Canada, Vietnam202180 minEnglish and various languages with English SubtitlesAnimation, Documentary, Drama, Experimental, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Sci-fi, Women Filmmakers
Carefully set and intentionally crafted, the site-specificity of these short films recognize the role of place as a character integral to offering layered understandings of self, community, and purpose.
Canada202113 minTamil with English subtitlesToronto PremiereDrama, Experimental, Women Filmmakers
Trina encounters another version of herself as a paramilitary fighter for the Tamil Tigers and begins to question the ways in which we rebel.
This presentation has English subtitles.
An Active Listener will be available to offer one-on-one peer support for viewers who may find the content of this presentation triggering. More info on how to access here.
This film contains the potentially triggering topics of war and intergenerational trauma.
Maya Bastian
Maya Bastian is an award-winning filmmaker and writer with roots in conflict journalism. She specializes in exploring untold stories, integrating the voices of each unique community through active engagement, research, and open dialogue.
Canada20214 minEnglishCanadian PremiereDocumentary, Women Filmmakers
Two Filipino Canadians candidly reflect on how separating from their mothers during immigration has affected their mental health and family cohesion.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Thea Loo
Thea Loo is a producer and director from Vancouver. She is currently producing To Make Ends Meat 結束肉, a documentary project premiering this fall at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival.
Canada202110 minEnglish, Mandarin, Japanese with English subtitlesLGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Sci-fi, Women Filmmakers
In the year 2090, Sam tries to bring her lover back to life.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Lovina Yavari, Lance Fernandes
Lovina Yavari is a Canadian actor, director, artist, fashion designer, and internationally published model in Toronto. She can be seen in DC’s Shazam, Polar, and The Boys.
Lance Fernandes, a graduate of the Toronto Film School, is a commercial director and visual-effects artist.
Canada202011 minNo dialogueAnimation, Family, Reel Asian Award Winner, Women Filmmakers
Oscillating between the past and the present, a woman sits in a hospital room, alone with her dying father.
Jordan Canning, Howie Shia
Jordan Canning, a graduate of the Directors’ Lab at the Canadian Film Centre, has made more than a dozen short films.
Howie Shia is an illustrator, animator, writer, and director whose work combines a love for ancient mythologies with a fascination for modern urban environments.
Canada202110 minNo dialogueToronto PremiereAnimation, Women Filmmakers
A disquieting fable with dark humour, a child tries to gain her father's affection, but the family dog proves to be a fierce rival.
This presentation has no captions and no dialogue.
Alisi Telengut
Alisi Telengut is a Canadian artist of Mongolian descent. She creates animation frame by frame under the camera, with painting as the medium, to generate movement and explore handmade and painterly visuals for her films.
Canada20215 minEnglish, Cantonese with English subtitlesCanadian PremiereDocumentary, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Non-binary Filmmakers, Reel Asian Award Winner, Women Filmmakers
Highlighting the rich tenacity of Toronto’s East Chinatown community, this film explores the area’s people, sidewalks, and businesses, giving voice to their experiences of community, identity, anxieties, and hopes for the future.
This presentation has English subtitles.
This presentation has open captions.
Amanda Ann-Min Wong
Amanda Ann-Min Wong (she/they) is a Toronto-based film director, writer, sound artist, and musician exploring themes of loss, nostalgia, and memory, as well as finding purpose and community through the arts.
Canada20205 minEnglish, Cantonese with English subtitlesDocumentary, Women Filmmakers
Filmmaker Christine Wu wayfinds her shifting relationship to Hong Kong, as someone who is now observing the region from afar.
This presentation has closed captions.
Christine Wu
Christine Wu is a Hong Kong-born filmmaker and cultural worker living on the territories of the Williams Treaties First Nations (Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ont.). She creates from a place of self-compassion, reflecting an ongoing process of self-education about systemic injustice and healing.
Vietnam202022 minVietnamese with English subtitlesCanadian PremiereDrama, Sci-fi
On a quest to rebuild home, an alien encounters a reverent worshipper, a cynical construction worker, and a mysterious medium, observing their varying ideas of home.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Ostin Fam
Born and raised in Hanoi, Ostin Fam is a member of Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, the first and largest collective of independent filmmakers in New York, and a 2017 recipient of Sony Pictures’ IFP Marcie Bloom Fellowship in Film.
10 Nov, 2021
to 19 Nov, 2021
PG
Ann Kaneko’s Manzanar, Diverted invokes this history to tell the story of generations of women: Native American, Japanese American WWII incarcerees, and environmentalists, fighting for the future of the valley. Through a mix of testimonials, archival, and aerial photography, Kaneko weaves intersectional histories with the urgency of the present.
In this artist talk, Golboo Amani introduces us to her body of work, which often addresses and challenges the formal conditions of knowledge production and invites us to consider the power of alternate sites of pedagogy in creating collective agency and community building.
Desh Pardesh ended in 2001, in large part due to a massive cut in public arts funding. Two decades later, organizers and artists from the festival discuss the impact of the festival and the ways in which we can learn from the success and challenges of running an unapologetic and political arts festival in the city of Toronto.
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is a unique showcase of contemporary Asian cinema and work from Asia and the Asian diaspora. Works include films and videos by artists in Canada, the U.S., Asia and all over the world. As Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival, Reel Asian provides a public forum for Asian media artists and their work, and fuels the growing appreciation for Asian cinema in Canada.
401 Richmond Street West, The Commons (Suite 448)
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8 Canada
(416) 703 – 9333
info@reelasian.com
Charitable number: 870021383RR0001
