2h30
Come celebrate the live So You Think You Can Pitch competition at the 27th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. A fun and exciting way to support emerging filmmakers, watch as the five finalists pitch their projects to our esteemed jurors for a chance to win an amazing prize package toward kickstarting or finishing their film. Cheer on a new generation of filmmakers, and let the future of Asian Canadian cinema inspire you!
Pitch Winner Prize Package
Pitch Finalist Package
Liem Vu
Host
Liem Vu (he/him) is a journalist with over 10 years of multi-platform experience. He can be seen weekdays on Global News Morning as a co-host and weather specialist.
Aram Siu Wai Collier
Artistic Director, Reel Asian Film Festival
Aram (he/him) is a filmmaker, educator, and film festival programmer. He is currently the Artistic Director at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.
Maya Bastian
Filmmaker
Maya Bastian (she/they) is an award winning filmmaker and artist. Her work has been supported by Netflix, HBO, UN IOM, CBC and the Canadian Film Centre. Her most recent film Tigress participated at CANNES COURT METRAGE 2021 and premiered at Festival De Nouveau Cinema.
She is in development on multiple features with BLACKOUT MEDIA and KARMA FILMS and is currently co-writing and directing a paranormal mystery series set in 1970’s Southeast Asia with REFLECTOR ENTERTAINMENT. She is an alumni of TIFF Series Accelerator 2023 with her comedy series How to be Brown. Her work frequently explores the trauma related to displacement and migration.
Jay Carolyn Wu
Writer-Director, Development Exec
Jay Carolyn Wu (they/them) is a queer/non-binary Hong Kong-Canadian writer/director and development exec. Their most recent short Toe the Line screened at Inside Out Toronto 2022, Vancouver Asian Film Festival 2021, and was nominated for the Golden Sheaf for Scripted Short, Yorkton Film Festival 2022.
As a development exec, they also developed scripted originals across both comedy and drama for Crave and CTV at Bell Media from 2021 to 2023. They now lead the development of series and features at LaRue Entertainment.
Pitch Project Title: The Only Son
Logline: The Only Son is a short narrative drama that follows Beatrice Zhu, an aging Chinese immigrant who is forced to navigate the sprawling city on her own after getting lost on the way to her son’s birthday dinner.
Giran Findlay
Director, Writer
Giran Findlay (he/him) is a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker, who writes and directs narrative dramas that use elements of both documentary and surrealism. He is interested in telling stories that raise questions about human nature and using unconventional techniques to achieve this.
Lina Li
Producer
Lina Li (she/her) is a storyteller who cares deeply for authentic human connections and the exploration of vulnerability through heart-to-heart dialogues. She aims to bridge her audience closer or simply help one feel less alienated through the resonance of human emotions and experiences.
Her short film Have You Eaten? navigates the generational, cultural and language barriers between a mother and a daughter in an immigrant family. It was commissioned and produced by the National Film Board of Canada, and licensed and featured on The New Yorker. Li has been working as a freelance producer on short films and ad campaigns for international brands such as KPMG and DECIEM The Ordinary.
Pitch Project Title: Topographies of Intimacy
Logline: Topographies of Intimacy is a docufictional short that weaves together sexual fantasy with intimate interviews to explore how Asian women express their sexual desires.
Hannah Polinski
Co-Director, Producer
Hannah Polinski (she/her) is a writer and filmmaker currently based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Using the lens of Asian identity, her work explores familial memory, shifting landscapes, and feminine sexuality. Her first film, perennials, premiered at Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival (2022).
From poetry to film criticism, her writing has appeared in publications such as the White Wall Review and Ricepaper Magazine. As a playwright and theatre director, her original works have been performed on stage in France, and most recently at the Montreal Fringe Festival (2023).
Dédé Chen
Co-Director, Editor, Cinematographer
Born in Nanchang, China, Dédé Chen (she/her) now lives in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal where she creates works about the performance of filiation. As a filmmaker, writer and anthropologist, she is interested in autoethnography.
Pitch Project Title: Bison’s Farewell
Logline: Bison’s Farewell is an animated and silent short film that portrays an underrepresented intersectional experience of endometriosis within the trans community.
Kay Chan
Director, Producer, Writer, Lead Animator
Kay Chan (They/He/She) is a Two-Spirit/nonbinary Tkaronto-based artist who was raised across Turtle Island/Canada. With their mixed Métis-Chinese heritage, Kay transforms their many experiences, passions, and identities into vision while weaving together traditional and digital art mediums they have accessible.
Pitch Project Title: Imprint
Logline: A narrative short that follows Brandon (40) a seasoned trauma cleaner who is forced into the role of a dead son, in order to comfort the son’s mother and find comfort in himself.
Gordon Tomoya de Groot
Director
Gordon Tomoya De Groot (he/him) is a Japanese-Canadian filmmaker born in Osaka and based in Toronto. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA in Cinema Studies.
