VAFF 2021 Digital Festival Program Guide_Pink

CANADIAN FILMS

TELEFILM.CA/EN/SEEITALL

TAB L E O F CO NT E N TS ABOUT VAFF

FESTIVAL & TICKETING INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 – 5 VENUE MAPS & LEGEND. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 WELCOME LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 – 9 SPECIAL GREETINGS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 – 11 OPENING FILM: Rickshaw Girl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT: Try Harder!. . . . . . . . .

CANADIAN SPOTLIGHT: Bangla Surf Girls . . . . . . . .

NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT: Snakehead. . . . . . . . . . . . .

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RECLAIM YOUR NAME CAMPAIGN: Zahida Rahemtulla 13 Patricia Wong

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RICHARD WONG FILM FUND. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 TrailBlazin, To Make Ends Meat

CANADIAN SHORTS SPOTLIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Nude to Me, SLUMP, Parabola, The Nikkei Way, Toe the Line

INTERNATIONAL SHORTS SPOTLIGHT . . . . . . . . . 18 Americanized, Last Cut, Cocoon Love, Apart, Together, Influencer

CENTERPIECE SPOTLIGHT: Good Deal. . . . . . . . . . . 19 INTERNATIONAL SPOTLIGHT: A Balance. . . . . . . . . 20 ELIMIN8HATE PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 ett: Out of the Shadows, What Flowers They Bloom

RECLAIM YOUR NAME CAMPAIGN: Maria dela Cruz

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Skəkmxísa t Sophia Terbasket-Funmaker 18

VISION VAFF envisions a world where North American Asian actors and filmmakers have the resources and opportunities to contribute to and shape mainstream culture in a powerful and positive way.

Out Of Touch, I am not an Angel, In the Shadow of the Pines, Fledgling 4 North A, BÃ Ba

MAMM PROGRAM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Kamadhenu, Lauren In The Bathroom Closing Doors, The Door, the Hall, and the Wall, Switch City, Hail Marie, Two Wheels, Not My Age, Reverse

SCREENX SPOTLIGHT: Scotiabank Theatre GUIMOON: The Lightless Door. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

MISSION FESTIVAL SCHEDULE 26–27

Letters From Home (2001), All Our Father’s Relations (2016), MAMM retrospective shorts x 7

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Wuhan Wuhan. . . . . . . . 30 NARRATIVE FEATURE: Residents of Arcadia . . . . . 31 NARRATIVE FEATURE: Ito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

INTERNATIONAL SHORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Light at the End of the Tunnel: Koreatown Ghost Story, Lion on the Mat, Crouching Comic, In Pursuit Of Light

CANADIAN SHORTS SPOTLIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Ode to the Past:

VAFF is dedicated to promoting and celebrating the diversity and depth of Asian culture and identity in film, television and media, and to help North American Asian actors and filmmakers more authentically and more powerfully define and express themselves on screen.

Through its annual film festival and many other programs and events hosted in Vancouver, VAFF’s mission is to engage in, support and amplify Asian presence in film and television.

VAFF RETROSPECTIVE PROGRAM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

NARRATIVE FEATURE: In Another Language. . . . . . 34 NARRATIVE FEATURE: A Leg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

In 2020 almost every regional, national and international film festival pivoted to be a virtual festival. VAFF was no exception. From the learnings of hosting virtual screenings and panels, VAFF will expand to include a section of its future film festivals to be virtual from 2021 onward.

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CANADIAN ANIMATED SHORTS SPOTLIGHT. . . . . 22

ANIMATION SPOTLIGHT: Pompo the Cinephile. . . 24 INTERNATIONAL SPOTLIGHT: Drifting . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Each year VAFF attracts close to 5,000 audience members over its four-day festival and year round events. It also reaches many more through word of mouth, pre-festival events, and traditional and social media throughout the year.

VAFF is mostly organized and produced by a group of dedicated volunteers, and is made possible by generous financial support from corporate sponsors, public funders, and private donors.

RECLAIM YOUR NAME CAMPAIGN: Lynda

VAFF is the longest running Asian film festival in Canada. It was founded in 1995 and debuted in September 1997. Since then, tens of thousands of film lovers have experienced a diverse selection of North American-Asian and international films.

RECLAIM YOUR NAME CAMPAIGN: Fuad

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But You're Not Black, Looking Back, The Goddard Kit, Mr James is Dead

We are grateful to live and work on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the xwməθkwəỳəm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Seĺíĺwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. We thank the First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities that have cared for Turtle Island since time immemorial. With this acknowledgment, we remind ourselves of discriminatory, racist and colonial practices that have and continue to create barriers for Indigenous peoples and communities across Turtle Island.

NARRATIVE FEATURE: First Child. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 INTERNATIONAL SHORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38-40 In Search of Purpose and Value:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

CREDITS

Family Portraits:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

CONTENT MARKETING DIRECTOR: Walid Elatrache

VISUAL CONCEPT: created by Gillian Lo, Creative Director

Tanagokoro: A Culinary Portrait, Solo Trekker Sneeze!, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star The Taste of Ginger, The King of Backyard, Everything Stays, WAO

PRODUCER: Regina Leung

International Animated Shorts Spotlight:. . . . . . . . . . 40

Daisies and Sparrows, Shiro, the Giant, and the Castle of Ice, Nanakorobi (Seven Falls), Fire Craft, Hoverman, Dino Bone, Flowing Home (Nhu Môt Dòng Sông), Splish Splash

CANADIAN SHORTS SPOTLIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Through a Woman's Eyes:

MARKETING: Alexis Ocampo, Isha Jain BTS VIDEO: Hannah Lee RECLAIM YOUR NAME CAMPAIGN: My Name

GRAPHIC DESIGN: Vika Zheng 41

Perfect Daughter, Esther & Sai, Receiver, Yokomeshi

NARRATIVE FEATURE: Make-Believers. . . . . . . . . . . 42 INTERNATIONAL SHORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 On a Cinematic Journey: Silent Night, Watch Your Back, Swingin', Third Culture Kid, Blue Suit

CLOSING SPOTLIGHT: Lumpia with a Vengeance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 PANELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 - 48 AWARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 - 50 RESO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 ELIMIN8HATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 - 55 MAMM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 VAFF TEAM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 - 59 INDEX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 - 61 FESTIVAL SPONSORS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 - 63

IMAGE CREDITS VAFF25 FESTIVAL AMBASSADORS Curtis Lum, Nhi Do, Hiro Kanagawa PHOTOGRAPHER Good Side Photo - Ryan Wagner CREATIVE RETOUCHING Cake Imagery - Kevin Lanthier HAIR Suki's Salons - Ken Takagi and Hideno MAKEUP ARTIST Iya Yujuico Curtis Lum wardrobe by The Rare Spirit Hiro Kanagawa wardrobe by Andy Chu

FESTIVAL & TICKETING INFO ABOUT THE 25 TH ANNUAL VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (VAFF 2021) The theme of 25th year of VAFF – “Past, Present, Possibilities” • The past is revived and celebrated for VAFF’s achievements over the last 25 years, in addition to the legacy it has created for Asian filmmaking • The present (VAFF 25) is the perfect time to recognize and embrace VAFF’s growing role and influence in promoting Asian film and culture both in Canada and globally • The future is all about possibilities, identifying opportunities and reaching new horizons, notably in the areas of inclusion and representation As we reflect on the festival’s illustrious achievements in these 25 years, we celebrate how far we’ve come in elevating the profile of Asian Canadians in cinema, and look to the future with a mission to keep spreading a message of inclusivity while taking Asian filmmaking to new heights. To this end, the theme of “Past, Present & Possibilities” is at the essence of VAFF25’s “Feel the Vibe-Asian” campaign. Featuring a multitude of Asian Canadian talent, “Feel the Vibe-Asian” carries a message of originality, boldness, and vitality, with a spirit of poise and grace. We are delighted to have Curtis Lum, Nhi Do, Hiro Kanagawa; three very talented AsianCanadian actors, as the 25th Annual Vancouver Asian Film Festival Brand Ambassadors.

PRICING & TICKETING VAFF IN THEATRE ALL IN PERSON ACCESS E-PASS........................................................ $100

*includes all of the In Theatre Screening Nov. 4 - 7, 2021 and ScreenX screening Nov. 14, 2021.

FEATURE FILM SPOTLIGHT PROGRAMS (per film/program)........... $15 SHORTS PROGRAMS (per film/program).............................................. $10 STUDENT RATE & SENIOR RATE (applicable to all screenings)......... $8

VAFF MEMBERSHIP................................................................................ $2

VAFF 2021 PROGRAM SERIES VAFF’s screening programs are organized into various series in order to better highlight the content of our festival: Spotlight Features Narrative Features

SPECIAL EVENTS

Key Features

VAFF25 OPENING NIGHT GALA.......................................................... $100

Canadian Feature / Shorts

Time: November 4, 2021, from 9:00 pm to Midnight Venue: D6 at Parq Vancouver, 39 Smithe St, Vancouver BC. Limited tickets for sale | Complimentary hors-d’oeuvres + special cocktail and Cash bar Kick off the 2021 Vancouver Asian Film Festival with our opening gala. Meet filmmakers and local film industry guests.

Dress code: Playful Cocktail Attire MUST BE 19 TO ATTEND – ID MAY BE REQUESTED.

OVASIAN AWARDS CEREMONY BY VAFF25 & AFTER PARTY.... $50 Time: November 14, 2021, from 7:30 pm until midnight Venue: The Hollywood Theatre, 3123 W Broadway St, Vancouver, BC. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres and Cash bar. Wrap up this year’s VAFF and unwind with filmmakers, industry and VAFF volunteers.

Dress code: Black & White - Classic & Playful Attire MUST BE 19 TO ATTEND – ID MAY BE REQUESTED.

VAFF VIRTUAL SCREENINGS

International Shorts

*PR OOF OF VACCIN ATIO N REQU IRED AT THEATR E A N D A LL EV EN TS .

TICKET & PASS POLICIES NO REFUNDS & EXCHANGES AND NO RUSH TICKETS Fees: The surcharge fee charged by ticketing system.

ALL VIRTUAL ACCESS E-PASS...................................................................$50 *includes all of the Virtual Screening Nov. 8 - 13, 2021.

