Accessibility
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This screening is presented with English subtitles. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Japan202390 minJapanese with English subtitlesCanadian PremiereDrama, History, Romance
You rarely couple poop and romance together, but Okiku and the World does it effortlessly in the most genuine and adorable way.
Set near the end of the Edo period, the film presents a fresh take on the time and on samurai culture. Okiku (Haru Kuroki) is the daughter of a fallen samurai. The two of them now live in a tenement far from luxury. One day, she meets Chuji (Kanichiro) and love blooms. The problem is that Chuji is a manure man who collects excrement to sell to farmers. Despite the downfall of samurais, there is still a social gap between them. Will this come between the Edo-period Japanese Romeo and Juliet?
Junji Sakamoto uses a stationary camera and black and white cinematography to create picturesque, painting-like scenes. Audiences may be grateful for this choice, too, as it helps reduce any repulsion for the less glorified scenes of the toilets. Sprinkled with colour and bitter humour, the film gives us a breath of hope within despair. Although life can be sh*tty, spring will surely come.
– June Kim
Haru Kuroki
Kanichiro
Sosuke Ikematsu
OFFICIAL SELECTION
International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2023
Jeonju International Film Festival, 2023
New York Asian Film Festival, 2023
Junji SAKAMOTO
Junji Sakamoto is an internationally renowned filmmaker of titles that premiered at festivals such as Rotterdam, Karlovy Vary, San Sebastian, and Berlin. He won multiple awards, namely from the Japan Director’s Guild and the Japan Academy Film Prize. Okiku and the World is his 30th film.
PG
9 Nov, 2023 8:00 pm
TIFF Bell Lightbox C4–
This screening is presented with English subtitles. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Following our Building Forces: The Director Producer Relationship panel, stay for a reception with Canadian Media Producers Association, a chance to network, ask questions, and enjoy snacks and refreshments. Especially good for Producers!
At the heart of Baby Queen is a tender and joyful relationship between Singaporean drag queen Opera Tang and her 90-year-old grandmother, who makes many of her performance costumes.
Hang out with us for Festival Happy Hour, open to the public! Grab a drink and join in on the casual activities each day.
Canada202340 minEnglishWorld PremiereDocumentary, History
Some family stories are so epic they demand telling. Some moments in history require the intimate and inside knowledge of community storytellers. The venerated Chinese Canadian filmmaker Keith Lock narrates the story of how his mother married his father in Australia, who was training with other Chinese Canadian veteran volunteers for the top secret suicide mission, Operation Oblivion. This incredible story is set against the backdrop of the Second World War, a time when Chinese Canadians could not vote, swim in pools, or hire white women for their businesses.
Though familiar with his family history, Lock wasn’t sure how to tell their story, since many of the participants had long passed. Motivated by the desire to tell it right, Lock’s documentary essay uses archival imagery (much previously unseen) to bring the history to light. In a previous film, The Dreaming House (Reel Asian 2005), Lock ruminated on seeing his father as an old man. This time, Lock celebrates his father, mother, and community of Chinese Canadian veterans as daring and vivacious badasses whose futures were yet to be written, in a tribute and record of this larger moment in Chinese Canadian history.
– Aram Siu Wai Collier
Keith Lock
Keith Lock, Canada’s first Chinese Canadian filmmaker, works in experimental as well as dramatic and documentary films. Keith was the cinematographer for Michael Snow’s Two Sides to Every Story (1974), voted one of TIFF’s 150 Essential Works of Canadian cinema in 2017. His film, Everything Everywhere Again Alive, was selected as one of Jim Shedden’s 100 best Canadian films of all time and released on Blu-ray by Black Zero in 2021. In 2022, he was the inaugural recipient of Reel Asian’s trailblazing Fire Horse Award.
PG
14 Nov, 2023 7:00 pm
Innis Town Hall–
This screening is presented with open captions. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Join director Keith Lock and author and historian Arlene Chan as they further unpack the family and community history across eras and continents.
Arlene Chan
Arlene Chan is an author and award-winning Chinatown historian who brings the history, culture, and traditions of the Chinese in Toronto and Canada to life in her speaking engagements and books. Her essays have appeared in numerous publications, including the Signs That Define Toronto, What We Talk About When We Talk About Dumplings, Asian Canadian Voices, Toronto Star, Spacing Magazine, and The Canadian Encyclopedia.
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.
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.
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.
Canada2023TRT: 50 minEnglish, Kurdish, VietnameseWorld PremiereComedy, Directed By Women, Documentary, Drama, Experimental, Family-friendly, History, Romance, Science Fiction
Six fearless emerging filmmakers embarked on a summer-long filmmaking journey online. We’re proud to present their world premiere here in the 12th edition of Reel Asian’s filmmaking program.
*Directors in attendance starred.
Canada20237 minEnglish, KurdishWorld PremiereDirected By Women, Drama
Two sisters who have chosen different paths are reunited while preparing for a wedding, forcing them to face their differences, whether they are ready or not.
*Ashna Ali
Ashna Ali is a Kurdish Canadian artist, multimedia designer, and activist. She is a co-founder of Anti-Heroine Media, where she foregrounds feminist representation and ethical approaches to storytelling for social change.
