DIGITAL SHORTS
All shorts are available online via a Shorts VOD Pass. Valid from 10AM on Monday, Nov 18 thru 11:59PM on Sunday, Nov 24, 2024.
Canada, Germany, USA1995-2024TRT: 69 minVarious languages
This programme invites audiences into a storytelling dialogue between imagineNATIVE and Reel Asian on the solidarity between Indigenous and settler Asian people. Tenacious and confrontational, this collection transports resilience from the past and into the present.
For: the mischievous; co-conspirators; partners-in-crime; fans of Adam Beach, Lily Gladstone, and Sandra Oh
CO-CURATOR: Kaitlynn Tomaselli is Anishinaabe and Italian from Manitoulin Island. An emerging curator and arts administrator, she currently works for the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous screen content, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts.
*Directors in attendance starred.
USA201912 minEnglishAboriginal + Indigenous, Available Online, Directed By Women, Drama
The lives of a Native woman and a troubled young boy intersect over the course of a school day on a reservation in Oklahoma.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
ONLINE : This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
Erica Tremblay
Erica Tremblay’s films have played at Sundance and SXSW. She was a director and writer on the FX show Reservation Dogs, and her first feature film, Fancy Dance, is now streaming worldwide on Apple TV.
Canada20205 minNo Dialogue2slgbtq+, Aboriginal + Indigenous, Available Online, Directed By Women, Experimental, Music, Romance, Science Fiction
This experimental examination of threshold states moves through deep space time in underwater realms. Mirrored bodies spiral, suspend, and dance through Te Reo Māori and nêhiyawêwin lamentations.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: No dialogue (no audio + visual descriptions)
Moe Clark, Victoria Hunt, James Brown
Weather Beings is a Two-Spirit/takatâpui collaborative performance between Victoria Hunt (Maori dancer, choreographer) and Moe Clark (Métis sound designer, vocalist) that explores the connections between Mâori whakapapa and Métis wâhkôhtowin (the kinship system).
Canada199527 minEnglishAvailable Online
IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented with English subtitles only (no subtitles for English dialogue)
Helen Lee
Helen Lee is a Seoul-born, Toronto-based filmmaker whose works explore intersectionalities of place, identity, and sexuality. She works in fiction and essay films, featuring diasporic gendered subjects from feminist and transnational perspectives.
Canada, Germany, Sweden20246 minEnglishAboriginal + Indigenous, Animation, Available Online, Directed By Women, Documentary, Experimental
Take a deep breath. As you exhale, imagine that in about three years, anywhere you went on the planet, you found the molecules that are inside of you in this moment.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
This title is available digitally only in Ontario.
Alisi Telengut, Diego Galafassi
Alisi Telengut is a Canadian artist of Mongolian origin, living between Berlin and Tiohti:áke/Montréal. Her work has received multiple awards and has been screened and exhibited internationally.
Diego Galafassi is a director, writer, and producer of documentaries, experimental film, new media, and participatory performance.
Canada202319 minEnglish, ArabicAboriginal + Indigenous, Available Online, Directed By Women, Drama
Together, Nawal, a young Palestinian woman, and Tanya, an older Indigenous woman, start a guerrilla garden on the lawn of their apartment building and battle middle management to make it to harvest.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
ONLINE : This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
*Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller
Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller is a mixed-race Palestinian Canadian filmmaker whose work explores themes of fragmented identity, grief, and post-traumatic growth, through “oh no, should I laugh?” comedy.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
16 Nov, 2024 5:00 pm
TIFF Lightbox C4PG
DIGITAL SHORTS
All shorts are available online via a Shorts VOD Pass. Valid from 10AM on Monday, Nov 18 thru 11:59PM on Sunday, Nov 24, 2024.
–
This programme is presented with a mix of open captions, English subtitles, and no captions. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
What would you give up to ensure a world with no war, no poverty, and a stable climate? Your phone? Your car? Your life? That’s the question that looms over Ann Marie Fleming’s near-future fable, where the solution to our world's ills is for humans to die by their 50th year.
It’s the holidays, and Ben Santhanaraj shows up to Sri Lanka to see Suzanne Hopper, his long-distance partner who works there. Unfortunately, Suzanne’s been informed she now has to work through the holidays, thwarting their dream vacation plans (and his amorous intentions). They decide to go along with their itinerary, her laptop in tow, but nothing seems to work out as planned, leading to candid conversations and chaotic twists. Will their relationship endure — or have they grown too far apart?