FEATURE PROGRAMS (per film/program)............................................ $10 SHORTS PROGRAMS (per film/program).............................................. $5 FILMMAKERS TALK SPECIAL EVENTS............................................... FREE CLOSING FEATURE FILM (per e-ticket)................................................ $10

LOCATION

VAFF INDUSTRY INSIGHT & ELIMIN8HATE PANEL SERIES WEEK

2. Scotiabank Theatre, 900 Burrard St, Vancouver, BC

1. Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas, 3rd floor , 88 West Pender Street, Vancouver BC

Live Virtual: Nov 8 - 12, 2021 Live In Person: Nov 13, 2021 By donation and register in advance

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F E S T I VA L I N F O

FESTIVAL CONTACT INFO EMAIL: boxoffice@vaff.org Share it @VAFFVANCOUVER #VAFF | #VAFF25 | #VAFFVIRTUAL | #FeelTheVibeAsian | #VAFFINDUSTRY | #DIVERSITYINFILM

IN THEATRE HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTOCOL https://festival.vaff.org/2021/health-and-safety/ ALL DETAILS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. PLEASE CHECK OUR WEBSITE AT VAFF.ORG FOR THE LATEST DETAILS.

WarnerMedia is HBO, WarnerBros, DC Entertainment, Cartoon Network and much more. We are interested in the stories you want to tell.

WarnerMedia Access Canada is present all across Canada to find talent like you.

Shape your story here.

ASIAN CANADIAN STORIES AND CREATORS.

WarnerMedia Access Canada is a proud sponsor of the Vancouver Asian Film Festival.

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25 YEARS OF VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL A brief history by Barbara Lee, Founder & President It is hard to believe that VAFF turns 25 this year!

It was 1995 and I had just completed my first short film, and was checking out different festivals when my friend invited me to attend the Seattle Asian American International Film Festival. The Opening film that night was CBC’s RUNAWAY: Diary of a Street Kid, starring Sandra Oh. Just a side note, I had auditioned for that role a year earlier and was shortlisted for the part, which obviously I didn’t get, but it did make me realize that I wasn’t cut out to be an actor. However, as I sat in the theatre watching Sandra Oh on the big screen, something clicked in me and for the first time in that moment I saw that someone who looked like me could be on the big screen as a fully developed and complicated character, not just a stereotype. Once I was back in Vancouver, I went looking for a similar film festival to submit my short to, but found that Canada did not have its own Asian Canadian film festival. Well, that was something that needed to change.....

As I had no idea how to start a film festival, I travelled around the US visiting San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (now known as CAAM —Centre for Asian American Media) and New York Asian American Film Festival to learn as much as I could from their organizers. After returning to Vancouver, I rounded up some of friends to help start VAFF. It’s funny what you can do, when you don’t know any better….we were all pretty naïve.

We had no money, but a friend put me in touch with the late great Milton Wong, who was willing to listen and understood that I was trying to bring together the Asian Canadian filmmaking community in Vancouver and sponsored us with a small amount of seed money.

Quentin Lee and Justin Lin. They have both gone on to tremendous success with their own filmmaking paths.

The next few years were lean with little to no funding and grants. However, every time it looked the bleakest, a small sponsorship would come through just providing enough to meet the basic expenses, but never enough to pay any staff. VAFF has relied and survived on the passion and dedication of its Board, Execs and General volunteers all donating their time because we all believed in the shared vision of what we could build together.

“Once I was back in Vancouver…but found that Canada did not have its own Asian Canadian film festival. Well, that was something that needed to change.”

Then In September of 1997, VAFF debuted at Robson Square Conference Centre and opened with a little known film called Shopping for Fangs from directors

For this I am eternally grateful to all those that have been a part of the VAFF family over the last 25 years as well as all the sponsors that have helped to keep this little festival that could going. This year, with the increase in equitable funding for racialized arts organizations, VAFF is extremely happy to welcome the Canadian Media Fund as a Presenting Sponsor.

2004 VAFF introduces Panels into its festival programming with two panels discussing Asian male and female representation and stereotypes in film.

2000 VAFF moves to its new home at Tinseltown Cinemark Theatres

1997 1995/96 Planning Canada’s first Asian film festival

VAFF debuts at Robson Square Conference Centre

2002 Celebrated the 5th

VAFF’s Past, Present & Possibilities 2021 VAFF celebrates 25 years and launches its hybrid festival with 5 days in-theatre film & panel events and 7 days of virtual “on demand” events.

anniversary of Hong Kong’s repatriation by spotlighting featured July Rhapsody by Ann Hui and Fruit Chan’s Hollywood Hong Kong

2017 The We Heart

2019 Richard K. Wong becomes VAFF’s inaugural Lifetime Patron with a 3 year commitment to support Asian Canadian filmmakers.

Mina Shum recieved the “Outstanding Contribution” Diversity in Film Award.

2020 VAFF VIRTUAL Festival took place due to the unprecedented global transformation in 2020

2017 The We Heart Canada + Japan campaign celebrated the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan & Canada

Canada campaign celebrated Canada’s 150th Anniversary. Jeff Chib-Stearns received the “Outstanding Contribution” Diversity in Film Award.

Over the years, VAFF’s vision has expanded from simply showcasing the work of Canadian Asian filmmakers to becoming Canada’s premier incubator of talent for Asian Canadian creators and filmmakers with programs like Mighty Asian Moviemaking Marathon (MAMM), VAFF Industry Insights Panel/ Workshops (VI2) and Asians in Movies, Music and Media (AIM3). VAFF has also taken an active community role advocating against anti-Asian hate with its Elimin8Hate campaign.

Stories shown on the screen can influence how people think, feel, interpret and perceive the world around them. Films and media have the ability to open the minds and perspectives of its audiences. Canada is a vast and beautiful country with a diversity of stories that need to be showcased. Now more than ever is the time to shine the spotlight on these talented and underrepresented Canadian Asian voices and creators. Although at times challenging, VAFF’s unwavering Artistic Vision is to show the depth and breadth of what the lived experiences of Asian Canadians feels and looks like on screen.

To fully participate in society, Canadians of Asian heritage need to be seen and heard and this can only be achieved through representation in front and behind the camera.

People often ask me what is the biggest change I witnessed over VAFF’s 25 years. There has been many changes. The first would be the technology advances and how this has lowered the entry for more racialized people to tell their own stories. Not to mention the digital advancement has made the bulky VHS tape screeners we received obsolete and no more faxing info back and forth. However, a close second are the filmmakers themselves. When I first started the festival, I would always ask the filmmakers what they studied in school and the answers were often — business, accounting, engineering, finance, medicine, law, etc. These days it is film school, media studies, directing, scriptwriting and producing.

Studios, Production companies, Funders, Government and Film organizations that are dedicated to elevating underrepresented voices do not need to reinvent the wheel. We invite all to participate and join in the many programs and initiatives that VAFF has to offer year-round.

Thank you and see you over the next 25 years!

2012 Lead actors Goh Nakamura and Yea-Ming Chen of Daylight Savings give live 2011 Love Letters to performance at Opening Gala.

Vancouver celebrated Edison Chen stars in Almost our city Vancouver’s Perfect 125th birthday

2005 Debut of Mighty Asian Moviemaking Marathon (MAMM) first filmmaking competition with Asian cultural elements

2007 Justin Lin spoke to VAFF audiences “In the Director’s Chair”, sharing his illustrious journey as an Asian-American in the industry 2016 VAFF 20th Anniversary.

The campaign “Asians In Movies” (AIM) attracted North-American Asian models, actors and other leading male and female faces to submit photos, videos and answers to VAFF’s AIM questions about diversity. Tzi Ma received the “Outstanding Contribution” Diversity in Film Award.

2013 Linsanity Canadian Premiere 2015 The Red Packet Challenge debuts. It later becomes the Ultra Shorts competition

2014 Manny Jacinto, leading cast of TELE, accepts the NFB Canadian Shorts Award

WELCOME LETTER

Welcome to the 25th annual Vancouver Asian Film Festival!

We celebrate this milestone year with the tagline of “Feel the Vibe-Asian!” As the uncertainty and difficult times of the pandemic continues around the world, we cautiously move forward with what we all know as the new normal with a great deal of enthusiasm.

As we celebrate our 25th year, we reflect on our Past cherishing our Asian roots and feeling gratitude for our Asian heritage in the Present moment and we look towards the future with excitement of the Possibilities it holds for the Asian diaspora filmmakers, talents and storytellers to share their work through film and media.

We want everyone to feel the “Vibe”, the anticipation of the Possibilities as we showcase the lineup of amazing films and meetings of filmmakers, virtually and in-person through Q&A sessions and the industry professionals from around the world in our eleven day hybrid festival!

We launch our 25th Anniversary festival with an in-person screening and will wrap with a special film at a ScreenX theatre, a 270° panoramic in-person screening experience. As we have done in the past, we bring to you a wide range of genres from comedy, drama, documentary, horror and this year we have also included animation! In addition, to give recognition to the Past we bring to you several films from VAFF's and MAMM's screenings under the title of “Retrospective”.

Susan Hanson Festival Director

With the hard work of our amazing volunteer Executive team members, Board, event volunteers and through the support of our sponsors, donors and partners, we are able to bring to you this year’s stunning festival. I look forward to greeting and meeting many of you during the in-person portion of the festival. Enjoy the festival and see you in-person and online!

What inspired you to take on your role as festival director of VAFF? SH: Watching VAFF over the years, what it stands for, what its goal is—to provide a platform for the underrepresented— I thought, what an amazing thing for me to get involved with.

How does your occupation as an actor inform your position as Festival Director?

SH: Being an actor gives me a very different perspective­—as an actor, you’re in front of the camera. As a director you’re behind the camera. As a Festival Director, you’re behind [all] that.

What does VAFF symbolize for you?

SH: Opportunity. I believe VAFF is the conduit for so much talent as Asian-Canadians and the Asian diaspora. And VAFF provides the opportunity to showcase [that].

SPECIAL GREETINGS

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA JUSTIN TRUDEAU I am pleased to extend my warmest greetings to everyone attending the 2021 Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF).

This much-anticipated event offers a wonderful opportunity to experience some of the best cinema from the Asian Canadian and Asian American film communities. I am certain that everyone in attendance will be entertained by the diverse selection of films being screened during this 25th anniversary edition of VAFF, and that the other events planned for this year’s festival will enhance the experience for everyone involved.

It continues to be a challenging time for planning and hosting events. That is why I would like to thank the organizers and volunteers for their hard work and dedication. Your efforts ensure the continued success of this outstanding festival.

Please accept my best wishes for a memorable experience.