With his short films, he is interested in exploring the underlying loneliness in people’s lives and how that manifests in their interactions with each other. Having grown up in Japan, his work often touches on the intricacies of Japanese society and the moral dilemmas within it that push and pull at individuals.
Pitch Project Title: Behold the Man Who Is A Bean
Logline: A short documentary that serves as a look at the joy, shared experiences, and deep understanding that the British television show Mr. Bean gave to immigrant communities.
Miru Yogarajah
Director, Writer
Miru Yogarajah(they/them) is a documentary filmmaker, writer, community organizer, and artist. Miru aims to showcase the multifaceted experiences of being a person on the margins and the delicate and intimate experiences they host alongside survival.
Their film works have been produced by National Film Board of Canada and they received the 2022 Hot Docs Cross Current Fund to develop their feature-length documentary Im/migrant Buyers’ Club. They have written contributions to The Local and West End Phoenix, among others.
Kristina Wong
Producer
Kristina Wong (she/her) is a film producer who strives to tells stories that reimagine the Asian-Canadian experience. Her work includes the short films Distant Cousins (Dir. Winnie Jong) and Gem & Shaz (Dir. Chloé Hung).
Currently, she is producing the Talent to Watch feature 100 SUNSETS and adapting Ann Hui’s celebrated novel Chop Suey Nation into a hybrid feature film. Most notably, Kristina was named one of Playback Magazine’s “10 Filmmakers to Watch”.
Nedda Sarshar
Filmmaker
Nedda Sarshar (she/her) is an Iranian-Canadian writer and filmmaker. Her first short film, Rachel and Raha, premiered at the Canadian Film Festival, and won Best Short Film at the Toronto LGBT Film Festival and Best LGBT Short Film at the Toronto Short Film Festival. Her second short, Unibrow, was a recipient of Reel Asian’s “So You Think You Can Pitch” Contest.
Her writing has been featured in Best Canadian Poetry, Huffington Post Canada, and the Rumpus. She enjoys writing about diasporas and star-crossed lovers.
19 Nov, 2023 5:00 pm
CSI Annex–
Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Join us at CSI Annex for the Festival Closing Party following the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN PITCH? LIVE FINALE
8:00PM-10:00PM at CSI Annex
–
This space is wheelchair and step-free accessible via a staff-operated lift.
The rest of the venue, including the accessible washrooms, is all on one level.
This event may include loud music, flashing lights, and crowds. A calmer,
quieter respite room is available for those with environmental sensitivities.
Click here to advise us of your access needs.
In our inaugural First Films event, award-winning Asian Canadian filmmakers show the first films they’ve ever made. They will reveal their origin stories—that time they caught the movie bug; the place their creative voices first started cracking.
When 13-year-old Ilyas’s parents yank him out of his comfortable Islamic private school and force him to adjust to life in public school, he develops a plan to change their minds. After a staged fondness for non-halal food and explicit music fails to sufficiently scandalize his parents, Ilyas asks his whip-smart former classmate, Yasmeen, to help devise a more foolproof plan.
Explore this app for mobile devices that shares the journey of a child refugee, activated by the steps you take.
So You Think You Can Pitch is back! Celebrate our 15th year of pitch competitions by supporting your favourite emerging filmmakers in our live event! Featuring a total of five finalist individuals or teams, the winner will walk away with our amazing prize package to kickstart or finish their short film, including a cash award, in-kind support, and the opportunity to premiere their work with us at next year’s festival!
Pitch Winner Prize Package
Pitch Finalist Package
Nedda Sarshar
Nedda Sarshar hails from an Iranian immigrant family in Toronto, Ontario. She is in production for her first short film “Rachel and Raha”, a queer summer film that centres women of colour and their immigrant families. She has attended the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Emerging Writing Program, and was a finalist for the IGP*BIPOC TV and Film Pilot Accelerator Program where she was able to pitch an idea for a tv series to a production company. She is involved in organizations that are committed to creating platforms for marginalized voices in the arts, including BIPOC TV AND FILM and MIRCHI COMEDY. She enjoys writing about diasporas, identity crisis’ and star-crossed lovers.
Nikki Shaffeeullah
Nikki Shaffeeullah (she/her) is a director, writer, actor, facilitator, and activist who creates theatre, film, and poetry. Her first short film “Fly Away With Me” has played at festivals across Europe and North America. Currently, Nikki is a curator with National Arts Centre – English Theatre, a core and founding artist of Confluence Arts Collective, and a resident artist with Why Not Theatre. Past roles include Artistic Director of the award-winning community-engaged theatre company The AMY Project, and Editor-in-Chief of alt.theatre magazine. For more: nikkishaffeeullah.com
Anubhav Singh
Originating from New Delhi, India, Anubhav is a film director who is currently based in Mississauga. With a foundation in fine art as well as film directing, Anubhav thrives on understanding of both artistic and technical aspects of filmmaking.
