SUNS

Canada, Philippines20154 minMusic

A music-video collaboration between dance troupe Hataw and Candido’s music project A La Una (née Datu).

Romeo Candido is a CSA winner and proud Filipino Canadian story teller with experience in film, television, theatre, documentary and advertising. Recent credits include writing / directing a film for the NBA called SHORTY, directing on S29 of THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES, directing two episodes of the upcoming CIRCUIT BREAKERS for Apple TV and writing an episode of the hit comedy SON OF A CRITCH. He is currently the co-showrunner of S8 of popular dance series The Next Step for CBBC and YTV. His ten part musical series TOPLINE, which he serves as creator, writer, director and composer premiered to rave reviews on CBC Gem March 31 2022. His original musical PRISON DANCER will have its world premiere as a stage musical at the Citadel Theatre in spring of 2023.

This film is a part of the Retro Screenings Online programme presenting a collection of short and mid-length work from Candido’s career.

Rating

KUYA

Canada, Philippines320028 minMusic

A fly-on-the-wall look at the early days of R&B group Kuya as they perform for New York’s top labels.

Rating

This film is a part of the Retro Screenings Online programme presenting a collection of short and mid-length work from Candido’s career.

DANCERS PICK UP YOUR BAMBOO

Canada, Philippines200226 minDocumentary

A documentary following members of the Toronto Filipinx Canadian community preparing for Fiesta.

Rating

This film is a part of the Retro Screenings Online programme presenting a collection of short and mid-length work from Candido’s career.

Retro Screenings Online and Artist Talk

Canada, PhilippinesEnglish and other languages with English subtitles

Presenting a collection of short and mid-length work from Romeo Candido's career.

PRISON DANCER

Canada, Philippines201260 minComedy, Dance, Drama

Inspired by the real-life dancing rehabilitation program that became a worldwide viral sensation on YouTube, Prison Dancer details the poignant and hilarious stories of six prison dancers who turned a maximum-security prison into a world stage.

DANCERS PICK UP YOUR BAMBOO

Canada, Philippines200226 minDocumentary

A documentary following members of the Toronto Filipinx Canadian community preparing for Fiesta.

KUYA

Canada, Philippines320028 minMusic

A fly-on-the-wall look at the early days of R&B group Kuya as they perform for New York’s top labels.

SUNS

Canada, Philippines20154 minMusic

A music-video collaboration between dance troupe Hataw and Candido’s music project A La Una (née Datu).

SHORTY

Canada, Philippines20218 minMusic

In Shorty, a father gives his daughter a history lesson of the greatest small NBA players to illustrate that height isn’t all you need.

An NBA Films for Fans created by a partnership with the OLG and Toronto Film Festival, SHORT Y is part of collection of short films commemorating the NBA's 75th anniversary

ROLLING LONGANIZA

Canada, Philippines200412 minComedy

This collaboration with comedian Ron Josol is a farcical time capsule of Asian male aughts humour.

9 Nov, 2022

to 20 Nov, 2022

Online

This shorts programme will be shown exclusively online from Nov 9 – 20. The ROMEO CANDIDO RETRO VOD PASS will give FREE access to

Ang Pamana: The Inheritance
Prison Dancer
Lolo’s Child
All the Romeo Candido shorts
The pre-recorded artist talk between Romeo and Amanda Paris

ROMEO CANDIDO RETRO VOD PASS

Rating

Accessibility:

TBA

Artist Talk

Join Romeo Candido and writer director Amanda Parris as they discuss Candido’s career.

PRISON DANCER

Canada, Philippines201260 minComedy, Dance, Drama

Rating

This film is a part of the Retro Screenings Online programme presenting a collection of short and mid-length work from Candido’s career.

Retrospective Screenings – ANG PAMANA: THE INHERITANCE

Canada, Philippines2006105 minutesEnglishDrama, Music

Inspired by age-old Filipino folklore, this frightening thriller is a chilling story about the resurfacing of dark family secrets. When word arrives that grandmother Lola has died, Johnny and his sister Anna travel back to the Philippines to learn that they’ve inherited the matriarch’s country estate. They begin to realize that not only is the farm haunted by Lola’s ghost, but also deeply connected to perilous supernatural forces.