Sincerely,

A MESSAGE FROM PREMIER JOHN HORGAN As Premier of the Province of British Columbia, I extend my warmest greetings to everyone participating in the 25th annual Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF).

Sincere 1997, VAFF has showcased a remarkable selection of works and hosted hundreds of industry professionals, enriching BC by celebrating the influence of Asian heritage and cross-cultural exchange in cinema. Film is a powerful art form, inviting us to a deeper appreciation of one another, and it is wonderful that this landmark year is being celebrated with an extended hybrid model, allowing more people to participate than ever before.

Organizing a festival of this magnitude requires a tremendous amount of effort, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the dedicated volunteers who worked to make this event possible. British Columbia is the most culturally diverse province in Canada, and dynamic festivals such as VAFF represent an invaluable contribution to our unique identity. By providing a space to honour the stories of emerging and established Asian Canadian and Asian American filmmakers, you help to make our communities more welcoming and inclusive for everyone.

Congratulations on 25 years of exciting and thought-provoking festivals, and I wish you many more to come. Enjoy the films!

November, 2019

A Message from the Mayor A MESSAGE FROM MAYOR KENNEDY STEWART On behalf of the City of Vancouver and my colleagues on City Council, I want to extend On behalf of the of Vancouver and my colleagues on City Council, I want to extend my warmest greetings to my warmest greetings to everyone attending the 23rd Anniversary ofCity the Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF). everyone attending the 25th Anniversary of the Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF).

VAFF is the longest running to Asian film festival in Canada. It was founded in 1995 and debuted in September 1997.

The Vancouver Asian Film Festival is a not-for-profit organization that endeavours provide a cultural bridge between the Asian and non-Asian the Asian and celebrating the diversity and depth of Asian culture and identity in film and VAFF iscommunities dedicated and to promoting communities themselves. The Festival will highlight the and unique and creative film media, to help North American Asian actors and filmmakers more authentically and more powerfully define talents of emerging and established Asian Canadian and Asian American writers, and express themselves on screen. producers, and directors by providing a venue to showcase their works.

As a city with deep roots in the film and TV industry, VAFF is an important event that brings together international As a city with deep roots in the film and TV industry, VAFF is an important event that and local industry professionals, strengthening Vancouver as a destination for film and TV production in North brings together international and local industry professionals, strengthening Vancouver America. as a destination for film and TV production in North America.

Thank you and congratulations to the filmmakers, artists, organizers, and volunteers for another Thank you and congratulations to the filmmakers, artists, organizers, and volunteers successful year of VAFF! for another successful year of VAFF! Sincerely, Sincerely,

Mayor Kennedy Stewart

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A MESSAGE FROM THE HONOURABLE YONAH MARTIN Warmest greetings to all those in attendance at the annual Vancouver Asian Film Festival SPECIAL (VAFF).

GREETINGS

Since its debut in 1997, VAFF has successfully provided a platform for international and

national filmmakers to showcase their creative works and talent.

Today, the Festival A MESSAGE FROM HONOURABLE YONAH MARTIN attracts thousands of independent filmmakers and movie enthusiasts in support of cultural

diversity, in Canadian cinema.

On behalfrepresentation of the Senateand Ofauthentic Canada,storytelling sincere greetings to all those in attendance at this year's Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF).

This year marks a milestone history of VAFF as we celebrate years of and creativity and filmmaking excellence. As Canada’s I commend Lynne Lee and in thethe VAFF Board of Directors for their 25 leadership oldest Asian film festival, continues all to the attract thousands people dedication.

I would also likeVAFF to acknowledge directors, writers,ofactors andeach crew year for who share a passion for culture and film.

commitment to artisticthe excellence; and of all Directors, the volunteers, and donors forsteadfast vision and commitment to bring Asian Iyour would like to commend VAFF Board past sponsors and present, for their your invaluable contributions. films to Vancouver, and to entertain and inspire festival patrons for more than two decades. I have personally enjoyed many of the films over the years, which have left indelible imprints in my heart and soul to this day.

On behalf of the Senate of Canada, best wishes on another memorable and inspiring

Festival.

To all of the talented filmmakers, directors, actors, writers and crew, and dedicated VAFF staff and volunteers - congratulations and thank you for making this year’s festival possible. Best wishes for a truly memorable festival!

Sincerely,

Sincerely,

The Hon. Yonah Martin Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate

A MESSAGE FROM THE HON. MELANIE MARK On behalf of Premier John Horgan and the Government of British Columbia, I am pleased to welcome you to the 25th Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF).

This special anniversary is a tremendous accomplishment and an opportunity to recognize the incredible work VAFF does year after year to celebrate our differences and diversity through film.

VAFF’s dedication to providing a cultural bridge between Asian and non-Asian Senate of Canada Building, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A4 | martin@sen.parl.gc.ca communities in Metro Vancouver sets an example for everyone in British Columbia.

We have a vibrant arts community recognized throughout the world for its passion and quality works.

I am thrilled 2021 marks a return to in person screenings for some of the films at VAFF. Arts and cultural events are critical to bringing us together and strengthening our connections with each other. The VAFF is a wonderful way for people to get back to having fun together.

I encourage all British Columbians to take part in the VAFF and attend one of the feature films in person or online. This is our opportunity to support the hard work of artists in B.C. and across North America during the hardest days of COVID-19, and shine a light on the powerful storytelling VAFF promises to share.

Sincerely,

A MESSAGE FROM BURNABY-DEER LAKE MLA ANNE KANG Please accept my highest regards for your ongoing work in showcasing diversity & multiculturalism, and creating a space for cultural exchange & understanding.

Thank you for your contribution towards to a beautiful and more diverse British Columbia.

Congratulations!

A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO OF CREATIVE BC PREM GILL Heartfelt congratulations to VAFF for 25 years from Creative BC! Creative BC is devoted to uniting and championing diversity, inclusion and the success of B.C.’s creative industries at home and beyond. We are proud to support Vancouver Asian Film Festival, Canada’s longest running Asian film festival and a champion of Asian communities and creatives.

Importantly, we commend VAFF’s ongoing commitment to the Elimin8Hate campaign, an important initiative that provides anonymous, safe reporting for Canadians of Asian ancestry experiencing anti-Asian attacks. We recognize the value of this contribution that brings public visibility to the truth, consolidates public resources accessibly for victims, and publishes data for actionable change.

Our sincerest congratulations to the team and volunteers at VAFF for highlighting, advocating and creating access for Asian creatives.

We are excited to participate in the festival again this year, and to celebrate the expansion into a hybrid format for more people to enjoy and mark this milestone anniversary.

Sincerely,

Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

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OPENING NIGHT

RICKSHA W G I RL AMITABH REZA CHOWDHURY

I N –T HEA T RE S C REEN I N G LI V E

Daring and determined, teenaged girl Naima longs to earn money for her poor Bangladeshi family, but her unrivaled artistic talent is of little use. When her father grows gravely ill, Naima feels she has no choice but to leave her small village for the bright lights of Dhaka.

In the big city, Naima finds the same economic, societal, and gender pressures faced by most young girls in Bangladesh. She cleverly disguises herself as a boy and takes the difficult job of a rickshaw puller. When her gender is revealed and her livelihood vanishes, Naima finds an unconventional solution to her problems. Based on the acclaimed novel by Mitali Perkins.

One of Bangladesh’s most acclaimed directors, Amitabh has been directing film, television and commercials in Dhaka and beyond for over 15 years. His most recent feature film, “ANYABAJI,” was the recipient of eight international and national film awards. He has won numerous Bangladeshi Critics Awards, including Best Director for his work “EKTI PHON KORA JABE PLEASE” and “E SOMOYE,” and Best Screenplay for “SEI BHOBONEY IN MERIL PROTHOM ALO.” Amitabh works and lives in his hometown of Dhaka and is founder and president of his own film and production company, Half Stop Down. Leading a team of talented professionals, Amitabh is perhaps the most prolific of Bangladeshi filmmakers.

A graduate of Pune University in Pune, India, Amitabh has also studied film and the American film industry as a guest of the United States government’s International Visitor Leadership Program.

OP EN IN G N I G HT G A L A $100 12

Ti m e: N ov 4 9 : 0 0 p m to M id nig ht Ven u e: D 6 at Parq Vanco uver, 39 S mithe St , Vancouver B C L i m i ted t i c kets fo r s ale | Co mp limentary hor s-d’oeuv res + special cockt ail and Cash bar

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N OR TH A MERI CA N PR EMI ERE 110 minutes • Bangladesh • 2021 • English, Bengali • Family, Drama

DIRECTOR Amitabh Reza Chowdhury PRODUCERS Eric J. Adams Faridur Reza Sagar Ziauddin Adil CAST Momena Chowdhury Naresh Bhuiyan Siam Ahmed COMMUNITY SUPPORTER

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TRY HARD E R!

LI V E

DEBBIE LUM

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F R I NOV 5 , 4PM D I REC TOR Q&A

San Francisco’s Lowell High, one of the best public schools in the country, draws high achievers--nearly 70% Asian Americans--from across the city into a fiercely competitive universe. The camera follows seniors through the hallways and into classrooms as the pressure intensifies to impress admissions officers at elite universities with their report cards, test scores, and overall awesomeness. The students proudly own their identity as nerds and tell their stories with candor and humor despite the stress. Will they achieve their dreams? What happens if they fail?

Based in San Francisco and educated at Brown University and San Francisco State University, DEBBIE LUM is an award-winning filmmaker who got her start as a film editor for documentary filmmaker Spencer Nakasako.

She is the director of the short film “CHINESE BEAUTY” (2005) and the feature documentary SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE (2012). TRY HARDER! (2021) is her most recent film.

CA N A DI A N PR EMI ER E 85 minutes • USA • 2021 • English • Documentary

DIRECTOR Debbie Lum COMMUNITY SUPPORTERS

RECLAIM YOUR NAME CAMPAIGN: ZAHIDA RAHEMTULLA

5 minutes

Zahida Rahemtulla talks about her personal experiences and pressures growing up with her traditional birth name in a Western society.

DIRECTOR Gary Singh Chatha

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CANADIAN SPOTLIGHT

BANG L A SURF G I R L S ELIZABETH D. COSTA

I N –T HEA T RE S C REEN I N G LI V E

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Shobe, Aisha and Suma break away from the drudgery of their lives by joining a surf club in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The girls fight family pressure and social judgement. For a few hours on the waves each day and gain confidence as their natural skill and prowess gains attention and praise. The joy and freedom of the waves are a stark change from the abuse and hardship they face at home. Soon they are poised to make history as Bangladesh’s first women surfers. Balancing the freedom of the waves with the restrictive realities of their circumstances, we experience the thrill and struggle of coming-of-age in a developing country.