Experience a bit of the Japanese tea ceremony and learn about its history and core philosophies.. Taste some whisked matcha. Hosted by Momo Yoshida, the founder and owner of Momo Tea, an online tea store based in Toronto. RSVP required.
Canada2024TRT: 48 minVarious languagesWorld Premiere
Six emerging filmmakers embarked on a summer-long filmmaking journey. We’re proud to present their world premiere here, in the 13th edition of Reel Asian’s filmmaking program.
*Directors in attendance starred.
Canada20249 minEnglishWorld PremiereAvailable Online, Comedy, Directed By Women, Drama, Experimental, Science Fiction
A burnt-out writer uses AI to deliver a script, only to discover the true essence of human creativity.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
*Assel Akhmetova
Assel Akhmetova (she/her) is a Toronto-based Kazakh editor and director, with a passion for writing and a curiosity for exploring new ways of cinema.
Canada20246 minKoreanWorld PremiereAvailable Online, Directed By Women, Drama, Family-friendly, History
After decades of separation, two brothers reunite at a rare event where families from both sides of the Korean border come together.
This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
*Ellen Yuna Ahn
Ellen Yuna Ahn is an emerging Korean Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto. Drawing from her background in performance art and theatre directing, Ahn is drawn to stories that delve into intimate character studies and explore abstract concepts.
Canada20247 minEnglishWorld PremiereAvailable Online, Comedy, Directed By Women
Feeling stuck in her limited immigrant status, a young Korean woman eats spicy fire noodles every day for the thrill, instead of taking risks in her own life.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
*shelly seo bahng
shelly seo bahng is a Korean cis queer woman writer, poet, and community builder based in Tiohti:áke/Montreal. She is committed to exploring togetherness and aloneness.
Canada202411 minEnglishWorld PremiereAvailable Online, Comedy, Drama, Horror
A creepy clown-for-hire tries to stay true to his ghoulishness amidst a world that wants him to change.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
*Lee Nisar
Lee Nisar is a Pakistani Canadian filmmaker, writer, and photographer living and working in Toronto. Their work explores issues related to intergenerational curses, queerness, and absurdity.
Canada20248 minEnglish, Farsi, DariWorld PremiereAvailable Online, Directed By Women, Drama
When his health starts to decline, a young man spirals into paranoia, and he blames a growing mould problem for his issues.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
ONLINE : This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
*Sofia Habib
Sofia Habib is an Afghan actor, writer, and arts worker based in Ontario. She performs both on stage and screen and has played the lead role in two films that premiered at Reel Asian Film Festival.
Canada20247 minEnglishWorld PremiereAvailable Online, Drama, Experimental
A burgeoning artist reckons with the struggle to find an audience for his art and his desire to reconnect with his mother in the afterlife.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
*Liam Ma
Liam Ma (he/him) is an award-winning actor and filmmaker currently based on the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tseil-Waututh) peoples, known as Vancouver.
16 Nov, 2024 2:30 pm
TIFF Lightbox C3PG
Tickets for the in-cinema presentation have gone into advance rush. No more public advance tickets are available. Please join the rush line on the day of the screening when we will release unclaimed holds and reserves.
We can usually get everyone in the rush line in but rush tickets are strictly subject to availability and not guaranteed. Rush lines start an hour before the first screening of the day so the earlier you join the rush line the better your chances.
DIGITAL SHORTS
All shorts are available online via a Shorts VOD Pass. Valid from 10AM on Monday, Nov 18 thru 11:59PM on Sunday, Nov 24, 2024.
–
This programme is presented with a mix of open captions, English subtitles, and no captions. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
CREATURA is a multimedia cross-programming stream at the 28th Reel Asian Film Festival, spotlighting the strange, wild, and untamed — concepts historically used to marginalize. This session will explore how these concepts manifest through stories of endangered traditions and reimagined realities. The documentary THE LAST OF THE SEA WOMEN provides a vivid portrayal of South Korean fisherwomen preserving an ancient practice amidst modern developments. Meanwhile, UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, set in a reimagined Canada where Farsi and French are official languages, presents a surreal world where societal norms are upended and loneliness is a common experience. Both films vividly embody the spirit of CREATURA by pushing the boundaries of human experience and challenging conventional perspectives.
What would you give up to ensure a world with no war, no poverty, and a stable climate? Your phone? Your car? Your life? That’s the question that looms over Ann Marie Fleming’s near-future fable, where the solution to our world's ills is for humans to die by their 50th year.
