Meticulously detailed and choreographed, director Kyle Credo delivers an authentic snapshot into Justin, a timid Filipino boy, and his afternoon.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Somi and her husband met and fell in love while fighting alongside fellow Naxalites, a communist rebel group fighting for the rights of tribal communities in India for the past 50 years. Although the group represents a quarter of the population and lives in extreme poverty, Naxalites are seen as the biggest threat to national security for the State of India.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Cambodian-born Sokly “Don Bonus” Ny takes a Hi8 camcorder into his final year of high school in the San Francisco Bay Area, documenting intersecting events happening at school, at home, and amongst friends and family.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
This masterclass explores the narrative construction of A.K.A Don Bonus, contextualizing the film in its era but also situating it in contemporary conversation. This event is part of the Reel Ideas Symposium.
17 Nov. 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
A breathtaking and touching documentary alerting the urgency to care for our habitats and preserve the incredible knowledge of the Ama, a tradition of women divers spanning over thousands of years in Japan, weaving the director’s personal connection to it all.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Torn between her mental illness and her desire for long standing love, a young woman named Maria tries to tame her self-destructive tendencies in an attempt to preserve her partner's affection.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
This panel reflects on the necessity and challenges of archives and archival work, inviting members of community archive initiatives to discuss their work and process. This event is part of the Reel Ideas Symposium.
15 Nov. 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Hardcore and punk to the max, this electric documentary shares the story of Atomic Nancy and the infamous Atomic Café in L.A.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Join co-hosts Lainey Lui and Angela Sun as they reveal the award winners for the 24th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.
13 Nov. 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
Beautifully shot against visceral landscapes of New Mexico, Ayah is a 10-year-old refugee on her first camping trip who ends up finding connection to ancestral memory even in the most unfamiliar of places.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
At night the magic happens when a wheelchair races against other toys in the hospital hallway.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Though brief and contained, Bind provides an extensive glimpse into the trans Asian diaspora when Jules is confronted by a surprise visit from their mother with their chest binder.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
If three dogs who dabble with dog-ception to save their fellow four-legged friend isn’t enticing enough, it’s also a musical with some animation and features Donggyu Lee, the Korean Benedict Cumberbatch.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Caught between two seemingly isolated worlds, director Danielle Ayow interrogates her own cultural identity as Trini and Chinese with much heart and humour. Sometimes asking is not enough as Ayow’s process makes clear the harm of essentializing identity and ultimately, the limitations of language.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
The 2020 Canadian Spotlight features not one but three Canadian media artists who work at the intersections of experiential, experimental moving image and narrative.
1 Nov. - 19 Nov.
Join the CBC as they discuss new opportunities and methods for pitching digital content. This event is part of the Reel Ideas Symposium.
16 Nov. 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
In this light, yet deeply moving short, Dva Liu returns home to Shaoguan with the wish of taking “couple portraits” with her aging grandfather.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
A love letter to the queer Asian community, director Allie Cuerdo finds the strength to come out and rebuild a relationship with her mom with a little help and inspiration from New York’s radical dance party Bubble_T.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
This panel considers how digital tools have been mobilized through varying methods to adapt, respond and address changing socio-cultural contexts, and engage with communities. This event is part of the Reel Ideas Symposium.
