Content warning: Events surrounding killing by police
Live Panel Discussion, November 12 at 8:45PM
Contact Active Listener (November 12, 8:30-11:30PM)
USA202083 minEnglish, Cantonese, Mandarin with English SubtitlesDocumentary, Reel Asian Award Winner, Women Filmmakers
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.
Director Ursula Liang (no relation to Peter) and her crew follow the Black Lives Matter protests rallying around Gurley’s family to support a conviction, while also following various predominantly Asian American communities’ protest responses to what they deem an unfair trial.
In our current context of urgent calls for accountability around excessive police violence, Down A Dark Stairwell’s raw and honest witness to the ways racial politics fissure and divide us feels timely and necessary. In documenting multiple communities’ response to every new development from the event, the film contends with how fraught and limited notions of justice can be, and the devastating violence that the policing system inflicts on Black communities.
- Jasmine Gui
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
True/False Film Festival, 2020
Visions du Réel, 2020
Blackstar Film Festival, 2020
AWARDS
Best Documentary, Ashland Independent Film Festival 2020
The Truth to Power Award, Reel Asian 2020
Ursula Liang
Ursula Liang is a journalist-turned-filmmaker. After working in print (ESPN The Magazine, T: The New York Times Magazine), she directed two critically-acclaimed feature documentaries, 9-Man and Down a Dark Stairwell. Ursula lives in the Bronx, N.Y.
12 Nov, 2020 7:00 pm
to 13 Nov, 2020 7:00 pm
Content warning: Events surrounding killing by police
Live Panel Discussion, November 12 at 8:45PM
Contact Active Listener (November 12, 8:30-11:30PM)
Accompanying our opening night screening presentation of Down a Dark Stairwell is a live online discussion with special guests.
ASL interpretation supported and made available by Toronto Sign Language Interpreter Services. Active listener available from 8:30PM – 11:30PM.
Click here to contact the Active Listener. Contact and communication is confidential.
Nataleah Hunter-Young, Writer and Film Curator
Moderator
Nataleah Hunter-Young is a writer, film curator, and PhD candidate researching Black aesthetic practice and representations of mediated police brutality in contemporary art. She has supported festival programming for TIFF, Hot Docs, and the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa.
Syrus Marcus Ware, Activist and Artist
Panelist
Syrus Marcus Ware is a Vanier scholar, visual artist, activist, curator and educator. Syrus uses painting, installation and performance to explore social justice frameworks and black activist culture. He is part of the Performance Disability Art Collective and a core-team member of Black Lives Matter – Toronto.
Ursula Liang, Director of Down A Dark Stairwell
Panelist
Ursula Liang is a journalist-turned-filmmaker. After working in print (ESPN The Magazine, T: The New York Times Magazine), she directed two critically-acclaimed feature documentaries, 9-Man and Down a Dark Stairwell. Ursula lives in the Bronx, N.Y.
J.M. Harper, Co-writer and Editor of Down a Dark Stairwell
Panelist
J.M. Harper is a documentarian. Down A Dark Stairwell is his third documentary feature as editor. He’s currently editing a feature documentary about Kanye West. His work has been featured on AdWeek, Vimeo Staff Picks, FADER and the Guggenheim.
Michelle Chang, Co-writer and Editor of Down a Dark Stairwell
Panelist
Michelle Chang is a Brooklyn-based editor of documentary features as well as short form projects. Feature credits include When Claude Got Shot, Harbor From the Holocaust, 9-MAN, Like Any Other Kid, (A)Sexual, American Promise (Additional Editor for POV Broadcast, Emmy nomination). Before becoming an editor, Michelle was an associate producer for ABC News “20/20” and “Primetime.”
This case captured the attention of national media and highlighted what we in our respective communities have known for a long time: we are not united. In fact, in low whispers with problematic language, we often talk about one another. But what we are not talking about is the many reasons why this space between us exists: bubbles created by social media filters and propaganda, white supremacy, structural oppression, social inequality and isolation.
I want to learn from these conversations. To look at how the complexities of this case reflect the complexities of our fight for humanity, agency and respect. To talk about whether the battles we fight bring us power or dissipate it. And to examine who really benefits when marginalized groups are divided.
- Ursula Liang
This is a non-exhaustive community resource list to complement the discussion around Down a Dark Stairwell (2020).
Purpose
This short resource guide makes clear the importance of human engagement with the politics of living in the world around us. As a pan-Asian-centered festival, we have human relations with the world around us behind the screen and view our programming as an important public-facing conversation that moves us towards deep thinking and the work of repair.
Books:
Video/Zine:
News Articles:
Podcasts:
Key Toronto based Organizations:
Resources:
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.