Join us for Festival Happy Hour between film screenings! Open to the public, come participate in casual activities every day.
Canada, Taiwan, USA2022-2024TRT: 87 minVarious languages
Family dynamics are complicated. No matter how intimately familiar kin can feel, there's room for surprise to the point where we wonder if we even knew them at all. Which stories and emotions do we hold inside, and which are we ready to share?
For: active listeners; anyone ready for change, healing, and acceptance; multigenerational audiences
Canada202416 MinEnglishAvailable Online, Directed By Women, Drama, History
On the evening of the 1987 "Easter Epic" hockey playoff game, a young Cambodian girl grapples with her Canadian identity in a small town in rural Ontario.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
Alejandro Yoshizawa & Y-Dang Troeung
Alejandro Yoshizawa is a Vancouver-based filmmaker specializing in grassroots and marginalized people’s stories, oral histories, and community documentaries.
Y-Dang Troeung (張依蘭) (ទ្រឿងអ៊ីដាង) was a writer and scholar based in Vancouver, who passed away in fall 2022 of pancreatic cancer.
Canada202419 MinEnglishAvailable Online
For her next standup routine, Filipino Canadian comedian Alia Rasul reconnects with her dad to mine stories about the ridiculous ways he almost died — but it unexpectedly turns into a record-scratch moment.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
ONLINE : This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
Sura Mallouh
Sura Mallouh is a Palestinian Canadian filmmaker. In 2021, she was listed as a 40 under 40 documentary star to watch, co-presented by HBO Documentary Films and DOCNYC. Mallouh’s work amplifies underrepresented stories.
Taiwan20239 MinMandarinAnimation, Available Online, Directed By Women, Family-friendly, Music
Returning to a house that holds nothing, a mother misses her own mother.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: this film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
*Ji-Tian Li
Ji-Tian Li graduated from Taipei National University of the Arts and participated in the AVU exchange program in Prague in 2021, focusing on materials and installations. She is now a full-time artist exploring space through gardening, ceramics, painting, music, and performance.
USA202414 MinFarsi, EnglishAvailable Online, Directed By Women, Drama, Experimental, Romance
On a seemingly prosaic day, Bita, an Iranian woman with terminal cancer, comes to grips with her changing relationships with her family as life transforms and slips away.
This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
*Sara Boutorabi
Sara Boutorabi is an Iranian American filmmaker based in New York City, and originally from California. She graduated from UC Berkeley and is an MFA candidate in screenwriting at Columbia University.
Canada202315 MinEnglishAvailable Online, Directed By Women, Documentary, Experimental
Follow filmmaker Anna Quon as she journeys from her childhood conviction regarding her own specialness, symbolized by her “perfect” teeth, into the throes of mental unwellness.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: this film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
Anna Quon
Mad, mixed-race, and middle-aged, Anna Quon is a novellist, poem-film maker, and current poet laureate for Halifax. She works in mental health as a creativity connector for a local not-for-profit.
USA202414 MinEnglish, Korean, Spanish, Mandarin2slgbtq+, Available Online, Directed By Women, Drama, Experimental
Today is Parents' Day at the Sweetwater Boarding School for English Learners. When A, B, C, and D discover that none of their families are coming, they decide to hatch a different plan.
IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
ONLINE : This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
Yvonne Zhang
Yvonne Zhang is a British Chinese director and writer who uses fables, dream logic, and digital worlds to explore the diasporic experience.
16 Nov, 2024 12:00 pm
TIFF Lightbox C4PG
DIGITAL SHORTS
All shorts are available online via a Shorts VOD Pass. Valid from 10AM on Monday, Nov 18 thru 11:59PM on Sunday, Nov 24, 2024.
–
This programme is presented with a mix of open captions, English subtitles, and no captions. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Feeling stuck, young fisherman Yong-su sees no hope in his future - like a fish in a net. As a last resort, he plans an insurance scam by staging his disappearance, hoping to provide a better life for his Vietnamese wife and his ageing mother. At the centre of this scheme is his captain, Yeong-guk, who reluctantly reports Yong-su missing. However, when Yong-su’s mother refuses to connect her son’s disappearance with his death, the white lie snowballs into something harder to chew.
Join us for Festival Happy Hour between film screenings! Open to the public, come participate in casual activities every day.
Seemingly stagnant on the surface, in motion underneath. These five short films trace and retrace what movements and stories might exist within us and beyond, pulling us in unexpected directions.
