Canada, Philippines200182 minutesEnglishDrama, Music

Amidst a mountain of food, jokes, prayers, joints, songs and Filipino Elvis impersonations, Lolo's Child questions, criticizes and celebrates the intricate underbelly of the Filipino-Canadian community. Reel Asian's Opening Night Film in 2002.

Directors Bio

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.

USA202286 minutesEnglishCanadian PremiereDocumentary, Women Filmmakers

San Francisco, 1973. Chol Soo Lee, a young Korean American man, is charged and hastily convicted of murder in Chinatown. Only Lee wasn’t anywhere near the shooting. Marooned in prison, Lee’s case gains notoriety after journalist K.W. Lee’s investigative exposé, which inspires a new generation of Asian American activists to fight for Chol Soo Lee’s release in 1983.

But freedom is elusive in Julie Ha and Eugene Yi’s moving documentary, which covers the rise of a movement and the fall of a man too battered by prison to meet the expectations of him. Expertly layered with extensive archival footage of Lee and contemporary interviews with leaders of the freedom movement, Free Chol Soo Lee is at times a justice-system drama, and a character study—and always empathetic. And it resists the typical salaciousness of the “true crime” genre to show the true human impact, between despair and salvation, on a man yearning to be free.

- Aram Siu Wai Collier

Canada2022103 minutesEnglish, SnslxcinCanadian PremiereDocumentary

When a man from the “extinct” Sinixt people in what’s called British Columbia’s Slocan Valley challenges his deportation to the United States, the question arises: How can his people be extinct when he is very much alive? Decorated filmmaker Ali Kazimi’s new documentary traces a decades-long fight by Sinixt elder Marilyn James to have her people’s existence recognized amid threats from colonial bureaucratic erasure, corporate interests, and land claims from other groups.

Told with the hallmarks of Kazimi’s style, Beyond Extinction involves a mixture of observational footage, contemporary interviews, oral histories, survival stories told by matriarchs, and personal as well as public archives, to tell a story that’s never told before. Shot over decades from the 1990s to our present day, the temporal trajectory of the film and its featured subjects gives us vital perspective on our collective place on this land and how we choose to fight for our legacies. 

- Aram Siu Wai Collier

Canada20213 minutesEnglishDocumentary, Experimental, Women Filmmakers

A fleeting and poetic retrospect of a young woman who develops a chronic illness.

ACCESSIBILITY

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

RATING

RATED PG

Directors Bio

Shubhi Sahni

Shubhi Sahni is an Indian Canadian filmmaker based in Los Angeles and Toronto. She makes intimate films in the space between documentary and fiction. Sahni is an Annenberg Fellow at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.

India202291 minutesHindi with English subtitlesToronto PremiereDocumentary

Brothers Saud and Nadeem live in a working-class, predominantly Muslim neighbourhood in New Delhi, where they have made it their lives’ work to care for injured black kites falling from the polluted skies of the city. Having grown up with a fascination for the birds and learning early on that caring for them would keep troubles at bay, the brothers are all consumed with a mission that feels deeply as noble as it is overwhelming, with a record number of birds falling from the sky every day. 

Set in an atmosphere of social conflict with protests stemming from India’s anti-Muslim Citizenship Act, director Shaunak Sen masterfully creates a layered and visually breathtaking look into the interconnectedness of a rapidly changing ecosystem. In an evolving and increasingly hostile city, especially for their community, the brothers show us how life endures in awe-inspiring ways and how both cruelty and tenderness can be found everywhere around them. 

- Mariam Zaidi

Canada, USA202210 minutesEnglish and Mandarin with English subtitlesDrama, Family, Women Filmmakers

In the face of uncontrollable sorrow, Bo desperately suppresses a “grief flower” sprouting from his face before his big speech at his father’s funeral.

ACCESSIBILITY

This film is presented with open captions in-person and closed captions digitally.

RATING

RATED PG

Directors Bio

Wendy Xu

Wendy Xu is a rising Chinese Canadian filmmaker whose narrative recipes never fail to include just a pinch of absurdity and humour.

Singapore202210 minutesEnglish and Mandarin with English subtitlesAnimation, Comedy, Women Filmmakers

Following three separate stories, four average Singaporeans encounter a sexual situation in the course of their day.

ACCESSIBILITY

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

RATING

RATED PG

Content warning: Self-harm, blood, sexist language and situations, abortion, strobing lights

Directors Bio

Calleen Koh

Calleen Koh is BAFTA-nominated animated-film director and artist from Singapore. She loves to make people laugh but also be disturbed by her sexy, manic, animated films.

Canada20229 minutesEnglish and Urdu with English subtitlesDrama, Family

Sania must take her mother, Noor, for a doctor’s appointment—serving as her parent and translator.

ACCESSIBILITY

This film is presented with open captions in-person and closed captions digitally.

RATING

RATED PG

Directors Bio

Haaris Qadri

Haaris Qadri is an emerging filmmaker based in Brampton and a graduate from York University’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production Specialized Honours. Qadri is drawn to diasporic stories, contemplating questions of identity, home, and belonging.

Indonesia2022Indonesian and other languages with English subtitlesAnimation, Drama, Experimental, Family, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Women Filmmakers

S-Express is a short film program exchange initiated in 2002 by Yuni Hadi (Singapore), Amir Muhammad (Malaysia) and Chalida Uabumrungjit (Thailand), featuring regional programming from South East Asia. This annual collaboration offers insight into the development of filmmaking talent and abundance of complex storytelling from each participating region. This year, Reel Asian spotlights S-Express Indonesia programmed by Fransiska Prihadi of Minikino, featuring five short films with the hopes of recharging your festival experience.

Canada, India, Singapore, USA2022English and other languages with English subtitlesAnimation, Drama, Experimental, Family, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Non-binary Filmmakers, Women Filmmakers

From dusk ‘til dawn, the night takes centre stage as a mood, setting, tone, and place for our characters’ lives and their environments to be illuminated on screen.