With no way out, Johnny must call upon Lola’s legendary lessons to vanquish monsters and ultimately save his family from doom. Featuring an almost entirely Canadian cast, this modern-traditional horror flick breathes some fresh Filipino life into the genre.

– Heather Keung

Cast

Darrel Gamotin
Nadine Villasin
Phoemela Baranda
Nicco Lorenzo Garcia
Caroline Mangosing

Director Bio

9 Nov, 2022

to 20 Nov, 2022

Online

Innis Town Hall
2 Sussex Av
Toronto

Tickets for this screening will be distributed subject to availability at the venue on a first-come/first-served basis.

This screening will be online from Nov 9 – 20. The ROMEO CANDIDO RETRO VOD PASS will give FREE access to

Ang Pamana: The Inheritance
Prison Dancer
Lolo’s Child
All the Romeo Candido shorts
The pre-recorded artist talk between Romeo and Amanda Paris

ROMEO CANDIDO RETRO VOD PASS

Screening Sponsor

Rating

Rated PG

Accessibility

Available captions will be updated closer to the festival dates.

This screening is part of the Canadian Spotlight: Romeo Candido programme.

MOVING ON

Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea202275 minutesEnglish and other languages with English subtitlesAnimation, Docu-fiction, Drama, Experimental, Women Filmmakers

These films do not shy away from difficult and layered stories, distant memories, and buried feelings. Our characters ground, trace, and reconnect pathways toward recognizing the resiliency within oneself through their roots and relations to the places around them.

IN THE DRY STREAM
유빈과 건

South Korea202226 minutes Korean and Jeju dialect with English subtitlesDrama, Women Filmmakers

Deep in the dry stream, Yu-bin and Geon are each other’s only friends. To them, this place is the best hideout and playground—but no one seems to understand.

ACCESSIBILITY

This film is presented with open English subtitles in-person and digitally.

Director Bio

Kang Ji-hyo

Kang Ji-hyo majored in film studies in college. Her previous short film Interpreting Hyun-ju (2020) won the Grand Prize at Aichi International Women’s Film Festival, and screened in festivals locally and internationally.

UYAFAAFUJI’S REFUSAL: AN ODE TO THE YANBARU

Canada, USA202111 minutesEnglish and Uchinaaguchi with English and Japanese textDocumentary, Experimental, Family

Director Shō Yamagushiku presents a poetic and sensorial tribute to ancestors in Okinawa: “Our uyafaafuji (ancestors) appear to intervene in our daily lives, refusing to let us forget, refusing to let us compromise, and refusing to let us live restrained by the laws of the nations that seek to claim us.”

ACCESSIBILITY

This film is presented with open English subtitles in-person and digitally.

RATING

RATED G

Director Bio

Shō Yamagushiku

Shō Yamagushiku’s creative practice is grounded in a diasporic islander consciousness. He is committed to cultivating the space to tell difficult and complicated stories in hopes of dismantling the separation and stagnation that inform the world he was born into.

THE HOUSE OF BRICK AND STONE

Malaysia202216 minutes English, Malay, Tamil and Mandarin with English subtitlesDocu-fiction

In the aftermath of the world's greatest financial sham in 2015, this docu-fiction follows a Malaysian child who finds solace and guidance from an unlikely figurehead.

ACCESSIBILITY

This film is presented with open English subtitles in-person and digitally.

RATING

RATED PG

Content Warning: Trauma, Criminality

Director Bio

Ananth Subramaniam

Ananth Subramaniam is a Malaysian-based filmmaker and architect. His films often explore his ancestral identity and family within the context of a multi-layered genre.

A FELLER AND THE TREE

Canada20223 minutesTamil with English subtitlesExperimental

A feller cuts down a forest until he arrives at the last tree standing. The tree confronts the feller.

ACCESSIBILITY

This film is presented with open English subtitles in-person and digitally.

Director Bio

Kalainithan Kalaichelvan

Kalainithan Kalaichelvan is a Toronto-based filmmaker known for directing music videos for some of Toronto’s leading artists, and was nominated for a Juno Award for Music Video of the Year in 2022.