Canada, South Korea, USA2022-2024TRT: 79 minVarious languages
Pulling you in closer, these films traverse the ebbs and flows of infatuation, fascination, longing, desire, and the release of letting go — all this to possibly feel our true selves more intimately.
For: swooners; dreamers; romantics; will-theys/won't-theys; skinship; togethership
*Directors in attendance starred.
South Korea202417 minEnglish, KoreanAnimation, Available Online, Directed By Women, Drama, Music
Vega, a lonely programmer, falls in love with a beautiful popstar water deer. Constantly dragged back to reality by pigeons, Vega’s longing for warmth is in need of being sated.
IN PERSON: this film is scheduled to be presented with English subtitles only (no subtitles for English dialogue)
ONLINE: this film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
*Sasha Lee
Sasha Lee is an animation artist based in Seoul, South Korea. In the name of Studio Sleeper, she makes 2D animation about isolation and depression using animal imagery.
Canada20244 minEnglish2slgbtq+, Available Online, Directed By Women, Family-friendly, History
The music video for One Thing I Can Afford, by Louie Sanchez, broadly addresses queer and trans friendship in the diaspora, Filipinx masculinities, and everyday enactments of transgenerational care.
IN PERSON: this film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
ONLINE: his film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
*Casey Mecija
Casey Mecija is an accomplished multidisciplinary artist, primarily working in music and film. She is an assistant professor at York University in the department of communication and media studies.
Canada, USA202415 minEnglish2slgbtq+, Available Online, Drama
Ann Lai, a mature trans woman, navigates the complexities of her fading memory, delving into the intricacies of love and the burgeoning of her evolving gender identity.
IN PERSON: this film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
ONLINE: this film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
day
day (they/them) is a filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn. Their work often explores themes of identity, and is informed by their lived experience of being Black and queer.
Canada202410 MinEnglish2slgbtq+, Available Online, Directed By Women, Documentary, Experimental
This experiential and textural short film invites viewers into the inner workings of a mind, to ponder how we love and unlove ourselves.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: this film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
*Tara Hakim & Hannah Hull
Tara Hakim is a Palestinian Jordanian multidisciplinary artist whose public displays of vulnerability invite the viewer to meditate on notions of self, multicultural identities, and spaces in between — both physically and mentally.
Hannah Hull (they/them) is an artist and musician, also known as Burning Salt. The ancient practice of “burning salt” is an act of expulsion, purification or protection.
Canada20242 MinNo DialogueAnimation, Available Online, Directed By Women, Horror
As Manon sits at her table waiting for her date, an uncontrollable itch overtakes her.
IN PERSON & ONLINE: No dialogue (no audio + visual descriptions)
*Maggie Zeng
Maggie Zeng is a Montreal-based children’s book illustrator, concept artist, and animator. Zeng loves making story-driven illustrations that convey a feeling of adventure and wonder through fun characters and magical environments.
USA202411 MinEnglishAvailable Online, Directed By Women, Drama
Two friends living in Mānoa Valley spend a summer day together before one of them moves to New York City.
IN PERSON: this film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
ONLINE: this film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)
Emily May Jampel
Emily May Jampel is a director from Honolulu based in New York City. Her films have played at festivals around the world, including Palm Springs, Aspen Shortsfest, Champs-Élysées, and Outfest.
South Korea202320 MinKorean2slgbtq+, Action, Available Online, Comedy, Romance, Science Fiction
With Seoul under a UFO attack, will Soojin be able to find the green-glowing girl she slept with the night before? (Re)Discover the power of love in this alien invasion, student-drama, action-romance blockbuster short.
IN PERSON: this film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
ONLINE: this film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)
Jung Inhyuk
Jung Inhyuk has earned a passionate fanbase by mixing stories of non-mainstream characters with B-grade humor and various filmmaking techniques to create a genre that defies definition.
15 Nov, 2024 8:00 pm
TIFF Lightbox C4PG
DIGITAL SHORTS
All shorts are available online via a Shorts VOD Pass. Valid from 10AM on Monday, Nov 18 thru 11:59PM on Sunday, Nov 24, 2024.
–
This programme is presented with a mix of open captions, English subtitles, and no captions. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
After a mysterious encounter leaves her daughter Sumi in a coma, Sara rushes from South Korea to Winnipeg to be by her side. As Sumi heals, Sara begins to unpack details of her life that her daughter never shared with her. On a mission to find a husband to take care of Sumi when she wakes, Sara ventures into the daunting unknowns of dating apps and Winnipeg winters, and finds out more about herself than she planned.
