Reel Asian is Nominated for a Canadian Screen Award

2022 Reel Asian Awards is nominated for Best Web Program or Series, Non-Fiction at the Canadian Screen Awards which will be televised in May. The 2022 Reel Asian Awards program serves as both a preservation and embodiment of our mission. It encapsulates the essence of what we stand for—providing a stage for Asian creatives to shine and ensuring their contributions are appropriately acknowledged.

We are grateful for this nomination. The Canadian Academy’s support means a great deal to us, and we look forward to the Canadian Screen Awards where we will be alongside our esteemed fellow nominees.

About the 2022 Reel Asian Awards:

The weeks leading up to our annual festival are undeniably the most hectic. Amidst finalizing details with speakers, venues, and worrying about ticket sales, we seized the opportunity to enhance our digital Awards show, something we were thrown into doing during the onset of the pandemic. Although we were thrilled to return with our first fully in-person festival, we recognized the significance of an online Awards show–each award sponsor and winner had their moment to speak, and we were able to incorporate live musical performances from an ever-growing network of Asian talent.

The decision to host a digital Awards show brought its own set of challenges, including assembling a crew, securing a studio, arranging camera equipment, and scripting the event—all amidst an already lengthy pre-festival to-do list. Despite the tight timeline, our community rallied behind us. Through calls for assistance, we were fortunate to have generous members step up willingly, contributing their time and expertise without hesitation and the show came together in about two weeks.

During the peak of our planning schedule, we set aside our day-to-day responsibilities to contribute to the Awards show. For the day, our director of creative marketing and communications assumed the role of director, our shorts programmer became our Covid-19 compliance supervisor, our artistic director took on the role of GAFF and lighting grip, and I took on driving duties and lunch orders. It was a testament to the collaborative spirit within our organization, and it was undeniably rewarding to step into the other side of things and see everyone come together in a new way.

Despite our diverse roles, our shared objective remained constant: to provide a platform for Asian creatives and to duly recognize their outstanding work and achievements.