ELIZABETH D. COSTA is a refreshing new talent from Bangladesh whose skills in documenting intimate images are evident in her first feature documentary, BANGLA SURF GIRLS. For over eight years Elizabeth has worked on media projects as producer, director, assistant producer, editor, and cameraperson. Recently she completed two projects for SBS Dateline, Australia and Big Blue Communications.

Elizabeth was invited to participate in the Film Independent lab 2020, the Chicken and Egg Accelerator Lab 2017. She is also an alumni of the IDFA academy.

She honed her career as an intern script supervisor for Tareque and Catherine Masud in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

VA N COU V ER PREMI ERE 86 minutes • Canada • 2021 • Bengali • Documentary

DIRECTOR Elizabeth D Costa PRODUCER Lalita Krishna WRITER Lalita Krishna

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RECLAIM YOUR NAME CAMPAIGN: PATRICIA WONG Patricia Wong reveals different sides of herself through the different names that she uses.

5 minutes

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DIRECTOR Cindy Au Yeung

N A R R AT I V E S P O T L I G H T

I N –T HEA T RE S C REEN I N G

S N AKEHE A D

LI V E

EVAN JACKSON LEONG

I V - C I N EP LEX OD E O N T HEAT RE 10

F R I NOV 5 , 8 :3 0P M D I REC TOR Q&A

A Chinese immigrant gets caught up in an international crime ring of human smuggling while attempting to make a better life for her family.

EVAN JACKSON LEONG (or Evan Leong) is a director and documentary filmmaker. Leong is most known for his documentary Linsanity about Jeremy Lin, which made its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

He also directed the documentary 1040: CHRISTIANITY IN THE NEW ASIA (2010), and the documentary SHORT BLT GENESIS (2002), which tracks the behind-the-scenes making of and trajectory of Justin Lin‘s film, BETTER LUCK TOMORROW. SNAKEHEAD is Evan's first narrative feature.

VA N COU VER PR EMI E RE 90 minutes • 2021 • United States • English • Drama

DIRECTOR Evan Jackson Leong PRODUCERS Anson Ho, Brian Yang WRITER Evan Jackson Leong CAST Sung Kang, Shuya Chang, Celia Au, Jade Wu

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RICHARD WONG FILM FUND PROGRAM IN–THEATRE SC REENING

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T R A I L BL A Z I N 30 min • 2021 • Canada • English, Cantonese • Drama

30 min • 2021 • Canada • English, Cantonese • Documentary

BRIAN CHEUNG is a Vancouver based Asian Canadian director and cinematographer experienced in commercials and documentary production. http://www.briancheung.ca

WORLD PREMIERE

TRAILBLAZN is a documentary giving us a unique glimpse into the creative worlds and minds of several Asian Canadian artists and musical pioneers based in Vancouver, Canada. We follow Gerry Sung AKA. Scope G, as he spearheads the creation of a collaborative musical track called TRAILBLAZN ft.

Paulskratch, Nancy Lee, Kapa Arkieh, and Nyukyung.

TO M A K E E N DS ME A T

| DI RECTOR Q& A

WORLD PREMIERE

To Make Ends Meat 心頭肉 chronicles the closure of a Chinese-style sausage factory through the eyes of one of its workers, Chung Ho. When the property is sold, he begins to reflect on his memories as an employee of Wing Wing Co., and to reconsider his place in Chinatown.

DIRECTOR Brian Cheung PRODUCERS Gerry Sung, VAFF

KIMBERLY HO 何文蔚 (she/they) is a multi/interdisciplinary artist, performer and collaborator. In their creative practice, they seek to explore their Hakka diaspora through the physical body and food culture, framing new media as a dimension of queer futurisms, and immersive art as a site of liberation.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Kimberly Ho PRODUCER Thea Loo

C a na da Day Dru mmi n g

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CANADIAN SHORTS SPOTLIGHT IN–THEATRE SCREENIN G

I V - CI N EP L EX ODEON T H EAT RE 10

N U D E TO M E 20 min • 2021 • Canada • English • Short Documentary

In this personal documentary, NUDE TO ME, Director Danny Berish discovers how his grandmother found love at a nudist camp in 1949 and how that chance encounter would change the course of his life. Searching to discover more about his grandparent’s radical lifestyle, he meets and mingles with the members of Van Tan, Canada’s oldest

nudist club.

SLU M P

18 min • 2021 • Canada • English, No subtitles • Drama

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

After her comedy video with the school baseball team goes viral, a plus-size broadcasting student discovers that "locker room talk" is not just talk.

LIVE

SAT NOV 6, 2 P M

With close to 20 years of experience working in film and television, Danny Berish is an award winning film director. In 2014, he cofounded Black Rhino Creative, a documentary film production company dedicated to pushing the boundaries of traditional storytelling. A passion for finding the human spirit in every film, he has created content for broadcasters such as CBC, YTV, AMI, Discovery Channel, IFC and CTV. DIRECTOR Danny Berish WRITER Erin Mussolum PRODUCERS Erin Mussolum, Ryan Mah

POLLY PIERCE is a biracial ChineseCaucasian director who has worked throughout Australia, Canada, Mexico and Hong Kong. She wrote, produced and directed the supernatural dark comedy WYTCH CRAFT, which won Best Female Director at the Arthouse Festival of Beverly Hills and Best Female Filmmaker at the Chicago Indie Film Awards.

DIRECTOR Polly Pierce WRITER Lara Deglan PRODUCERS Lara Deglan, Morgan Churla, Matt Kennedy

PARAB O LA

CANADIAN PREMIERE

16 min • 2019 • Canada • English, Japanese with English subtitles • Drama, Gangster, Noir, Asian, Female-led

Makoto, a Japanese-American single mother struggles to reconcile with her estranged father, Musashi, following his recent release from prison. But Musashi's former life as an enforcer for the Yakuza casts a long shadow over both their lives, and history has a way of repeating itself.

T H E N IKKE I W A Y

WORLD PREMIERE

27 min • 2021 • Canada • English • Documentary

Love, persecution, joy, and confusion. If something doesn't work, you try another way. Come with us and learn "The Nikkei Way," from stories of hardship to love stories that last through the ages. The Nikkei Way brings to light the dark and endearing stories of the Japanese-Canadians of Southern Alberta.

TO E T H E LIN E

WORLD PREMIERE

23 min • 2021 • Canada, Cantonese • English • Drama

Gloria Chau is torn between the whitedominated world of hockey, where she gets to be her openly queer self, and her home life, where she writes music to cope with tremendous pressure from her Hong Kongborn mother. Gloria learns to break free of people’s expectations and redefine success for herself.

LEE SHORTEN is an Asian writer/ actor/director best known for playing Sgt. Yoshida on The Man in the High Castle and Walt Yoshida on The Terror Infamy. Lee graduated from Law School (University of Newcastle) in 2009 and worked as a lawyer before pursuing a career in the arts.

DIRECTOR Lee Shorten WRITER Lee Shorten PRODUCERS Brittany Lum-Cho, Phil Planta

ARJAN GILL grew up in India and moved to Alberta, Canada at the age of 11. He started the production company Gill Productions and has created works such as SOLUS and HE SHALL PAY. Arjan’s goal is to create films that explore human nature while giving audiences an unforgettable experience.

DIRECTOR Arjan Gill WRITER Kynan Gordon PRODUCERS Arjan Gill, Kynan Gordon

JAY (CAROLYN) WU is a writer, director, and editor. Their short In My Mother’s Closet (2018) screened at Wicked Queer: Boston LGBT Film Festival and Toronto Reel Asian International. TOE THE LINE (2021) won Breakthroughs Film Festival’s 2019 Pitch Competition. Jo (2018) has more than 8 million views on YouTube.

DIRECTOR Carolyn J. Wu WRITER Carolyn J. Wu PRODUCERS Fonna Seidu, Kristina Wong

RECLAIM YOUR NAME CAMPAIGN: MARIA DELA CRUZ Maria dela Cruz reveals the complex emotions and the weight of history that comes with her name.

5 minutes

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DIRECTOR Cindy Au Yeung

17

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A ME R I C A N I Z E D

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

17 min • 2021 • USA • English • Drama

Growing up in Oakland’s hip-hop culture, Eng struggles with her Chinese-American identity.

To her high school basketball team, she’s just that girl who sits on the bench, but to the Asian kids she’s "Americanized." Eng tries to find a sense of belonging within the two worlds that don't accept her.

L A ST C UT

Inspired by her Oakland roots, ERICA ENG creates work that reflects the diverse community in which she grew up. Her combined background in film and dance influences the rhythm and energy behind her emotional storytelling.

Through her character-driven films, she creates stories that explore themes of cross-cultural relationships, acceptance and self-discovery.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Erica Eng PRODUCER Simran Mahal

WORLD PREMIERE

25 min • 2021 • South Korea • Korean, English • Fiction

Director Kim must get the last cut and finish his film, no matter what.

fourth film.

KWONHOAN KIM was born in 1993 in Seoul, South Korea. He attended the School of Advanced Imaging Science at Chung-Ang University with a major in film. He has directed several short films; LAST CUT is his

DIRECTOR | WRITER KIM Kwonhoan PRODUCERS LIM Jungbae

C OC OON LOV E

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

15 min • 2021 • USA • Chinese, English • Fiction

A teenager is sent back to stay with her grandparents in her hometown village. As she begins a budding friendship with a classmate, she is forced to confront her past and imagine a much different future.

A P A R T, TOG E T HE R 19 min • 2021 • USA • Chinese, English • Drama

A Chinese teenage girl travels with her mom to the States as a translator, in order to find her long-lost sister who was abandoned under the One-child-policy when hoping for a boy. Yiru grapples with feelings of isolation when the search intensifies. She’s faced with the decision when she secretly finds her sister, ——to tell her mom and risk their relationship or to forever keep it to herself.

IN F LUE N C E R 37 min • 2020 • Malaysia • English • Sci-fi Drama

WORLD PREMIERE

Bullied in school and abused at home, 12-year-old Hannah finds solace in the company of an android.

XIAOWEN WANG has a background in production design, fashion design, and storyboarding and background painting. She has worked in animation studios, and has been working as a director for films and tv series. COCOON LOVE is her independent film, which has received international recognition at numerous film festivals.