It’s no secret that filmmaking requires grit, stamina, and a whole lot of determination. Reel Ideas celebrates the behind-the-scenes perseverance that drive creators to follow their instincts and shape their stories.
Layla is a struggling Palestinian drag queen who often finds creative ways to make ends meet, surrounded by a small, supportive group of close friends within the North London queer scene. A stuffy corporate event performance goes terribly wrong, making Layla and their outrageous antics go viral, and they meet the seemingly-dull-in-comparison marketing executive Max. Despite their very different worlds, a transformative love affair ensues, much to the annoyance of their close friends, who are highly skeptical of how healthy or affirming this relationship could possibly be.
Malaysia2021-2022TRT: 1h07English, Bahasa Melayu, Malay, Cantonese, Mandarin Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Experimental Horror, Family-friendly, Mockumentary
Initiated in 2002 by Yuni Hadi (Singapore), Amir Muhammad (Malaysia) and Chalida Uabumrungjit (Thailand), S-Express has become an annual showcase of programming from Southeast Asia, spotlighting the abundant filmmaking talent and a nuanced insight into the stories of each participating region. This year, Reel Asian presents S-Express Malaysia, programmed by Chong Lee Yow of Mini Film Festival, featuring five films depicting one's ability to (un)trap themselves from limitations set upon them, be it bodily, mind, or soul, to achieve relief and victory.
Malaysia202122 minEnglish and Bahasa Melayu with English subtitlesComedy, Directed By Women, Mockumentary
A beloved horror actress questions the triviality of her career starring in Pontianak films, all the while being filmed by a group of documentary filmmakers.
Alina Wong JinKei
Alina Wong is a Malaysian writer-director who strives to tell stories that incite wonder, conversations and emotions.
Malaysia202215 minMalay with English subtitlesExperimental, Horror
A religious officer and a journalist embark on a close-proximity case in a house that seems to have other plans.
Aldina Lydia Nabilah Azani
Although she shines with positivity, Aldina Lydia Nabilah binti Azani’s head is still full of sadness and darkness.
Malaysia20217 minMalay with English subtitlesExperimental
Two sisters seeking revenge for the murder of their sister, Isabel.
Yazeid Suhaimi
Extremely attentive to visual details and storytelling, Yazeid Suhaimi is proficient in directing and cinematography roles especially in short film, commercial, photography, and music video.
Malaysia202212 minCantonese with English subtitlesDirected By Women, Documentary, Family-friendly
Unaware it's her dementia-ridden grandmother’s final months, a filmmaker documents her grandmother's physical changes.
Mickey Lai
Mickey Lai is an emerging filmmaker who is interested in developing stories about diverse cultural values, mortality, and self-identity.
Malaysia202211 minMandarin with English subtitlesDirected By Women, Drama
On her 21st birthday, A Xin, who studied abroad in Taiwan, meets her brother who came from Malaysia.
Pei Szi Wong
From learning how to shoot to archiving a film, Wong Pei Szi is a Malaysian student who studies abroad in Taiwan.
PG
Content Warning: Depictions of violence, guns, death, suicide
10 Nov, 2023 5:30 pm
TIFF Bell Lightbox C3–
This programme is presented with English subtitles. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
A job interview, a children’s clothing store, a government registry office. These are just some of the everyday sites for which the characters of Terrestrial Verses must navigate cultural, religious, and institutional constraints imposed on them.
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.
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.
Starring Jerry as Himself shakes up notions of traditional storytelling in a genre-bending mystery that centres on Jerry Hsu. Jerry is a loving father of three, a recent divorcé, and has been keeping a secret.
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?
Visit the PIGEONHOLE, nest and rest from the festival chaos, listen to collaborative pigeon music, watch raw footage, compose your own ditties, and collage a flock of desired futures together with other attendees. Check the festival website or rarara.ca for a full program schedule including artist talks and facilitated collage sessions.
Canada, Japan, South Korea, USA2023TRT: 1h37Japanese, French, Korean, English, Tagalog, Arabic
These shorts look at the soft to even slightly off-kilter bonds we find in one another, the realms we exist in, and ultimately, ourselves, despite ongoing change—no friendship bracelets required.
*Directors in attendance starred.
Japan202220 minJapanese with English subtitlesComedy, Drama, Science Fiction
In the peripheries of near-future Tokyo, high schoolers Kou and Yuta practice a prank that begins as a faux argument and involves a prop glass bottle stolen from their theater department.
