Canada, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, USA202181 minEnglish and various languages with English subtitles Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Non-binary Filmmakers, Women Filmmakers
Sing along to this collection of short films featuring characters who find themselves confronting systemic, structural, and personal challenges, all while defying conventional narratives and reconstructing alternative possibilities of storytelling.
Canada, USA202114 min English, Mandarin, Cantonese with English subtitlesToronto PremiereDrama, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Non-binary Filmmakers
Tenderly dedicated to their chosen family, Sky, a non-binary Chinese American drag sensation, returns to their hometown and ends up confronting their estranged father about childhood memories that continue to haunt them.
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 implied domestic aggression, family separation, and queerphobic parents.
Jess X. Snow
Jess X. Snow is a non-binary film director, artist, poet, and community-arts educator who creates queer, Asian, immigrant stories that transcend borders, binaries, and time.
South Korea202115 min Korean with English subtitlesNorth American PremiereAnimation, Women Filmmakers
Director Boyoung Kim takes us into a world where everything you need can be rented from huge vending machines. A girl does whatever she can to become a guitarist, despite others choosing otherwise.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Boyoung Kim
Boyoung Kim is a Korean animator and independent filmmaker. She is the creator of animated short films Replacement (2013), Impersonation (2014), Prey (2015), and The Levers (2018).
Philippines202116 min Tagalog with English subtitlesCanadian PremiereDrama
Set to an expressive soundtrack, Vangie is a miserable contractual sales lady who uncovers the ultimate jaw-dropping secret to regularization in a desperate attempt to save her job.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Sonny Calvento
Sonny Calvento is a writer, director, and producer from the Philippines. Reflective of the Filipino psyche in finding humor in tragedies, Calvento is interested in tackling the sometimes-farcical life in the Philippines.
Canada20214 min Tagalog with English subtitlesLGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Music, Women Filmmakers
Commissioned by the Polaris Music Prize to honour the 2020 shortlist nomination of Pantayo’s self-titled debut, Huwag Mataranta! follows BB, who finds her power in a mystical night market run by figures of Filipino folklore.
Tricia Hagoriles
Tricia Hagoriles is an award-winning, Toronto-based filmmaker who received the inaugural Inside Out + OUTtv Outspoken Documentary Financing Fund for her upcoming work, The Archivist.
Myanmar, USA202115 min English, Burmese with English subtitlesCanadian PremiereDrama, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers
Imperfectly Complete features a resonating performance from Burmese American Chrissy Aung in the role of Lucy, who struggles whether to reveal the truth of herself when the blind guitarist she cares for is about to regain his vision.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Bruce Chiu
Born and raised in Taiwan, Bruce Chiu is a writer, director, and cinematographer based in Los Angeles. Chiu is passionate about telling stories for social issues.
Canada, Pakistan202017 min English, Urdu with English subtitlesDrama
It’s 1978 in Pakistan, amid guitar riffs and late-night shows, rockstar Lenny from the Christian community is offered the chance to reinvent himself as a state-sanctioned singer.
This presentation has English subtitles.
Hamza Bangash
Hamza Bangash is an award-winning Pakistani Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer. An alumnus of both the Locarno and Asian filmmakers academies, his artistic practice is based out of Karachi.
10 Nov, 2021
to 19 Nov, 2021
PG
Continuous Journey is a complex tale of hope, despair, treachery, and tragedy. It is a revealing Canadian story with global ramifications, set in a time when the British Empire seemed omnipresent and its subjects were restless and seeking self-determination.
Damascus Dreams is a reflexive documentary essay presented in a series of sections framed by voiceovers of Serri and her father. The film explores and interrogates the fraught notions of dreams, and memories of “home,” moving loosely through old video footage of the family home in Syria, interviews with Syrians who had to leave or flee because of the civil war, conversations between Serri and her father, and poetic, dreamlike sequences.
Spanning over a decade from 1984 to 1996, Shooting Indians: A Journey with Jeffrey Thomas is a portrait of Jeffrey Thomas, a self-described “Urban Iroquois” photographer, exploring the influences on his life that led him to his career.
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
