnect grows as she finds herself infatuated with another, seemingly perfect, interracial couple at the retreat.
Canada, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, USA202181 minEnglish and various languages with English subtitles Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Non-binary Filmmakers, Women Filmmakers
Sing along to this collection of short films featuring characters who find themselves confronting systemic, structural, and personal challenges, all while defying conventional narratives and reconstructing alternative possibilities of storytelling.
Canada, USA202114 min English, Mandarin, Cantonese with English subtitlesToronto PremiereDrama, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Non-binary Filmmakers
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.
An Active Listener will be available to offer one-on-one peer support for viewers who may find the content of this presentation triggering. More info on how to access here.
This film contains the potentially triggering topics of implied domestic aggression, family separation, and queerphobic parents.
Jess X. Snow
Jess X. Snow is a non-binary film director, artist, poet, and community-arts educator who creates queer, Asian, immigrant stories that transcend borders, binaries, and time.
South Korea202115 min Korean with English subtitlesNorth American PremiereAnimation, Women Filmmakers
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.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Boyoung Kim
Boyoung Kim is a Korean animator and independent filmmaker. She is the creator of animated short films Replacement (2013), Impersonation (2014), Prey (2015), and The Levers (2018).
Philippines202116 min Tagalog with English subtitlesCanadian PremiereDrama
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.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Sonny Calvento
Sonny Calvento is a writer, director, and producer from the Philippines. Reflective of the Filipino psyche in finding humor in tragedies, Calvento is interested in tackling the sometimes-farcical life in the Philippines.
Canada20214 min Tagalog with English subtitlesLGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Music, Women Filmmakers
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.
Tricia Hagoriles
Tricia Hagoriles is an award-winning, Toronto-based filmmaker who received the inaugural Inside Out + OUTtv Outspoken Documentary Financing Fund for her upcoming work, The Archivist.
Myanmar, USA202115 min English, Burmese with English subtitlesCanadian PremiereDrama, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers
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.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Bruce Chiu
Born and raised in Taiwan, Bruce Chiu is a writer, director, and cinematographer based in Los Angeles. Chiu is passionate about telling stories for social issues.
Canada, Pakistan202017 min English, Urdu with English subtitlesDrama
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.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Hamza Bangash
Hamza Bangash is an award-winning Pakistani Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer. An alumnus of both the Locarno and Asian filmmakers academies, his artistic practice is based out of Karachi.
10 Nov, 2021
to 19 Nov, 2021
PG
Narrative in Other Mediums is a panel that brings together creatives working in formats like video games, music videos, and commercials to discuss their experience and expertise with narrative construction and creative direction.
Aman, a young aspiring writer, moved to Kuala Lumpur to follow his dreams, but all he has is his late father’s old car and nowhere to live. To make ends meet, he uses his room on wheels to illegally earn money through a driving-service app. This is how he meets Bella, a student from Penang.
Set up on a pre-arranged date by their old-fashioned Indian parents, Ravi (Karan Soni) and Rita (Geraldine Viswanathan) seem to have nothing in common, which makes their first encounter comically awkward.
Myanmar, USA202115 min English, Burmese with English subtitlesCanadian PremiereDrama, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers
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.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Bruce Chiu
Born and raised in Taiwan, Bruce Chiu is a writer, director, and cinematographer based in Los Angeles. Chiu is passionate about telling stories for social issues.
Myanmar202014 minBurmese with English subtitlesDrama
Employees at a plasticware store, Sithu and Min Htet, plan a mission for Sithu to elope with a girl.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Myo Thar Khin
Myo Thar Khin is a final-year film student at the National University of Arts and Culture, Yangon. His previous short, ¼ Wasted, won the New Vision Award at the Wathann Film Festival in 2019.
Myanmar202010 minBurmese with English subtitlesDrama, Women Filmmakers
A girl is in love with her adopted brother—but he is engaged.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Sxar Kiss
From Shwebo, Sxar Kiss is currently studying filmmaking at the National University of Arts and Culture, Yangon. She made her first film First Phile at the age of 19.
Myanmar202011 minBurmese with English subtitlesDrama
Confronting intergenerational trauma, two sons of a Karen woman reunite with their father, a former Air Force officer.
This presentation has English subtitles.
An Active Listener will be available to offer one-on-one peer support for viewers who may find the content of this presentation triggering. More info on how to access here.
This film contains the potentially triggering topics of war, intergenerational trauma, and implied rape.
Kaung Myat Thu Kyaw
Kaung Myat Thu Kyaw loves making films and is a learner in the film industry.
Myanmar202022 minBurmese with English subtitlesDrama, Women Filmmakers
On a late summer day, Wutt Yee plans to chase a better chance in life at the cost of neglecting her own happiness.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Nay Wunn Ni
At the age of 17, Nay Wunn Ni dropped out of college to pursue filmmaking. Since then, she has eagerly self-learned filmmaking while freelancing with multiple production houses in town.
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