2166

Australia20224 minutesEnglish, Mandarin, Vietnamese and Cantonese with English subtitlesAnimation, Women Filmmakers

Snippets of daily lives and sensory experiences, children and the elderly, workers, gossiping aunties and the overwhelming feeling you get when you’re in Cabramatta that memories are constantly being created all around you.

ACCESSIBILITY

This film is presented with open English subtitles in-person and digitally.

Director Bio

Anna Phuong Nguyen, Winston Liu, Lilian Yu Wen Cao

Lilian Yu Wen Cao, Winston Liu and Anna Phuong Nguyen are all recent graduates of University of Technology Sydney. Filled with childhood memories and nostalgia, 2166 is a love letter to Cabramatta and Canley Vale.

THE HEADHUNTER’S DAUGHTER

Philippines202115 minutes Ilokano with English subtitlesDrama

Lynn leaves her family behind and traverses the harrowing roads of the Cordilleran highlands to try her luck in the city as a country singer.

ACCESSIBILITY

This film is presented with open English subtitles in-person and digitally.

RATING

Rated PG

Director Bio

Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan

Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan is an independent filmmaker born of Ifugao and Visayan descent. The Headhunter’s Daughter premiered at Sundance 2022, where it won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize.

10 Nov, 2022 6:30 pm

Online
TIFF Bell Lightbox 4

The screening for Moving On 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.

IN-PERSON TICKETS

SHORTS VOD PASS

Rating

Rated PG

Q&A: MOVING ON

Join us for a Q&A immediately after the theatrical presentation with attending guests from this shorts programme, moderated by Julienne Discutido.

Julienne Discutido

Julienne (she/her) is a Filipino-Canadian film programmer dedicated to elevating the work of emerging filmmakers. She is currently a programming assistant at the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, involved with the Canadian Screen Awards and Talent Development programs. This is her third year as part of Reel Asian’s Programming Committee. Her favourite things to watch are horror, documentary, and cult films. She is also a strong enthusiast of any potato dish.

THE HEADHUNTER’S DAUGHTER

Philippines202115 minutes Ilokano with English subtitlesDrama

Lynn leaves her family behind and traverses the harrowing roads of the Cordilleran highlands to try her luck in the city as a country singer.

ACCESSIBILITY

This film is presented with open English subtitles in-person and digitally.

RATING

Rated PG

Directors Bio

Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan

This film is part of the Moving On shorts programme.

FEEL THE BEAT

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.

LITTLE SKY
小天

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.

Accessibility

Active Listener symbol 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.

Content Warning:

This film contains the potentially triggering topics of implied domestic aggression, family separation, and queerphobic parents.

Director Bio

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.

A GUITAR IN THE BUCKET
버킷

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.

Accessibility

This presentation has English subtitles.

Director Bio

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).

EXCUSE ME, MISS, MISS, MISS

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.

Accessibility

This presentation has English subtitles.

Director Bio

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.

HUWAG MATARANTA!

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.

Director Bio

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.

IMPERFECTLY COMPLETE

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.

Accessibility

This presentation has English subtitles.

Director Bio

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.

1978

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.

Accessibility

This presentation has English subtitles.

Director Bio

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

BUY TICKETS

BUY STUDENT • SENIOR • ARTS WORKER • UN(DER)WAGED TICKETS

Rating

Community Supporters

The Asian Canadian

AQUA | Asian Queer Alliance

Small World Music

Isa Magazine

SITES OF AFFECT

Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, China, Philippines, South Korea, USA202176 minEnglish and various languages with English SubtitlesAnimation, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Women Filmmakers

Recognizing the in/tangible ways feelings and relations can influence one’s actions, these six films tenderly hold the complexities of characters, places, and memories that are more than enough just as they are.

TOGETHER
함께

Canada, South Korea202112 minKorean with English subtitlesDrama

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.

Accessibility

This presentation has English subtitles.

Active Listener symbol 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.

Content Warning:

This film contains the potentially triggering topics of suicide.

Director Bio

Albert Shin

Albert Shin is a Toronto-based filmmaker. His films include In Her Place (2014) and Disappearance at Clifton Hill (2019).

I DON’T FEEL AT HOME ANYWHERE ANYMORE

Belgium, China202016 minMandarin with English subtitlesNorth American PremiereDocumentary, Women Filmmakers

Wistful and witty, director Viv Li succinctly recounts the nine days she spends in her hometown of Beijing after being abroad for 10 years.