Neo Sora
Raised in New York and Tokyo, Neo Sora is a filmmaker, artist, and translator living between the two cities. He is in development for his debut feature as a writer-director, Earthquake.
Canada202312 minFrench with English subtitles2slgbtq+, Documentary
Kathy Tran and Agnès Gaudreau work as auto mechanics at Bâtiment 7, a collective-run space where they can truly be themselves.
Namaï Kham Po
Namaï Kham Po is a self-taught video director and editor based in Montreal and born in Thailand.
USA202316 minEnglishDirected By Women, Drama, Family-friendly
Flaming lobsters and menstruation woes plague 12-year-old Yuki’s doomed Hawai'ian beach vacation.
Maya Tanaka
Maya Tanaka is a Japanese and Lebanese American filmmaker based in Brooklyn. Her work uses writing and film to question historical narratives around cultural legacy, gender, and sexuality.
South Korea202214 minKorean with English subtitlesAnimation, Drama, Family-friendly
A boy longs for his father's affection, but he is only interested in fishing.
Jinman KIM, Jiyoung CHON
Jin-man Kim and Ji-young Chon both work at HUMUHUMU Stopmotion Studio as directors.
USA202213 minEnglish and Tagalog with English subtitlesComedy, Directed By Women
Teenager Ly and her cousins get high before a boisterous family Thanksgiving at their auntie’s house in southeast San Diego in 2006.
*Kayla Abuda Galang
Born in Olongapo, Philippines, and raised in San Diego and Houston, Kayla Galang is an Austin-based filmmaker exploring themes of femininity, home, and belonging.
USA20227 minEnglishAnimation, Directed By Women, Experimental
A crush gone mouldy…
Zhen Li
Zhen Li is a Chinese American animation artist based in L.A. whose work centers around expressing the in-between, with an affinity with darkness, misalignment, warping realities, and folded feelings.
Canada202215 minEnglish and Arabic with English subtitles2slgbtq+, Comedy, Directed By Women, Drama, Romance
Grinding away at the inherited family business, Mohamed works tirelessly making sales of knock-off perfume, while living as a knock-off version of his true self.
*Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller
Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller is a Queer mixed-race Palestinian Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto. Her work explores themes of fragmented identity, isolation and connection through grounded “oh no, should I laugh?” comedy.
PG
11 Nov, 2023 12:00 pm
TIFF Bell Lightbox 4–
This programme is presented with a mix of open captions and English subtitles. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
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!
Hang out with us for Festival Happy Hour, open to the public! Grab a drink and join in on the casual activities each day.
A job interview, a children’s clothing store, a government registry office. These are just some of the everyday sites for which the characters of Terrestrial Verses must navigate cultural, religious, and institutional constraints imposed on them.
Canada, Denmark, Germany, South Korea, USA2022-2023TRT: 1h32English, French, Mandarin, Buryat Mongolian, Korean2slgbtq+, Animation, Directed By Women, Experimental
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?
*Directors in attendance starred.
Canada202315 minEnglish2slgbtq+
Faye, a 16-year-old ballet dancer, prepares for her final solo.
*Emma Zuck
Emma Zuck is a filmmaker with a focus on directing and screenwriting, whose work is born from growing pains: her soft spot for the sentimental, her childhood of prairie antics, and the contradictory feelings of “home.”
Denmark, South Korea20228 minNo Dialogue Animation, Directed By Women, Experimental
Unable to find the presence of women in the artwork of Lee Jung-seob, I am a Horse spins an imaginative tale inspired by tae-mong (Korean birth dreams) of women born with half of their bodies, being a horse and a tiger.
This film has no dialogue and is presented without captions.
Chaerin Im
Chaerin Im is a filmmaker from South Korea with a focus on experimental animation. With the use of craftsmanship and distinctive materials, she explores gender issues and sexual imagery.
USA202216 minEnglishDirected By Women, Disability, Drama, Family-friendly
Anna, a cognitively disabled woman, and her estranged sister, Emily, must learn to communicate after their mother’s death in order to move forward.
Liz Sargent
Liz Sargent is a Korean American adoptee writer and director, whose award-winning work explores themes of adoption, disability, and family.
Canada20232 minFrench with English subtitlesAnimation, Directed By Women, Family-friendly
Following an exchange of text messages with her mother about her newly adopted dog Abby, a young woman sees her experience as a transracial adoptee reflected in this adoption.
Fanny Lord-Bourcier
Fanny Lord-Bourcier is a multidisciplinary artist and animator. Curious and keen, she is continuously willing to adopt and be adopted by new places, disciplines, mediums, and people.