Through visually rich and emotionally driven storytelling, Anubhav aims to tell stories that are diverse in nature but possess a common, relatable emotional ground with emphasis on human empathy.
Helmann Wilhelm
Helmann is a writer/director and co-founder of Canted Pictures. He is a two-time winning recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts grant and the Waterloo Region Arts Fund. Helmann’s work has been selected three times at the Austin Film Festival, including a semi-finalist placement. Other notable placements include the Academy Nicholl Fellowship, Nashville Film Festival, and Atlanta Film Festival. His most recent project, CREEMORE VILLAGE, was selected as one of 25 projects for the Netflix-Banff Fellowship and pitch program.
Alice Wang
Alice Wang is a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto. Keeping their parents happy with a degree in psychology, they have now transitioned to filmmaking and enjoys writing stories she has always wanted to tell. An ArtReach grantee and ¼ of Videatur Collective, they’re passionate about engaging youth from underrepresented communities in creative fields such as filmmaking. Winner of the Willamette Writer’s Film Lab 2021 with their web series pilot, they gravitate towards stories about loss, acceptance, and belonging.
Richard Young
Richard Young is a South Asian (Indo-Caribbean) Canadian screenwriter/actor. Writing credits include “Overlord and the Underwoods” (CBC/Nickelodeon), “Dino Ranch” (CBC/Disney+), and “16 Hudson” (TVO). Accolades for Richard’s scripts include: ScreenCraft Sci-Fi & Fantasy Writing Competition Finalist, Just For Laughs ComedyPRO Pitch Finalist, and WGC Script Of The Month selection. His acting credits include “Taken” (NBC), “Jett” (Cinemax), “Kim’s Convenience” (CBC), and he serves as the ACTRA Toronto Treasurer with a focus on diversity and inclusion.
Victoria Morado
Victoria Morado is the Director of Media for Universal Films Canada, responsible for assisting in the strategic development and execution of all the advertising and promotional initiatives for the studio’s slate. Recent releases include The Boss Baby: Family Business , F9 and Candyman. Prior to joining NBCUniversal, Victoria was Traffic Manager at Maxus Canada, where she led the traffic team for diverse studio products including Jurassic World, the Fast & Furious franchise and Despicable Me.
Aisha Jamal
Aisha Jamal is a film programmer, filmmaker and college professor. She is Canadian film programmer at Hot Docs Documentary Festival and previously worked for TIFF and Syria Film Festival Toronto, among others. Her feature documentary “A Kandahar Away” is on CBC Gem and her 7-part documentary web series “How We Die: the Future of End-of-Life” is now streaming online. Her previous short films have played at various international festivals worldwide. Currently, Aisha teaches film theory and criticism at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario.
Ellie Posadas
Ellie Posadas is a Queer Filipinx-Canadian, Actor, Singer, and Creator from Toronto. She is part of the award winning comedy group, ‘Tita Collective’, aiming to tell stories of the Filipin* diaspora. Ellie was recently featured in TIFF 2021 for the world premiere of, ’Scarborough’, based on the award winning novel by Catheirne Hernandez. Other Credits include; ‘Wexford Plaza’ (34th TFF, CAAMfest, Slamdance), ‘The Morning After’ (Toronto ‘Inside OUT’ Festival, Los Angeles ‘OUT fest’), ‘Baby Blue Canoe’ (Toronto After Dark FF)
Pitch Mentors
Angelica Mendizabal • Screenwriter
Vince Ha • Filmmaker and Curator
Pitch Shortlisting Jurors
Mandeq Hassan • Programmer, Sisterhood Media
Michael Fukushima • Producer
Samir Ballou • Reel Ideas Coordinator, Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
Shortlisted
Chara Ho and Carri Chen – Revelations
Rahul Aijaz – The Bunker
Amanda Ann-Min Wong – Calling At Dusk
Elvina Raharja – Fragment
Yujia Shi – A Tiny Grain of Millet
On the pastoral North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, the end is near for Masao, an ill and elderly man with regrets to spare. As he looks back, his family history, dreams, and mythology swirl around him as ghosts he carries with him in his final days.
Mi-yeon seems to be living the perfect life as a choirmaster and the wife of a successful man. In comparison, her sisters Hee-sook and Mi-ok seem to be miserable, making Mi-yeon frustrated. But in the shadow behind her perfect smile, Mi-yeon’s also suffering from the three sisters’ shared childhood trauma that they’ve yet to come to terms with.
Aman, a young aspiring writer, moved to Kuala Lumpur to follow his dreams, but all he has is his late father’s old car and nowhere to live. To make ends meet, he uses his room on wheels to illegally earn money through a driving-service app. This is how he meets Bella, a student from Penang.
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