DIRECTOR Arjan Gill WRITER Bing Li PRODUCER Xiaowen Wang

OLIVIA HANG ZHOU is a Directing Fellow at American Film Institute. She received both education of film & TV production in China and Sweden. Her films are mainly exploring feminism and trauma from a poetic perspective. Her film Apart, Together has won 2021 BAFTA student award, grand prize at student DGA award and is selected for 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival and others .She was selected into director’s training camp at FIRST international film festival, her feature script THE REUNION got into second round of 2021 Sundance Feature Development Track, and won the best project at 2020 Shanghai International Film Festival SIFF NEXT lab.

DIRECTOR Olivia Hang Zhou WRITERS Olivia Hang Zhou, Jess Kohs PRODUCER Blanca Balleste

JARED LEE directed THE LAST 7, which won Best Pilot at the Vancouver Web Festival. Family history and Japanese manga have shaped who Jared is today. His dream is to improve his craft and to see the ideas he can’t afford to make now on screen.

DIRECTOR Jared Lee WRITER Jared Lee PRODUCERS Shito Wong, Edward Lim

RECLAIM YOUR NAME CAMPAIGN: SK əKMXÍSA T SOFIA TERBASKETFUNMAKER Skəkmxísa t talks of the importance of reclaiming the ancestral names of the unceeded land we inhabit today.

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DIRECTOR Gary Singh Chatha

CENTREPIECE SPOTLIGHT

GO OD D E A L CHO KYOUNG-HO

Kwang-sung was once a rising baseball star but he is now a desperate man, cold, hungry, hunted by two hitmen. One day he receives a call from a little boy Jae-ha who asks him to sell his baseball jacket. Na-na is Jae-ha's English teacher who is trying to investigate a murder case that Kwang-sung must be involved.

Ye-ji helps Kwang-sung's escape when she sells Min-hyuk a sleeptime controller. Her brother Soo-jung is a hangman who actually wants to be a rock star. Jae-ha's uncle Seok-ho visits a story hunter and his mysterious daughter to sell off his old bittersweet memories. When they are about to shake hands, Anna Karenina suddenly comes in. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are woven together in a wildly entertaining and exciting cinema adventure that gives both warmth and amusement.

CHO KYOUNG-HO was born in 1982 in Seoul, Korea. He was one of the kids who spent their childhood watching tons of videotape movies. Many years later, all those haunting memories finally made a businessman choose a filmmaker's life. He graduated from Sungkyunkwan University with a B.A. in Political Science and worked in the international baseball business for years. CHO has studied filmmaking since he was accepted into the K'ARTS School of Film, TV & Multimedia (Graduate) and received a government funding for his first feature-length film “GOOD DEAL ".

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SAT NOV 6, 7:15P M

118 minutes • 2020 • South Korea • Korean • Drama

DIRECTOR CHO Kyoung-ho PRODUCER K'ARTS

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I N T E R N AT I O N A L S P O T L I G H T

I N –T HEA T RE S C REEN I N G I V - C I N EP LEX OD EON T HEAT RE 1 0 LI V E S AT NOV 6, 9:45 PM

N OR TH A MER I CA N PR EMI ER E 152 minutes • Japan • 2021 • Japanese, English subtitles • Drama

A BA L AN C E YUJIRO HARUMOTO Documentary director Yuko is working on a piece about a bullied schoolgirl’s suicide when she discovers that her father Masashi, a cram school director, has made a grave error of judgment. She struggles to make things right, but only gets drawn in deeper...

SPONSOR

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Born in 1978 in Kobe City. His debut feature “Going the Distance,” which he produced, wrote, directed, and edited, was selected for the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival’s Japanese Cinema Splash section. It won three awards including a NETPAC Award at the 2017 Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema.

DIRECTOR Yujiro Harumoto PRODUCERS Yujiro Harumoto, Tetsuya Matsushima, Sunao Katabuchi WRITER Yujiro Harumoto

CINEMA KABUKI: San’nin Kichisa

LIVE KABUKI FILM SCREENING NOVEMBER 9-10, 2019

ART EXHIBITIONS • FILM SCREENINGS • LANGUAGE CLASSES • LECTURES • DIGITAL LIBRARY • PUBLIC LIBRARY

The Japan Foundation, Toronto is a proud supporter of the Vancouver Asian Film Festival's 25th anniversary!

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E L I M I N 8 H AT E P R O G R A M

I N –T HEA T RE S C REEN I N G I V - C I N EP LEX OD EON T HEAT RE 1 0 LI V E S U N NOV 7, 12PM

VA N COU VER PR EMI ER E 81 minutes • Canada • 2021 • English with some Punjabi, English subtitles • Documentary (South Asian LGBTQ+)

EMER G ENC E: O UT O F THE S HAD OWS VINAY GIRIDHAR For Kayden, Jag, and Amar, awakening to and expressing their sexuality within conservative South Asian families was a lonely and terrifying experience. Heart-wrenching and healing, their distinct coming-out paths offer comfort, compassion, and inspiration to individuals and communities struggling with acceptance.

VINAY GIRIDHAR is an animator, graphic designer, and illustrator by trade. His animated short film “Loves Age” was an official selection at the HollyShorts Film Festival. Vinay has done significant art, design, film and video work.

Vinay is originally from Kerala, India and currently lives in Surrey, B.C. DIRECTOR | WRITER Vinay Giridhar PRODUCER Alex Sangha

I N –T HEA T RE S C REEN I N G I V - C I N EP LEX OD EON T HEAT RE 1 0 LI V E S U N NOV 7, 1:35 PM

VA N COU VER PR EMI ER E 27 minutes • Canada • 2021 • English • Documentary

W H AT F LOWERS T H EY B LOOM C . H UDSON HWANG An intimate look at Asian-Canadian small business owner, Andy Sue, as he explores the psychological trauma of a first-hand encounter with racism during the pandemic. The film examines the social implications of our digital media reality, where algorithms detect bias and translate fear, blame, and outrage into profit.

C. HUDSON HWANG is an awardwinning Taiwanese Canadian filmmaker, born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta.

His recent multiple award-winning film, Miracle, Baby, chronicles the life of prohockey player Cory Conacher and his complicated journey to the NHL while living with Type 1 Diabetes.

In 2017, Hwang founded his film production company, SUPRE, which specializes in documentary films focused on health, stigma, and the healthcare industry. Hwang is a classically trained violinist and an avid music collector.

DIRECTOR | PRODUCER | WRITER C. Hudson Hwang

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RECLAIM YOUR NAME CAMPAIGN: LYNDA 5 minutes

Lynda Shioya, a 3rd generation Canadian of Chinese descent, speaks to Eileen Park Robertson about identity, race, and healing as a country. This short film highlights Lynda's trailblazing career as a dancer, her thoughts on Asian identity and being an ally to marginalized communities.

DIRECTOR Eileen Park Robertson

21

C A N A D I A N A N I M AT E D S H O R T S S P O T L I G H T IN–THEATRE SC REENING

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OUT OF TOUC H 3 min • 2021 • Canada • N/A • Animation

CANADIAN PREMIERE

In the process of reconnecting with his grandparents after years apart, he falls from the sky into his body when he was a baby and two large rats that are dressed as his grandparents take on the role of his caregiver. He relives his earliest memories with these strange rats, but things get even weirder as the world he's in starts to glitch.

I A M N OT A N A N G E L 5 min • 2021 • Canada • English • Animation

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

This film is a tribute to the sacrifices health care workers make for the rest of us. They are ordinary people, but they are extra-ordinary. Too modest to call themselves heroes, they put themselves in danger to take care of us. In director Joe Chang’s eyes, they are truly angels.

HENRY XU Is a 23-year old 2D Animator and recent Sheridan Graduate, based in Toronto, Canada. He is currently working in the animation industry and he has a passion for storytelling through the use of dynamic colours and personal life experiences.

DIRECTOR Henry He WRITER Henry He PRODUCER Henry He

JOE CHANG is an award-winning Chinese-born Canadian animation director. His previous works include A LONG-DISTANCE CALL (2008), THE MUSIC BOX (2019) and PAN TIAN SHOU (2004), which have been selected into Cannes and other film festivals. As an artist, animator and independent filmmaker, Joe lives in Vancouver, Hangzhou and Shanghai.

DIRECTOR Joe Chang WRITER Joe Chang PRODUCERS Joe Chang, Karin Lee, Yang Li

IN T HE S HA D OW OF T HE P I N E S 8 min • 2020 • Canada • English • Animated Documentary

In the Shadow of the Pines is an animated short documentary about a difficult father-daughter relationship. Drawing on childhood memories, filmmaker Anne Koizumi explores her upbringing with her Japanese immigrant dad, who was also the janitor at the elementary school she attended.

ANNE KOIZUMI is a Montrealbased independent filmmaker and media arts educator whose films have screened nationally and internationally. IN THE SHADOW OF THE PINES won best short animation at SFFILM and best narrative short at the 2020 Ottawa International Animation Festival.

She has taught several workshops, including at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

DIRECTOR Anne Koizumi WRITER Anne Koizumi PRODUCERS Anne Koizumi,Sahar Yousefi

FLEDGLING 4 min • 2021 • Canada • No Dialogue • Family, Drama, Fantasy

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

Realizing her son is about to leave for college, a mom tries to bond with him the only way she knows how.

W CHUNG is a passionate storyteller who was born and raised in Coquitlam, BC. He started out in 2D animation, and is excited to be working in the animation industry as a fledgling 3D artist while making independent films on the side. And yes, his name is W — just like the letter.

DIRECTOR W Chung WRITER Janine Xu PRODUCER W Chung

4 N OR T H A 11 min • 2020 • Canada • English • Animation

Best director Award MAMM 15

A woman sits in a hospital room, alone with her dying father. As the din of hospital noises pushes her to confront her inevitable loss, she escapes into a series of lush childhood memories. 4 North A is a celebration of the fleeting joys of life and a bittersweet reminder that we don’t always get the closure we seek.

BÃ BA

CANADIAN PREMIERE

5 min • 2020 • Canada • English, None (no language in film except titles) • Short, Animation, Stop-Motion, Fantasy

In this stop-motion animated short, a luna moth arrives to reawaken the memories of his past life, warding off the fear that threatens to leave him forgotten. bàba is a journey that brings life to the ordinary, in tribute to an extraordinary life.

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HOWIE SHIA is a Toronto-based illustrator, animator, writer and director. His short films have won several awards internationally, including the 2007 Grand Prix at the Tokyo Anime Fair. Much of his work combines a love of ancient mythologies and a fascination with modern urban environments.