USA202318 minEnglish, Mandarin with English subtitles2slgbtq+, Documentary, Drama, Experimental
Opaque memories seep into a quotidian flow despite efforts to move onward.
*Emory Chao Johnson
Emory Chao Johnson (they/them) is an artist settled on the land of the Tongva whose work centres on the real and abstract forces that charge queer trans lifeworlds.
Canada, Germany20239 minBuryat Mongolian with English subtitlesAboriginal + Indigenous, Animation, Directed By Women, Documentary, Experimental, Family-friendly
The formation and history of Lake Baikal in Siberia are re-imagined with handmade animation, featuring the voice of a Buryat woman who can still recall some words in her endangered language.
Alisi Telengut
Alisi Telengut is a Canadian artist of Mongolian roots, living between Berlin and Tiohtià:ke/Montréal.
South Korea202224 minKorean with English subtitlesAnimation, Directed By Women, Drama
Sejin once had the power to have anything she wanted just by thinking about it. But now she has lost her magic.
HAN Jiwon
Ji-won Han is an animation film director, illustrator, and comic book writer who often approaches themes focused on subjective moments and emotions of the younger generation living in the pressure cooker of South Korean society.
PG
11 Nov, 2023 5:00 pm
TIFF Bell Lightbox 4–
This programme is presented with a mix of open captions, English subtitles, and no captions. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
A job interview, a children’s clothing store, a government registry office. These are just some of the everyday sites for which the characters of Terrestrial Verses must navigate cultural, religious, and institutional constraints imposed on them.
Catch author Jeff Yang in conversation with RepresentASIAN Project's EIC and founder Madelyn Chung about his new book, THE GOLDEN SCREEN. Purchase a copy and get it signed!
Canada, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, UK, USA2022-2023TRT: 1h30Tagalog, English, Korean2slgbtq+, Animation, Comedy, Directed By Women, Drama, Experimental, Romance, Science Fiction
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.
*Directors in attendance starred.
Philippines, Singapore202315 minTagalog with English subtitlesComedy, Drama
The audition process for an exploitative game show becomes the latest test of a long-suffering mother’s fortitude and tenacity.
Sonny Calvento
Sonny Calvento is a director, writer, and producer based in Manila. At the age of 19, he worked as a drama writer for ABS-CBN, the largest broadcasting network in the Philippines.
UK20223 minEnglishAnimation, Experimental, Science Fiction
A mad clock takes the viewer on a time trip to a random planet where the concept of time is experienced differently from the one we know...
*Shunny Kim & Taewan Kim
Shunny Kim and Taewan Kim are animators based in London. Co-directing their BA graduation film, their interests aligned through experimental animation, character design and collaboration.
Canada202315 minEnglish and Tagalog with English subtitlesDirected By Women, Drama
In this complex family thriller, Gian has been plotting revenge since the day Janine, his mother, was sent away.
Nushi Sharma
Nushi Sharma is a Filipino Indian undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia.
Canada202310 minEnglish2slgbtq+, Music
Filmmakers Njo Kong Kie and John Greyson (using their highlighter compositional method) have created an original short opera about the last day on Earth for Li Shiu Tong, the lover of Berlin sexologist and legendary gay-rights pioneer Magnus Hirschfeld.
Njo Kong Kie & *John Greyson
Njo Kong Kie is an award-winning Toronto composer who has been a long-serving music director of La La La Human Steps in Montreal.
John Greyson is a Toronto filmmaker who is a pioneer of the new queer cinema. His films have won four Berlin Teddies, five Canadian Screen Awards, and over 50 Best Film prizes at festivals internationally.
Malaysia202312 minEnglishExperimental, Fantasy
Two crocodilian men go to a swimming pool to cool off. One of them is seemingly of a different and special kind; the other is unable to control his desire.
Mark Chua & Lam Li Shuen
Mark Chua and Li Shuen Lam are a filmmaker and artist duo. Their films often employ absurdist imagery, thinking on place, histories and the peculiarity of human desire.
Singapore, USA20238 minNo dialogue2slgbtq+, Animation, Experimental, Romance
One night, a person brushes the teeth of a dog and turns into a bus.
This film has no dialogue and is presented without captions.
Elizabeth Xu Yuan Li (EXYL)
EXYL is a filmmaker and animator born and raised in Singapore. They were trained in painting and drawing, but moved slowly but surely into time-based mediums like live action and animation.
