This film is part of the Shorts Presentation: HERE WE ARE shorts programme.
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.
CONTENT WARNING: Depictions of bullying, blood and violence
This film is part of the Shorts Presentation: HERE WE ARE shorts programme.
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.
When Azra, a queer Muslim grad student, hears of her father’s sudden death, she flies back to her ancestral home in Karachi, Pakistan for the funeral, where she is received by her conservative mother, Mariam, perpetually disappointed by Azra’s choices. As a self-assured Azra wrestles with Karachi’s customs and norms, we time travel back to Mariam’s own life in the city 30 years ago, a remarkably different era in Pakistan’s political and cultural history.
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.
CanadaDirected By Women, Drama, Experimental, Family, Family-friendly, Fantasy, Fiction, History, Immigrant stories, Interactive Podcast, Mystery
As a child, Crystal loved when her “Pawpaw” (“grandmother” in Chinese) shared life lessons through fables as the two took walks together. Now Crystal realizes Pawpaw was sharing her journey as a child refugee, hiding tragedy behind adventure. Listeners gradually learn about the heartbreaking contrast between real violence and a child’s interpretation of it. As the listener walks to the store or through a park, they’re forced to examine their steps and stories next to a refugee’s.
Download EIGHTY THOUSAND STEPS, available for FREE now on the App store or Google Play.
Steps Together: Join Crystal Chan on a walkabout and experience a step-powered story. Regroup and discuss in a talk-back session with the artist. Bring along your smartphone, earbuds or headphones!
Artist Talk: Crystal Chan breaks down how the project came together. What were her artistic goals and how did they balance with the technical challenges? How did Chan work with developer Stitch Media to create an elegant user experience?
FREE PROGRAMMING
November 16, 4:00PM
Steps Together: artist-led walk around downtown Toronto to explore & experience the app
November 18, 2:00PM
Artist talk with creator Crystal Chan and the development team from Stitch Media
Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space
401 Richmond St W
Suite 440
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This app uses your mobile device’s accelerometer technology to measure footsteps, but the app has a non-pedometer mode that users in wheelchairs may experience. The artist talk is in a space accessible to wheelchairs or people who need step-free access but the walk-around will take place on city sidewalks where accessibility may be unpredictable. To let us know about your accessibility needs, please click below.
Crystal Chan
Crystal 倩瓊 Chan is a Hong Kong-born, Montreal-based artist, producer, and former film critic dedicated to telling stories in new ways. She teaches media writing at the University of British Columbia and works for RavenSpace, a pioneering multimedia platform for Indigenous and collaborative creation.
Blue Ant Media is looking for its next hit factual paranormal series with T&E and HauntTV's global free streaming channel. Join us for a spooky information session with Blue Ant Media's Sam Linton, VP Production and Development and Julie Chang, EVP Business Strategy and Co-productions, to get all of your questions answered.
From the team behind Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (Reel Asian Official Selection, 2021) comes Junta Yamaguchi’s latest time loop comedy, River. Set in a quaint inn along the Kibune river near Kyoto—a one-street village wedged between a riverbed on one side and mountains on the other—staff and guests find themselves stuck in a continuous two-minute time loop.
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