Creating contemporary visuals using mostly traditional drawing techniques, Shia also draws heavily on music, especially contemporary jazz and hip hop.

A graduate of the Directors’ Lab at the Canadian Film Centre, JORDAN CANNING has made more than a dozen short films (including COUNTDOWN, NOT OVER EASY, SECONDS) that have screened at numerous festivals, including the Tribeca Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and Interfilm Berlin.

DIRECTORS Howie Shia, Jordan Canning WRITER Jordan Canning PRODUCER Annette Clarke

STEPHANIE WONG is a Hong Kong-born, Vancouver-based actor, set designer, deviser and director. A Studio 58 acting graduate, she has worked throughout Canada and the USA. She’s a member of the theatre collective happy/accidents, and has worked for The Arts Club, Western Canada Theatre, Electric Company Theatre and others.

DIRECTOR Stephanie Wong WRITER Stephanie Wong PRODUCER Ryan Alexander McDonald

COMMUNITY SUPPORTERS

MAMM PROGRAM IN–THEATRE SCREENING

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LAU RE N IN T HE B AT H RO O M

C LOS I N G D OOR S

After preparing for the worst, Kamadhenu is faced with a pleasant surprise she can't wrap her head around.

1:20 min • 2021 • Canada • English • Drama

In 1990s Vancouver, Susanne returns to her former workplace and residence, a Chinatown hostel, to retrieve her belongings. As she waits for the elevator, she meets her ex-best-friend Su Qi. Shaken by the sudden reunion, Susanne finds the courage to apologize to Su Qi for the first time and say farewell for the final time.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Tesh Guttikonda PRODUCER Bhavesh Chauhan, Praneet Akilla

DIRECTOR | WRITER Tammy Tsang PRODUCERS Tammy Tsang, Edmond Kober-Leung

DIRECTOR | WRITER Cynthia Zhou PRODUCER VAFF

THE DOO R, TH E H A LL, AN D T H E WALL

SWIT CH CIT Y

HA I L MA R I E

12 min • 2021 • Canada • English • Comedy Noir

1:40 min • 2021 • Canada • English • Surreal Comedy

A man of mixed race travels to the baddest part of Switch City, the Bad Guy's Bar, to find out where he truly belongs, and become the baddest he can be.

13 min • 2021 • Canada • Tagalog, English, English subtitles • Drama-Comedy

K A MADH E NU 1:16 min • 2021 • Canada • English • Comedy

The mundane routine of a man's life manifests itself physically as an infinite looping hallway.

He must search deep within himself to find the means to escape.

After scrutinizing herself in the mirror, Lauren comes face-to-face with moments from her past and future, giving her the push to step towards accepting herself.

1:20 min • 2021 • Canada • English, Mandarin • Drama

Having recently moved to Vancouver, the youngest son of a Filipino family struggles to win the respect of his parents by proving he can become more Western than his older, queen-like sister.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Darian Lung PRODUCERS Darian Lung, Elisha Miller, Devon Lung, Zen Dhillon

DIRECTORS Allen Xu, Behnam Salimy WRITERS R. Aiden Marsden, Michael Heaton & Moheb Jindran PRODUCERS Moheb Jindran, Allen Xu, Panta Mosleh, VAFF

DIRECTOR Harley Maranan WRITERS Harley Maranan, Ruel Maranan, Marisol Maranan PRODUCERS Harley Maranan, Austin Kwok, Roger Maranan, Katie Ouellete, Ross Branch

TWO WH E E LS

N OT M Y AG E

REVERSE

10 min • 2021 • Canada • English • Drama

8 min • 2021 • Canada • n/a • Drama

12 min • 2021 • Canada • English • Action

Two Wheels is a gentle-hearted drama where a young boy from Strathcona struggles to adapt to his best friend moving away, despite his friends trying to console him.

When a young-at-heart Korean Grandma breaks her leg on a nightly adventure with her Granddaughter, she fights for one more spray paint extravaganza in the dead of night.

A hardened, time-travelling, hitman reluctantly chooses between eliminating his high-profile target or stopping the painful (and pivotal) heartbreak of his younger self happening across the room.

DIRECTORS | WRITERS Benton Robertson, Crystal Kong PRODUCER Liam Peterson

DIRECTOR | WRITER Kaitlyn Lee PRODUCER Cathy Huynh

DIRECTOR Joshua Aries WRITERS Paolo Valdes, Josh Aries, Curtis Lum PRODUCERS Milton Ng, Josh Aries, Curtis Lum, Rorlee Tio, Marc Yungco, Raymond Tat, Nightingale Nguyen

COMMUNITY SUPPORTERS

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A N I M AT I O N S P O T L I G H T

I N –T HEA T RE S C REEN I N G I V - C I N EP LEX OD EON T HEAT RE 10 LI V E S U N NOV 7, 5 :45 PM

VA N COU VER PR EMI ER E 90 minutes • Japan • 2021 • Japanese, English subtitles • Comedy

POMPO THE CINEPHILE HIRAO TAKAYUKI Pompo is a talented and gutsy producer in “Nyallywood,” the movie-making capital of the world. Although she’s known for B-movies and genre flicks, one day Pompo tells her movieloving but apprehensive assistant Gene that he will direct her next script: a delicate drama about an aging and tormented creative genius.

Animation director / director / novelist. Born in Kagawa prefecture. Graduated from Osaka Designers' College, Department of Animation.

After working at ufotable, he is currently active in various places as a freelance director.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Hirao Takayuki PRODUCER Matsuo Ryoichiro SPONSORS

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COMMUNITY SUPPORTER

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I N T E R N AT I O N A L S P O T L I G H T

I N –T HEA T RE S C REEN I N G

DRIFTING

LI V E

JUN LI

Under the flyovers of Sham Shui Po in Hong Kong, lives a group of down-and-outs. Despised by residents, they are routinely forced to move due to the city’s redevelopment projects.

JUN'S short film, LIU YANG HE (2017), won the Fresh Wave Award and Best Director at the 11th Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival. His next short film, MY WORLD (2018), was nominated for Best Short Film at the 55th Golden Horse Awards. His directorial feature debut, TRACEY (2018), premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival and won the Best Supporting Actor at the 55th Golden Horse Awards, and both Best Supporting Actor and Actress at the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards.

Li was nominated for Best Screenplay and Best New Director at the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards.

Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

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VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

I V - C I N EP LEX OD E O N T HEAT RE 10

SUN NOV 7, 8 P M

CA N A DI A N PR EMI ER E 112 minutes • 2021 • Hong Kong • Cantonese/ Chinese, English subtitles • Drama

DIRECTOR Jun Li PRODUCER Mani MAN WRITER Jun Li

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F E S T I VA L S C H E D U L E

LIVE FESTIVAL SCHEDULE NOV 4–NOV 14 T HU • N OV

4

6PM 120 MI N

6

SUN • NOV

7: 15PM 1 2 0 MIN

9: 45PM 1 53 MIN

4PM 90 MI N

6:15PM 91 MI N

E8 H PROGRAM

2 : 45PM

I N THEATRE LI VE VI RTUAL Q & A

6 0 MIN

O P E N I NG NI GH T G ALA

DOCUME NTARY SPOT L I GH T

T RY H A R DE R !

4: 15PM 6 0 MIN

I N THEATRE LI VE VI RTUAL Q & A

CANADIAN SP OTLI GH T

B A N GL A S U R F G IRLS LI VE VI RTUAL Q& A

90 MI N

NARRATIVE SP OT L I GH T

S N A K E H E AD 5: 45PM 9 4 MIN

6

12PM

RWFF P ROGRAM

60 MI N

TRAILBLAZIN

8PM

TO MAK E E NDS MEAT

S POT L I GH T ANI M E F IL M POMPO T H E CI NE P H IL E I NT ERNAT I ONAL S P OT L IG H T

1 1 3 MIN

DRI FT I NG

11AM

V I 2 PANEL DAY ( 4 - 6 )

LI VE Q& A

2:3OPM 120 MI N

CANADIAN SH ORTS NUDE TO ME S LUMP P ARABOLA TH E NIK K E I WAY TOE TH E LINE RE CLAIM YOUR N AME CAMP AIGN: MARI A DELA CRUZ LI VE Q& A

4:45PM 117 MI N

26

MAMM PROGRAM KAMADH ENU LAU REN I N T H E B A T H R O O M CLOS I NG DOORS T H E DOOR, T H E HA L L , A N D T H E W ALL SW I T CH CI T Y H AI L MARI E T WO W H EELS NOT MY AGE REV ERS E L IV E Q& A

LI VE Q& A

SAT • N OV

CANAD I AN ANI M AT E D S H ORTS S POT LI G H T OU T OF TOU CH I AM NOT AN ANG E L I N T H E S H AD OW O F T H E PI NES FLED GL I NG 4 NORT H A BÃ BA L IV E Q& A

RE CLAIM YOUR N AME CAMP AIGN: P ATRI CI A WONG

8:30PM

A B ALANCE

L IV E Q& A

R I C KS H AW GIRL

&

I NT ERNAT I ONAL S P OT L IG H T

EMERGENCE: OUT O F T H E S H ADOWS W H AT FLOW ERS T H E Y BLOOM RECLAI M YOU R N A M E CAMPAI GN: LY ND A

7

RE CLAIM YOUR N AME CAMP AIGN: ZAH IDA RAH E MTULLA

5

G O O D DE AL

12 PM

D6 LOUNGE

F RI • N OV

CENT REPI ECE S P OT L IG H T

1 35 MIN

OP E NING FILM S POT LI GH T

&

9PM

(IN PERSON EVENTS)

SAT • NOV

INTE RNATIONAL S H ORTS AME RICANIZE D LAST CUT COCOON LOVE AP ART, TOGE TH E R INFLUE NCE R RE CLAIM YOUR N AME CAMP AIGN: SK əKMXÍ S A T S OP H IA TE RBASK ETFUNMAK E R

SAT • NOV

13

SUN • NOV

14

2 PM

S CREENX S POT LIG H T

8 5 MIN

G U IMO O N: T HE LIG H T LE SS DOOR L IV E Q& A

7PM

OVAS I AN AWARDS CEREMONY BY VA F F 2 5 & AF T ER PART Y H OL LYWOOD T H E AT R E

IN-THEATRE SCREENING will take place at Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas (Guimoon is at Scotiabank Theatre). For in-theatre health and safety protocol, visit https://festival.vaff.org/2021/health-and-safety/ Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