17 Nov. 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Down a Dark Stairwell takes a nuanced and careful look at the events following the 2014 case where Akai Gurley was shot and killed in the stairwell of an apartment building by Chinese-American NYPD officer Peter Liang. This opening night presentation is followed by a panel discussion with ASL support and accompanied by an active listening service. Available only in Ontario for a limited time
12 Nov. 7:00 pm - 13 Nov. 7:00 pm
Unfolding over a tumultuous three days, Dust And Ashes is a quiet thriller following a grieving Hae-su, forced to learn and navigate the system in order to collect insurance after the death of her mother. Overworked, underpaid, and facing eviction, Hae-su takes desperate measures in order to escape impoverishment.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Learning from and caring for the land she farms on, Catherine Nguyen owns two-thirds of an acre by herself growing and selling annual vegetables while challenging the industrialization of food in Portland, Oregon.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Pakistani-Canadian artist Wahab Jaffer endearingly retells his journey from collector to artist and imparts the lessons he’s learned along the way.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Combining 2D animation with stop-motion, Felt Love is a touching story about the love between a mother and son.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
The pressure is on for Arthur to prove himself to his father at an upcoming martial arts competition.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
An unapologetic statement about queer joy, resistance, and resilience in the face of abuse, trauma, and transphobia.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Shin-mi, a dancer, bravely faces forward with grace and style as she takes the physical examination at the Military Manpower Administration.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Son of a prominent family in Vietnam, Van returns from America for the first time in nine years with his partner, Ian. Coming back to a community with expectations of patriarchy and legacy, Van tries to find the right moment to tell his mother, Mrs. Hanh, about his love for Ian.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Beautifully poetic, Handscape tells the story of Xia Qing and his desire to dance despite his mother’s outright disapproval.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
At 62, Samriti visits her late father’s home in Amritsar, India - a place that only existed in retellings of the past - for the very first time.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
On a journey to a small island town, two city boys explore their shared love for fishing. Travelling alongside an ocean run of salmon, they find there is much more to discover about themselves.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Navigating her thoughts on white beauty standards, a girl seeks to understand her relationship to them, and express the damaging effects and harm that fetishizing Asian women causes.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Catch Howie Tsui's GIF Roulette this year at the festival, featuring a grid of GIFs in a digital installation, and an artist talk.
1 Nov. 12:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
What does it take to open conversation and unpack your family’s past? Playful and unabashed, director Yeon Park sets off to do so by purchasing a time machine off eBay.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Students at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music gather for the start of the school day. They laugh, practice, and take tests while preparing for a concert celebrating 100 years of Afghanistan's independence. Ranging from five-year-olds to young adults, some are middle-class kids and others are orphans, and they come from Afghanistan's many ethnic groups.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
I Dream of Vancouver interrogates alienation from the lived experience of spaces as they are subsumed by algorithms and mediated images, linking corporate technologies and gentrification with the erasure of populations that don’t fit Google’s agenda.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Drawing parallels between ikebana and finding belonging, Japanese Canadian elder Kaz Takahashi shares stories of her upbringing.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Tenderly crafted, director Anne Koizumi recounts a shameful childhood memory spurring conversation and a self-realization that which felt out of reach was there all along.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Gentle and mindfully aware, this contemplative animation wonders what happens when a chair falls on a secluded island.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
In the port town of Onomichi, Japan, the only movie theatre is bidding goodbye to its local audiences. The owners organize a nightlong screening devoted to historical Japanese war films. Noriko, a teenager who regularly helps in the theatre, walks toward the stage and astonishes the audience as suddenly, she mystically projects herself into an old musical.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
A newcomer to the film industry, Margo’s careful and cautious actions make clear the insidious traces of misogyny that permeate through.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
On the brink of his first international tour, Zed, a British Pakistani rapper, decides to fly home to the U.K. to reconnect with his family, only to find out his first big international break could be jeopardized by an unexpected and quickly debilitating autoimmune disease.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Broke and evicted from their basement apartment in Seoul, teenager Okju, her little brother Dongju, and their divorced father must move in with their ailing grandfather at the city’s outskirts. Soon joined by an aunt reeling from her own failed marriage, they spend the summer getting reacquainted with each other as an ad hoc multigenerational family unit, which was the norm just a generation ago.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Created by a community of local Filipinx creatives, Novena is an affectingly crafted poetry animation touching upon grief, mourning, and healing.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Catch Oliver Husain's Lenticular Lecture this year at the festival, featuring a digital installation of "French Exit" and an artist talk.
1 Nov. 12:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Addressing the harm racialized women as professional and informal caregivers face and can internalize, Tahirih Vejdani delivers a resonating performance as Sriyani, an overtaxed social care worker.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
With pulsating neon-light animation, Reviving the Roost is about community complexity and longing—an elegy to a lost space as much as it is director Vivek Shraya’s ode to a closed popular Edmonton gay bar.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Blending Indonesian tradition and culture with fantasy and mysticism, RONG is a terrifying yet satisfying take on a girl who walks home alone at night as the hunted becomes the hunter.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Filled with evocative imagery, this queer futuristic short follows Jia, who develops the ability to teleport when she dissociates and must learn how to control her powers.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Catch Sahar Te's KHAREEJ No. 3 this year at the festival, featuring a mixed media sound and text digital installation, and an artist talk.