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. Winner of the 2020 Cinesend Best First Feature Award!
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.
Canada2020120 minEnglishDrama, Family, Women Filmmakers
Reel Asian is proud to present as its Closing Night event a live script read presentation of Scarborough, the anticipated forthcoming film by Reel Asian stalwart filmmaking duo of Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson. The film, an adaptation of Catherine Hernandez’ award-winning novel of the same name, follows three kids in a low-income neighbourhood who find community, compassion, and resilience at a drop-in literacy centre over the course of a school year.
Having just wrapped shooting this summer and looking ahead to a 2021 premiere, we take pause to provide audiences an opportunity to see a sneak preview of select scenes acted out live by members of the cast. The script read will be followed by an intimate discussion about the themes and creative process of bringing this heralded book to life on screen by this trio of celebrated Toronto artists.
19 Nov, 2020 7:00 pm
to 9:00 pm
Liam Diaz
Cast as Bing
Liam Diaz is excited to be making his on-screen debut in his first movie role as Bing in Scarborough. He is an avid performer, and loves singing, dancing, and acting. He also enjoys expressing his artistic side through SFX makeup which he uses on his free time. His favourite stage role to date was playing the role of “young P.T Barnum” from the musical film, The Greatest Showman during the JDL Performing Arts summer showcase.
Ellie Posadas
Cast as Edna
Ellie Posadas is a Filipina-Canadian, Actor, Singer-Songwriter, and Creator from Toronto. She is a member of the award winning comedy group ‘Tita Collective’. Ellie is an alumni of Randolph Academy’s Musical Theatre program. She was featured in the 34th Torino Film Festival Official Selection, Wexford Plaza (CAAMfest, Slamdance) and is also featured in the short film The Morning After (Toronto Inside OUT Festival, Los Angeles OUT fest). Other selected Theatre/Film credits include: Baby Blue Canoe (Wattpad productions), Tita Jokes (Tita Collective), The Penelopiad (Hart House), Emily & EV (Nöta Collective), Silenced (HERstory Counts), and Avenue Q (LOT).
Cherish Violet Blood
Cast as Marie
Cherish Violet Blood is an actor, storyteller, activist and Blackfoot woman hailing from the Blood reserve. Based in Toronto, Cherish is a professionally trained and seasoned performer with active followings in the national Indigenous and international theatre community. Cherish has performed all over North America. Select credits include creator/performer in Material Witness (Spiderwoman Theatre La Mama,NYC), creator/performer in Making Treaty 7 directed by Michelle Thrush in Calgary, AB. The lead role in Deer Woman, a new play that has been touring internationally by Tara Beagan . As a natural comedian Cherish has hosted album release parties as well as community events and fundraisers.
Aliya Kanani
Cast as Ms. Hina
Aliya Kanani is a Toronto-based artist and creator, who has worn many hats, including those of comedian, actor, writer, director, producer and entertainer. She spent the better part of the last year touring internationally with her solo show, Where You From, From?, which sold out at the 2019 Just for Laughs Festival, 2019 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and 2020 World Fringe in Perth. In 2015, Aliya co-created, wrote and co-starred in the wacky sketch web series, Juicy. In addition, she has created, written, directed and produced various online sketches and short films, including It’s My Turn, and short doc, 36 Questions to Love, which she co-directed and co-produced.
Alexis Hancey
Cast as Fern
Alexis Hancey is a Toronto based actress & screenwriter, best known for her role as Narrator in a widely popular/CBC-covered performance of Threepenny Opera at Humber College. She stars as Susan in PG: Psycho Goreman, a feature described by Variety magazine as “blowing the roof off (drive ins) where there was no roof,” and is currently developing a web series in which she plays an HSP patient who wasn’t actually fixed by therapy.
Following the live script read, join moderator Amar Wala as he discusses the journey of bringing Scarborough to the big screen with directors Shasha Nakhai & Rich Williamson and writer Catherine Hernandez.
ASL interpretation will be made available thanks to Toronto Sign Language Interpreter Services. Ticket holders can watch on the CineSend Reel Asian portal.
Shasha Nakhai
Director and Producer, Scarborough
Shasha Nakhai is a filmmaker from Toronto whose work has aired on the BBC, CBC, ZDF, and Arte; screened at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); been nominated for 3 Canadian Screen Awards; and shortlisted for an Oscar. She recently released her first feature documentary, Take Light, which enters the tangled web of Nigeria’s energy crisis.