F E S T I VA L S C H E D U L E

VAFF VIRTUAL SCHEDULE

THU • NOV

1 1 AM N/A MI N

8

1 1 AM 91 MI N

T UE • N OV

DOCUME NTARY FE AT U RE

WU H AN WU H AN NARRATIVE FE ATURE

R E S I DE N TS O F ARCADIA

1 1 AM

NARRATIVE FE ATURE

117 MI N

I TO

1 1 AM

INTE RNATIONAL S H ORTS : LIGH T AT TH E E ND OF T H E TUNNE L KORE ATOWN GH OST STORY LION ON TH E MAT CROUCH ING COMIC IN P URSUIT OF LIG H T

1 1 AM

NARRATIVE FE ATURE

50 MI N

IN ANOTH E R LANG U AGE

1 1 AM

NARRATIVE FE ATURE

115 MI N

9 1 MIN

LE TTE RS FROM H OME ( 2 001) ALL OUR FATH E R’S RE LATIONS (2016) MAMM RE TROSP E C T I V E S H ORTS X 7

83 MI N

9

I N S EARCH OF PU R P OS E & V ALU E: T ANAGOKORO: A C U L IN A RY PORT RAI T S OLO T REKKER S NEEZ E! T W I NKL E T W I NKL E L IT T L E ST AR

1 1 4 MIN

CANADIAN RE TROS PECT I V E

1 1 AM

78 MI N

I NT ERNAT I ONAL S H O RTS

7 7 MIN

11

NOV 8–NOV 13 MON • N OV

11AM

P RE - RE C ORD

FRI • NOV

11AM 6 6 MIN

12

11AM 1 0 0 MIN

11AM

A LE G

1 0 0 MIN

LI VE

1 1 AM 51 MI N

10

CANADIAN SH ORTS: OD E TO TH E PAST BUT YOU ARE NOT BL ACK LOOK ING BACK TH E GODDARD K IT MR. JAME S IS DE AD RE CLAIM YOUR NA ME CAMP AIGN: FUAD

1 1 AM

NARRATIVE FE ATURE

93 MI N

F I R ST C H I L D

I NT ERNAT I ONAL A N IM A T E D S H ORTS S POT LI G H T: D AI S I ES AND S PA R R OWS S H I RO T H E GI ANT, AND T H E C A ST L E OF I CE NANAKOROBI ( S E V E N F A L L S ) F I RE CRAF T H OV ERMAN D I NO BONE F LOW I NG H OME (N H U M ÔT D ÒNG S ÔNG) S PL I S H S PLAS H V I 2 PANEL 3

VI 2 PANE L 1

WED • N OV

F AMI LY PORT RAI TS : T H E T AST E OF GI N G E R T H E KI NG OF BAC KY A R D EV ERY T H I NG ST A YS W AO

SAT • NOV

13

7PM 1 1 0 MIN

CANAD I AN S H ORTS : T H ROU GH A WOM A N ' S E Y E S YOKOMES H I PERF ECT DAU GH TE R EST H ER & S AI RECEI V ER RECLAI M YOU R N A M E CAMPAI GN: MY N A M E NARRAT I V E F EATU R E MAKE-BEL I EV ERS I NT ERNAT I ONAL S H O RTS : ON A CI NEMAT I C J O U R N E Y S I L ENT NI GH T W AT CH YOU R BA C K SW I NGI N' T H I RD CU LT U RE K ID BLU E S U I T

CLOS I NG FI L M S P OT L IG H T ( V I RT UAL ) LU MPI A W I T H A V E N G E A N C E L IV E V IRT U AL Q&A

VI 2 PANE L 2 LI VE

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SCREENX SPOTLIGHT

G UIM O ON : T HE L I GH T L E SS D OOR

I N –T HEA T RE S C REEN I N G

S COT I A B ANK T HEAT R E - S CR E E N X

LI V E

SUN NOV 14 , 2P M

SIM DEOK-GEUN

85 minutes • Canada • 2021 • Korean • Horror, Thriller

One night at a secluded community center, the custodian murders all the guest lodgers and kills himself. Ever since, on every Old Year's Night, paranormal events begin to take place within the building. Eventually, the center is shut down and left abandoned for years. Do-jin, a renowned paranormal investigator, had lost his mother to a mysterious incident while performing an exorcism at the community center. Ridden with guilt and grief, Do-jin heads over to the community center, resolved to uncover the buried secret.

Meanwhile, three college students hear the same rumor about the unexplained phenomena that continue to occur at the abandoned building. Determined to win a video contest and its prize money, the trio 'decide to capture a glimpse of the rumored paranormal events on Old Year's Night.

2021 GUIMOON (W/T) 2011 AN AESTHETICS OF VIOLENCE (short) 2009 BITTERSWEET YOUTH (short) - the Best Picture award at the 5th University Film Festival of Korea 2008 NAPPEUNNOMDEUL (short)

DIRECTOR Sim Deok-geun PRODUCERS Ghostpictures ScreenX Studio

OVA SIAN A W A R DS C ER EM ON Y BY VA F F 2 5 & A F TE R P A R TY $ 50 Ti m e: N ov 14 7: 30 p m until mid nig ht Ven u e: Th e H o llywo o d Theatre, 3123 W Broadway St , Vancouver, B C. L i m i ted t i c kets fo r s ale | Co mp limentary hor s-d’oeuv res and Cash bar

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@VAFFVANCOUVER

VA F F

RETROSPECTIVE PROGRAM

The theme of this year ’s VAFF is “Past, Present & Possibilities,” as we reflect on the fe stival’s illustrious achievements in these 25 years, celebrate how far we’ve come in elevating the profile of Asian Canadians in cinema, and look to the future with a mission to keep spreading a message of inclusivity and help take Asian filmmaking to new heights.

V A F F ON D EMA N D AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 8 – NOV 13, 2021)

We bring you selected VAFF & MAMM alumni films from the past 25 years.

2020

2 019

2 01 8

SRIKANDI

MY GRANDMOTHER'S 80TH BIRTHDAY SURPRISE

BUNNY MAN

Dire c tor : Andrea N irmala Wid j a janto

D i re c to r : Ath e n a H a n

D ire ctors: Fo l a Eva n s -A ki n g b o l a & C u rt is L u m Wi d j a j a n to

201 7

2 016

2 01 2

BULGOGI

ALL OUR FATHER’S RELATIO NS

STASIS

Dire c tor : Sanjay Jit

D ire ctor: A l e j a n d ro Yo s h i z awa

D i re c to r s : B r i a n C h e u n g & C a rlos M c C a l l i ste r

201 1

2009

2 001

THE ANTI-VERSARY

BAMBOOZLE

LETTERS FROM HOME

Dire c tor : Aaron Lau

D ire ctor: A na d e L a ra

D i re c to r : Co l l e e n Le u n g

Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

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VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

29

D O C U M E N T O R Y F E AT U R E

WELCO M E TO VAF F V IRT UAL P R O GR A M S MON N OV 8, 11A M

V A F F ON D EMA N D AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 8 – NOV 13, 2021)

91 minutes • USA • 2021 • Chinese / English • Documentary

W UH A N W UHA N YUNG CHANG With unprecedented access at the peak of the initial pandemic lockdown, WUHAN WUHAN goes beyond the statistics and headlines to highlight the on-the-ground human experiences of the early days of the mysterious COVID-19 virus, as Chinese citizens and frontline healthcare workers came together to grapple with an invisible, deadly killer.

YUNG CHANG is a ChineseCanadian director and former member of EyeSteelFilm.

He is a graduate of Concordia University's Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema in Montreal, and the Directors and Screenwriters Lab at the Sundance Institute, among others. Chang is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

DIRECTOR Yung Chang PRODUCERS Donna Gigliotti Diane Quon Peter Luo

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COMMUNITY SUPPORTER

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#VAFF

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N A R R AT I V E F E AT U R E

MO N NOV 8 , 11AM V A F F ON D EM AND

R E SID EN TS OF A RC ADI A

AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 8 – NOV 13, 2021)

DOM CUTRUPI

Steve and Anika are Social Media Influencers and Entrepreneurs living an accomplished and ideal life.

One night, a man breaks into their backyard, disrupting the peaceful life they had created. The ensuing fear culminates with the appearance of a mysterious countdown on screens and mirrors throughout their home.

As the countdown approaches zero, it reveals the true nature of what is hiding behind their perfect lives.

DOM CUTRUPI was born in Italy, where he studied film and worked in theatre and television.

He moved to Vancouver in 2010. His production company, Lumberwitch Films, has produced internationally screened films such as the award-winning short documentary THE POWER OF WASTEWATER. His first feature is RESIDENTS OF ARCADIA.

WOR LD PR EMI ER E 83 minutes • 2021 • Canada • English, Hindi, Italian • Sci-fi

DIRECTOR Dom Cutrupi PRODUCERS Olivier Leroux Dom Cutrupi WRITER Dom Cutrupi

COMMUNITY SUPPORTERS

Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

•

VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

31

N A R R AT I V E F E AT U R E

MO N NOV 8, 1 1 A M V A F F O N D E M AND AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 8 – NOV 13, 2021)

I TO SATOKO YOKOHAMA

VA N COU V ER PREMI ERE

Ito, a high school student in far north Tsugaru, plays the Tsugaru shamisen as a hobby. She learned it from her late mother, a master player in her own right. While Ito can express herself through music, talking is a little harder due to shyness caused by her strong Tsugaru dialect. So she has a few friends, but has a strong inner spirit which leads her to take on a big challenge — working at a maid cafe.

117 minutes • Japan • 2021 • Japanese, English subtitles • Drama

Born in 1978 and grown in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. She studied film at The Film School of Tokyo. This is the latest feature film from her.

Both she and lead actor Komai Ren hail from Tsugaru, Aomori Prefecture, the setting of the film which is far north of Tokyo and heavy hometown dialect.

DIRECTOR Satoko YOKOHAMA PRODUCERS Hideki KAWAMURA, Ryuichi MATSUMURA WRITER Satoko YOKOHAMA

COMMUNITY SUPPORTER

SPONSOR

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@VAFFVANCOUVER

I N T E R N AT I O N A L S H O R T S

L IGH T AT T HE E N D OF T H E T U N N E L T U E NOV 9, 1 1 AM

VAFF ON DEM AND

AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 9 – NOV 13, 2021)

KO RE ATOW N G HOST STO RY

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

15 min • 2021 • USA • English • Horror

Based on a Korean ritual, this supernatural horror starring Margaret Cho and Lyrica Okano, tells the story of a woman who entertains a macabre marriage offer that would let her pursue her dreams, for better or for worse.