South Korea202227 minKorean with English subtitlesDirected By Women, Drama, Horror, Science Fiction
Sujin, who was recently fired and is planning to go to Canada on a working holiday, lives with her family after her parents’ return.
Eun-uk Jeong
Eun-uk Jeong is studying film at Myongji University.
12 Nov, 2023 5:00 pm
TIFF Bell Lightbox C4PG
Content Warning: Flashing lights; depictions of suggested violence
–
This programme is presented with a mix of open captions, English subtitles, and no captions. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Starring Jerry as Himself shakes up notions of traditional storytelling in a genre-bending mystery that centres on Jerry Hsu. Jerry is a loving father of three, a recent divorcé, and has been keeping a secret.
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!
For our Closing Night Event, come celebrate the live So You Think You Can Pitch competition at the 27th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. Reception to follow.
Canada, Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, USA2022-2023TRT: 1h43English, Hindi, Māori, Farsi, Indonesian, Korean2slgbtq+, Animation, Comedy, Directed By Women, Documentary, Drama, Experimental, Family-friendly, Immigrant stories, Mystery
More to the situation than what it seems, these shorts choose to examine, tease, and redefine the forces that pull us to make a decision.
*Directors in attendance starred.
USA202313 minEnglishDirected By Women, Drama
Maggie, a young Asian American sound artist, grapples with her imposter syndrome as it takes on new extremes at her first artist's residency.
*Annie Ning
Annie Ning is a filmmaker from Suzhou, China, currently based in NYC, where she is pursuing her MFA in screenwriting/directing at Columbia University.
Canada20229 minEnglishComedy, Documentary, Experimental
Pixels of the Orient appropriates Western media depictions of East Asia for a psychedelic and comedic exploration of ahistorical East Asian aesthetics and identity.
*Warren Chan
Warren Chan is a video artist and curator with a focus on experimental works that analyze digital and new media technologies.
New Zealand202313 minEnglish, Hindi, Māori with English subtitlesDrama, Family-friendly, Immigrant stories
When Anu, a recent widow, moves to New Zealand from India, she's forced to confront her grief by completing an ordinary ritual in an extraordinary circumstance: quarantine.
Pulkit Arora
Pulkit Arora is a writer-director based in India and New Zealand. His directorial work focuses on identity, faith and belonging.
Canada202314 minEnglish, Farsi with English subtitles2slgbtq+, Comedy, Directed By Women, Drama
An Iranian Canadian girl reluctantly makes a new friend when the new student from Iran offers to help fix her ruined unibrow — for her, a symbol of the Iranian heritage she tries desperately to hide from the world.
*Nedda Sarshar
Nedda Sarshar is an emerging filmmaker and writer who loves to tell stories that centre queer women of colour and their immigrant families. Sarshar won Reel Asian’s Pitch Competition in 2021 with this work.
Singapore202211 minEnglish Animation, Comedy, Directed By Women, Experimental
In the strange, polarized world of Hands and Butts, a single act of violence toward an oppressed Butt sets the mediaverse ablaze.
Calleen Koh
Calleen Koh finds joy in turning serious societal issues into wacky stories using her crazy sexy characters, like anthropomorphic sushis, phallic Crayola-coloured children or walking butts in her manic animated films.
Indonesia202318 minIndonesian with English subtitlesDrama
Working as a fisherman to support his small family, Ucup is used to consuming his catch from the sea until one day something strange happens that makes him realize something about his daily meal.
Muhammad Heri Fadli
Muhammad Heri Fadli is from Central Lombok, Indonesia, and just finished his master’s degree at the University Technology Mara in visual communication and new media.
South Korea202224 minKorean with English subtitlesDirected By Women, Mystery
Kyu-ho, an ordinary office worker, receives an interview request from a famous writer and agrees to talk to her.
*ROH Do-hyeon
Do-hyeon Roh has held various jobs in the field, such as a lighting technician for a commercial film and a web novelist after signing a contract with a publisher.
PG
Content Warning: Depictions of dead marine life
11 Nov, 2023 7:30 pm
TIFF Bell Lightbox C4–
This programme is presented with a mix of open captions and English subtitles. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Hang out with us for Festival Happy Hour, open to the public! Grab a drink and join in on the casual activities each day.
Mariam, a medical student, is dealing with her grandfather’s passing, her grieving mother, and preparing for upcoming exams. When an estranged and suspiciously helpful uncle re-enters their lives and promises support with their property and finances, Mariam senses trouble.
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