Rich Williamson
Director, Scarborough
Rich Williamson is an Oscar-shortlisted filmmaker from Toronto. His award-winning films have screened at festivals worldwide, aired on TV, been released on iTunes, gone viral, and featured on the BBC, CBC, Bravo, Arte, ZDF, Al Jazeera, Short of the Week, The Hollywood Reporter, AV Club, Slashfilm, Screenrant, Gizmodo, Mashable, Collider and Nerdist.
Catherine Hernandez
Writer, Scarborough
Catherine Hernandez is the award-winning author of Scarborough and its screenplay adaptation, and the outgoing artistic director of b current performing arts. She has written the critically acclaimed plays Singkil, The Femme Playlist and Eating with Lola and the children’s books M Is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book and I Promise. Her second novel, Crosshairs, was published in September 2020.
Amar Wala
Moderator
Using his cinema to deconstruct notions of race and identity, Amar Wala has directed series for CBC, Viceland, and Shopify Studios. He directed the feature documentary The Secret Trial 5 and is currently director and consulting producer of CBC Arts series In The Making.
A retired hitman, telephone counselor, Ronggeng dancer, and pug take the lead in these four cult-worthy shorts that are bound to make you question everything you thought you knew. Includes winners of Air Canada Short Film or Video Award, Reel Asian 2020 RECEIVER and RONG.
Catch Oliver Husain's Lenticular Lencture this year at the festival, featuring a digital installation of "French Exit" and an artist talk.
Afghanistan, Canada202040 minPersian with English SubtitlesCanadian PremiereDocumentary, Family-friendly, Open Captions
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. Glimpses of the dangerous realities of their world outside school are a reminder that children are often on the front lines of crises. But I Do My Work is also a reminder that children's spirits are at the forefront of change.
As with his first feature Mina Walking (Reel Asian 2015 Official Selection), Yosef Baraki documents contemporary Kabul life through the eyes of young people. Ardently observational and shot with only one camera and one mic (the maximum allowed), Baraki provides a vessel to experience the vital sounds and rhythms of the students' routines.
– Aram Siu Wai Collier
Afghanistan National Institute of Music
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Visions Du Reel, 2020
Yosef Baraki
Yosef Baraki studied film and philosophy at Toronto’s York University and Humber College. Serving as screenwriter, director, and cinematographer, Baraki filmed his first feature film, Mina Walking, in 19 days with non-professional actors and heavy improvisation in some of Kabul’s most chaotic environments. Mina Walking won over 15 international awards.
12 Nov, 2020 10:00 am
to 19 Nov, 2020 11:59 pm
G
Ticket holders can watch Reel Asian Programmer Mariam Zaidi's conversation with director Yosef Baraki on the CineSend Reel Asian portal.
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.
Reel Asian is proud to present as its Closing Night event a one-time 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.
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.
Canada2020Experimental
Every year, Reel Asian chooses to spotlight a Canadian filmmaker to showcase local talent and activate their work as part of festival programming, with screenings of the artist’s choice and deep-dive artist talks. This year, with the festival’s move to a digital platform, we are taking the opportunity to introduce innovative, non-traditional, experiential programming made with digital presentation and engagement in mind. Through the Canadian Spotlight, we hope to amplify artistic voices, support sustained engagement with interdisciplinary creative practices, and introduce new audiences to dynamic, contemporary media work.
The 2020 Canadian Spotlight features not one but three Canadian media artists who work at the intersections of experiential, experimental moving image and narrative. We are excited to bring on Oliver Husain, Sahar Te, and Howie Tsui, whose works are vibrant intersections of histories, narrative forms and creative methods. Their creative visions delight and challenge us, confront and comfort us, and indulge in narratives, forms and tools in exciting ways.
Catch the experimental, interdisciplinary work of Husain, Te and Tsui any time on the Reel Asian website between Nov 1 – 19.
Join Husain, Te and Tsui over the weekend as they deep dive into the creative process behind their featured work, their own creative pursuits and considerations as artists, and satisfy any unaddressed curiosities you might have through the live Q&A!
All Canadian Spotlight digital installations and live artist talks are free to the general public and can be accessed during the festival from this page on the Reel Asian website.
1 Nov, 2020
to 19 Nov, 2020
Catch Sahar Te's KHAAREJ No. 3 this year at the festival, featuring a mixed media sound and text digital installation, and an artist talk.
Catch Howie Tsui's GIF Roulette this year at the festival, featuring a grid of GIFs in a digital installation, and an artist talk.
Catch Oliver Husain's Lenticular Lencture this year at the festival, featuring a digital installation of "French Exit" and an artist talk.
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.
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Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8 Canada
(416) 703 – 9333
info@reelasian.com
Charitable number: 870021383RR0001