Canada20238 minVietnamese, English with English subtitlesWorld PremiereDirected By Women, Drama, Family-friendly
A tender short film about a daughter who attempts to chop a coconut for her dying father.
*Carthy Ngo
Carthy Ngo is a Vietnamese Chinese Canadian from Southern Ontario who is exploring filmmaking for the first time while working as a speech-language pathologist by day. She is inspired by the stories of love and loss that she has come across through her work and in life, and hopes to provide comfort with her art.
Canada202312 minEnglishWorld PremiereDocumentary, Experimental, History
In this charming and meditative documentary, Jackie, Nora and Gayle are three Hakka Chinese women from Victoria, B.C. who unite to save Canada's oldest Chinese temple from crumbling. Along the way, the women explain the challenges of maintaining the temple and its significance as a cultural and community hub.
*Kevin Matthew Wong
Kevin Matthew Wong is a Hakka Chinese Canadian theatre creator, producer, performer, projection designer, and emerging filmmaker whose work blends documentary media with personal and conversational storytelling.
Canada20238 minEnglishWorld PremiereHorror, Science Fiction
After a coven of witches is discovered in the mountains, the government conducts an experiment attempting to mix magic and technology. However when radio contact is lost, a team of soldiers is sent to investigate the abandoned laboratory—only to find it isn’t so abandoned after all.
*Melvin Daligdig
Melvin Daligdig is a Filipino filmmaker based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. While action films are Melvin’s go to genre, he has recently enjoyed dabbling in comedy and horror as well. He hopes to one day be able to make films full time and meet some awesome people along the way.
Canada20239 minEnglishWorld PremiereDrama, Family-friendly, Romance
Andrew and Nina reunite when Andrew moves into a new place in the city. As the day passes, they mould the empty apartment into a home, awakening dormant feelings from their past.
*Satrio Prahasto
Satrio Prahasto is an emerging filmmaker based in Toronto. Prahasto is interested in how East and Southeast Asian cinema influence can not only inform but also shape how we tell our respective diasporic stories in a North American setting.
Canada202312 minEnglishWorld PremiereComedy, Drama
A lifetime of abusing his natural talent for making up stories has led an arrogant serial liar to quit his deceiving ways forever. As a final hurrah, this scrappy university student shares an epic 11-minute masterclass on how to execute the perfect lie.
*Corinne Langmuir
Corinne Langmuir is a Taiwanese Canadian writer, filmmaker, and student. With a strong passion for the arts, Langmuir’s interest in media has become a vehicle for her creative expression. She is fascinated by the various forms that storytelling can take—whether through literature, film, or internet culture commentary.
PG
11 Nov, 2023 2:30 pm
TIFF Bell Lightbox C3–
This screening is presented with open captions. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
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.
The Sari-Sari Xchange is a project that seeks to amplify Asian representation in the creative emerging media industries in Canada, particularly through a community-building residency program that engages artists with digital and extended reality (XR) technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, 360 cinema, game-engine animation, and 3D scanning.
You rarely couple poop and romance together, but Okiku and the World does it effortlessly in the most genuine and adorable way.
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
At the heart of Baby Queen is a tender and joyful relationship between Singaporean drag queen Opera Tang and her 90-year-old grandmother, who makes many of her performance costumes.
When 13-year-old Ilyas’s parents yank him out of his comfortable Islamic private school and force him to adjust to life in public school, he develops a plan to change their minds. After a staged fondness for non-halal food and explicit music fails to sufficiently scandalize his parents, Ilyas asks his whip-smart former classmate, Yasmeen, to help devise a more foolproof plan.
There’s no need to be certain about what’s next as this collection of shorts places us in a position to face specific pivotal moments of reckoning. Whether we’re feeling stuck or turbulent in the chaos of transition, can we remain gentle to ourselves?
Canada202312 minEnglishWorld PremiereDocumentary, Experimental, History
In this charming and meditative documentary, Jackie, Nora and Gayle are three Hakka Chinese women from Victoria, B.C. who unite to save Canada's oldest Chinese temple from crumbling. Along the way, the women explain the challenges of maintaining the temple and its significance as a cultural and community hub.
*Kevin Matthew Wong
Kevin Matthew Wong is a Hakka Chinese Canadian theatre creator, producer, performer, projection designer, and emerging filmmaker whose work blends documentary media with personal and conversational storytelling.
This film is part of the Shorts Presentation: UNSUNG VOICES 12 shorts programme.
Hmm … this doesn’t seem right?! This programme asks us to sit with the discomforting feelings that arise when we begin to confront the unknown in what we believe to know.
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.
There’s no need to be certain about what’s next as this collection of shorts places us in a position to face specific pivotal moments of reckoning. Whether we’re feeling stuck or turbulent in the chaos of transition, can we remain gentle to ourselves?
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.
The Good Guise is an artist collective in Toronto formed to spark conversations around healthy masculinity.
We are kicking off the 27th edition Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival with a night to remember! Celebrate with us at our Festival Launch Party, co-hosted by New Ho Queen!
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