1 Nov. 12:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Reel Asian is proud to present as its Closing Night event a live script read presentation of Scarborough, the anticipated forthcoming film adaptation of Catherine Hernandez’ award-winning novel of the same name by Reel Asian stalwart filmmaking duo of Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson.
19 Nov. 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
A film that began over 15 years ago, Sing Me a Lullaby is a heartachingly touching story of a daughter’s attempt to piece together the missing parts in her mother’s history.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
This fireside chat gathers together filmmaker mentors from Reel Asian’s 2020 Unsung Voices incubator to discuss what the building blocks of a good narrative are. This event is part of the Reel Ideas Symposium.
14 Nov. 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
This action-comedy short features Sedina Fiati as Super Zee, a kickbutt queer Black superhero who swoops in to save her crush from the microaggressions at the office.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
No matter what she tries, a bunny witch can’t seem to get her vegetable-themed broomstick to fly.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Steadily narrated by the director’s grandmother, The Fourfold imbues an indigenous worldview and wisdom based on the ancient shamanic rituals and animistic beliefs in Mongolia and Siberia.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
This panel brings together programmers from festivals and ARCs to discuss the radical possibilities and limitations of arts programming and its relationship and responsibility to socio-political events. This event is part of the Reel Ideas Symposium.
18 Nov. 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
A right-wing government controls Quebec, closing its borders and pushing immigrants to leave. Widower Hiên lives a meager life running a dépanneur. Enticed by his daughter Phuong’s move to Vietnam, Hiên makes arrangements to leave everything behind. But when a neighbourhood boy is left under the temporary care of Phuong’s aimless Quebecois boyfriend, Hiên is driven to solve the mystery of the boy’s missing mother.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
A cowardly horse robbery ends in murder, leaving a boy fatherless and his family in disarray. When the boy’s mother is forced to move the family out of their village, a mysterious man arrives who might be able to help restore order. What may appear to us as a “Western,” with its familiar framing of vast vistas and sublime steppes, is really a story about fractured families and survival in the wake of violence.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Our focus shifts from the oversaturated cityscape of Hong Kong to the mundane, yet peaceful fisherman’s life of a retired hitman. When his apprentice arrives unannounced, will the tranquility last?
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
What does a hot bowl of lovingly prepared soup remind you of? The taste of home? The warm embrace of a loved one? For Long, a widower and cook at a Vietnamese restaurant in Warsaw, his famous pho is his pride, and his grade-school daughter Mia is his joy. But their world changes when the restaurant is sold, forcing Long to learn to make sushi. Meanwhile, Mia is frustrated by her father's caring but old-fashioned ways, while fearing he is moving on from the memory of her late mother.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Pairing personal home videos with audio-recorded stories from Katherine Chun, Wenda Li, Tamai Kobayashi, and Nancy Seto - four queer Asian women recall, relive, and reflect upon their adolescent years.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Confronting patriarchy and societal gender norms aside, Tiger and Ox is about a fraught yet loving relationship between mother and daughter.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
“Where do you want to start?” The relationship between mother and son, uttered and silent, what’s known and forgotten, archival footage and public spaces are strewn into this affecting elliptical portrait of Orange County’s Little Saigon touching upon the history of war, displacement, and colonialism.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Paving their own paths towards freedom and independence, Turf Nation follows the street dancers who perform on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) trains in Oakland as they navigate their interpersonal relationships, the system, and their burgeoning dance influence.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
This conversation invites emerging thinkers, artists and community cultural workers to consider digital futures for those without access to the city arts landscape, and by extension, digital opportunities. This event is part of the Reel Ideas Symposium.
19 Nov. 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Bursting with joy and fantastic dance sequences, you’ll be sure to find yourself tapping along with Yuwol as he inspires (or infects) others to dance.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Sunday is a semi-autobiographical animation based on the filmmaker’s childhood memories of growing up within her father’s church.
12 Nov. 10:00 am - 19 Nov. 11:59 pm
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is a unique showcase of contemporary Asian cinema and work from the Asian diaspora. Works include films and videos by East, South and Southeast Asian artists in Canada, the U.S., Asia and all over the world. As Canada’s largest 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.
401 Richmond Street West, The Commons (Suite 448)
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8 Canada
(416) 703 – 9333
info@reelasian.com
Charitable number: 870021383RR0001
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