Accessibility

This presentation has English subtitles.

Director Bio

Viv Li

Viv Li is a Chinese filmmaker, writer, and comedian based in Berlin and Beijing. Before turning to film directing, she was an active standup comedian and performed around the U.K. and China.

MISERY LOVES COMPANY

South Korea20203 minKorean with English subtitlesAnimation, Music, Women Filmmakers

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.

Accessibility

This presentation has English subtitles.

Active Listener symbol 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.

Content Warning:

This film contains the potentially triggering topic of suicide.

Director Bio

Sasha Lee

Sasha Lee directs and animates short films that explore the connection between humans, using dramatic motion and vibrant colors. During her free time, she writes idiosyncratic songs that make her happy.

LEARNING TAGALOG WITH KAYLA

USA20214 minEnglish, Tagalog with English subtitlesToronto PremiereComedy, Women Filmmakers

Looking to pick up something new? In this lesson, Kayla teaches you conversational phrases, common expressions, and much, much more in Tagalog.

Accessibility

This presentation has English subtitles.

Director Bio

Kayla Abuda Galang

Kayla Abuda Galang is a second-ish-generation Filipino American making films rooted in nostalgia, everyday absurdity, and girlhood. She is based in Austin, Texas, with her partner and two cats.

SUNRISE IN MY MIND

Cambodia202014 minKhmer with English subtitlesOntario PremiereDrama, Women Filmmakers

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.

Accessibility

This presentation has English subtitles.

Director Bio

Danech San

Danech San has worked on projects with Anti-Archive since 2015, including Diamond Island (2016). Her first and previous short film, A Million Years (2018), won Best Southeast Asian Short at Singapore IFF 2018.

HILUM
REMEDY

Philippines202027 minTagalog with English subtitlesCanadian Premiere

Set in a rural coastal village in the Philippines, Mona trains under her mother to start work as a professional mourner for hire.

Accessibility

This presentation has English subtitles.

Director Bio

Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan

Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan is an independent filmmaker, musician, and poster designer of Ifugao and Visayan descent. Eblahan’s works explore themes of trauma, spirituality, and nature, told through the cosmic lens of post-colonial spaces and Indigenous identities.

10 Nov, 2021

to 19 Nov, 2021

BUY TICKETS

BUY STUDENT • SENIOR • ARTS WORKER • UN(DER)WAGED TICKETS

Rating

Community Supporters

JAYU

Sisterhood Media

SUNS

Rating

KUYA

Rating

DANCERS PICK UP YOUR BAMBOO

Rating

Retro Screenings Online and Artist Talk

PRISON DANCER

DANCERS PICK UP YOUR BAMBOO

KUYA

SUNS

SHORTY

ROLLING LONGANIZA

Rating

Accessibility:

Artist Talk

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PRISON DANCER

Rating

Retrospective Screenings – ANG PAMANA: THE INHERITANCE

Cast

Director Bio

Screening Sponsor

Rating

Accessibility

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MOVING ON

IN THE DRY STREAM유빈과 건

Director Bio

UYAFAAFUJI’S REFUSAL: AN ODE TO THE YANBARU

Director Bio

THE HOUSE OF BRICK AND STONE

Director Bio

A FELLER AND THE TREE

Director Bio

2166

Director Bio

THE HEADHUNTER’S DAUGHTER

Director Bio

Rating

Q&A: MOVING ON

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FEEL THE BEAT

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Accessibility

Content Warning:

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A GUITAR IN THE BUCKET버킷

Accessibility

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EXCUSE ME, MISS, MISS, MISS

Accessibility

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HUWAG MATARANTA!

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IMPERFECTLY COMPLETE

Accessibility

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1978

Accessibility

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SITES OF AFFECT

TOGETHER함께

Accessibility

Content Warning:

Director Bio

I DON’T FEEL AT HOME ANYWHERE ANYMORE

Accessibility

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MISERY LOVES COMPANY

Accessibility

Content Warning:

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LEARNING TAGALOG WITH KAYLA

Accessibility

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A GUITAR IN THE BUCKET
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