LIO N O N T H E MA T 17 min • 2021 • USA • English • Documentary

DIRECTORS | WRITERS Minsun Park, Teddy Tenenbaum PRODUCERS Minsun Park, Teddy Tenenbaum, Jim Wedaa, EP: Margaret Cho

CANADIAN PREMIERE

Twenty-nine-year old Vietnamese-American Mai Nguyen trains for an upcoming Jiu Jitsu match while juggling the demands of life as a single mother. We learn about her experience immigrating to the US, and her return to martial arts as a response to the trauma of her abusive childhood and marriage.

CRO U CH IN G C OM I C 11 min • 2021 • USA • n/a • Comedy

CANADIAN PREMIERE

Katie Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American comedian, confronts her anxieties (as represented by her traditional mother and white society), using her umami brand of humor to defend and claim her artistic identity.

IN PU RSU IT OF L I G HT 35 min • 2020 • India • Hindi, English • Documentary

ASALI ECHOLS is a Bay Area filmmaker and editor, whose work has screened in festivals across the country and worldwide. Her directing credits include the narrative short Fast & New (2019), the animated documentary The Violin Upstairs (2019) and the award-winning short documentary Lion on the Mat (2021).

DIRECTOR | PRODUCER Asali Echols WRITER N/A

Based in Portland, OR, ALBERTA POON is a first-generation Chinese-American director and screenwriter. She’s also an editor, videographer and musician, known for vibrant colour palettes and soundscapes.

Alberta’s films have screened at the Tacoma Film Festival, SPLIFF and elsewhere, and have been featured in Vogue (twice), RollingStone and Broccoli Magazine.

DIRECTOR Alberta Poon WRITERS Alberta Poon, Katie Nguyen PRODUCERS Annie Tonsiengsom, Alberta Poon, Fran Bittakis

CANADIAN PREMIERE

A documentary tracing the journey of a man trying to restore the vision of local Adivasis in remote areas of Maharashtra suffering from cataract and its side effects.

MINSUN PARK and TEDDY TENENBAUM are a writing/directing team with combined experience in features and television, including pilot sales, staff writing, feature spec sales, and feature and television assignments. Currently, they write as a team and solo writers. Their specialization is in genre writing, including horror, thriller, and action, typically with a humorous edge. With Minsun's background as an Asian-American woman born in Korea and Teddy's experience as a white dude from Ohio, they cover a lot of bases.

AMIT RAI started his creative journey from theatre, where he has been active since he was 14 years old.

He directed and wrote his first film Road to Sangam in 2010 to international acclaim. In Pursuit Of Light (2020) is his first documentary.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Amit Rai PRODUCER Kisan Kathore (Vision Friend)

COMMUNITY SUPPORTER

Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

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VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

33

N A R R AT I V E F E AT U R E

T U E NOV 9, 1 1 A M V A F F O N D E M AND

IN AN OT HER L A NGU A GE

AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 9 – NOV 13, 2021)

MASAYA TSUTSUMI

Tokyo, summer 2020. In a “One Coin English Cafe” where participants can enjoy English conversation for a small price, a man and a woman start playing a game: they get to act like different people, but only when they speak English.

CA N A DI AN PREMI ERE 50 minutes • Japan • 2021 • Japanese, English subtitles • Comedy, Drama

MASAYA TSUTSUMI was born in Japan in 1986.

After making many student films while studying at Kyushu University, he carried on as an independent filmmaker. He also works as a freelancer in the video production industry.

DIRECTOR Masaya Tsutsumi PRODUCER Masaya Tsutsumi WRITER Masaya Tsutsumi

SPONSOR

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COMMUNITY SUPPORTER

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N A R R AT I V E F E AT U R E

T U E NOV 9, 11AM V A F F ON D EM AND

A L EG

AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 9 – NOV 13, 2021)

YAOSHENG CHANG

This story begins with a leg about to be amputated.

The leg’s owner is Zi-Han who thought he would soon be discharged from the hospital after the operation but passes away unexpectedly. His wife Yu-Ying tries to seek his missing leg and say farewell to this man she once loved.

Born in Taiwan, CHANG YAOSHENG is an award-winning novelist. He is also a screenplay writer whose work, A Sun, was nominated in the Golden Horse Awards for Best Original Screenplay in 2019. A Leg is his first feature film, inspired by his parents’ true story.

115 minutes • 2020 • Taiwan • Mandarin Chinese • Drama, Romance

DIRECTOR Yaosheng CHANG PRODUCER Mong-Hong CHUNG WRITERS Mong-Hong CHUNG Yaosheng CHANG CINEMATOGRAPHER Nagao NAKASHIMA (中島長雄 ) CAST GWEI Lun-Mei Yo YANG

COMMUNITY SUPPORTER

Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

•

VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

35

CANADIAN SHORTS

O DE TO T HE PA ST W ED NOV 1 0, 1 1 A M

VAFF ON DEM A N D

BUT YOU A R E N OT BL A C K

AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 10 – NOV 13, 2021) VANCOUVER PREMIERE

19 min • 2019 • Canada • English • Short Documentary

But You’re Not Black opens on Toronto’s Caribana, a festival Danielle Ayow has attended for most of her life. The festival represents her parents’ Trinidadian culture, but Danielle is also visibly Chinese. With heart and humour, she struggles with how people see her background and how she sees herself.

LOOK I N G BA C K 11 min • 2020 • Canada • English, No subtitle • Drama, Musical

A lonely mother and an angry daughter are forced to come to terms with their individual regrets within their relationship. Will they ever be able to forgive themselves, or each other?

DANIELLE AYOW is a Toronto-based writer, actor and comedian. As a writer, she focuses primarily on stand-up and sketch comedy drawing from her personal life.

Her dry wit and humour played an integral role in writing BUT YOU’RE NOT BLACK. This is her first time directing and writing a documentary.

DIRECTOR Danielle Ayow WRITER Danielle Ayow PRODUCERS Danielle Ayow, Emma Ward

ANNA ANAKA is a Filipina-Canadian writer and director and a graduate of Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where she received the Chancellor Emeritus Award for Excellence in Media Arts. With a cinematic style that plays with space and time, her character-driven stories explore themes of identity, memory and morality.

DIRECTOR Anna Anaka WRITER Lyrics & Screenplay by Anna Anaka, Music by Shane Raman PRODUCER Anna Anaka

T HE G OD D A R D K I T 6 min • 2021 • Canada • English • N/A

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

In the hospital waiting for her rape kit test, Ellie disassociates and finds herself trapped in one of Marty Goddard’s dioramas. There, she finds clues left by Marty, the true creator of the rape kit whose work went unrecognized, while deciding whether to file the police report or not.

M R J A ME S I S D E A D 15 min • 2021 • Canada • English • Action, Comedy

Tom attends his estranged father's funeral only to find out that his father was a spy all along, and that his funeral is full of villains — of all shapes and sizes — from his past.

ALICE WANG is a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter based in Toronto. Keeping their parents happy with a degree in psychology, they have now transitioned to filmmaking, and enjoy writing stories she has always wanted to tell. Passionate about representation in media, she gravitates towards stories about loss, acceptance, and belonging.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Alice Wang PRODUCERS Niko Acob, Alice Wang, Amanda Ariganello-Araujo

DANIEL IRVING is a Vancouver director hailing from Salt Spring Island. His comedy and drama films explore physical and visual movement, and refuse to stand still.

JOSH ARIES is a Filipino-Canadian director who creates audiencefavourite films. Originally from Thailand, Josh’s appreciation for martial arts, dance, and comedy shines in his kinetic work.

DIRECTOR Daniel Irving, Josh Aries WRITERS Peter Hoskins PRODUCER Luisa Muniz

RECLAIM YOUR NAME CAMPAIGN: FUAD

5 minutes

36

COMMUNITY SUPPORTER

"Fuad" is a depiction of Fuad Ahmed’s acting career in a post 9/11 world, challenges he faced with his name in the Film industry, the success that came after changing it to Gabe Grey, and what made him decide to reclaim his name.

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#VAFF

DIRECTOR Anand Pavamani

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@VAFFVANCOUVER

N A R R AT I V E F E AT U R E

WE D NOV 10, 11A M V A F F ON D EM AND

F IR ST C HI L D

AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 10 – NOV 13, 2021)

JUNGJAE HUR

Jung-ah has returned to work after a year-long maternity leave taking care of her first child. Within a few days of her return, her mother collapses from hypertension. Now, Jung-ah desperately needs to find a nanny to watch her daughter in her mother's place. As Jung-ah tries her best to balance childrearing and rebuilding her career, harsh obstacles of reality push her endurance to the limit.

Graduated from Dongguk university, South Korea. He has made number of acclaimed short films including ''BRIGHT FUTURE'' (2017) and ''SLEEPLESS NIGHT'' (2016). ''FIRST CHILD'' is his first feature film.

N OR TH A MER I CA N PR EMI ER E 93 minutes • 2021 • South Korea • Korean, English

DIRECTOR Jungjae Hur PRODUCERS Kim Sungjin WRITER Jungjae Hur

Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

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VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

37

I N T E R N AT I O N A L S H O R T S

I N SE ARC H O F P U R P OS E A N D V A LU E T HU NOV 1 1 , 1 1 A M

VAFF ON DEM A N D

AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 11 – NOV 13, 2021)

T A N A G OKOR O: A C UL I N A RY P OR T R A I T

CANADIAN PREMIERE

32 min • 2021 • UK, Japan • English • Documentary

When Japanese chef Yoshinori Ishii is dismayed by the quality of fresh fish in London, he takes it upon himself to investigate and transform local fishing practices. His skill, ethics and passion spark a fishing revolution in the United Kingdom.

VICTORIA FISTES is a film producer and director who has worked on commercials, short films and documentaries. She is curious about human nature and believes that stories worth telling often seem simple at first glance. Her last project, ‘Being Ernest,’ was an animated documentary narrated by a blind boy.

MASASHI NOZAKI is a producer based in Japan. His interest is to convey Japanese culture and the culture of other countries through films. He now lives in a rural area of Japan and works to connect the rural area with the world.

DIRECTOR | WRITERS Victoria Fistes, Masashi Nozaki PRODUCERS Victoria Fistes, Masashi Nozaki

S OLO T R E K K E R 25 min • 2021 • Taiwan • Chinese • Narrative

CANADIAN PREMIERE

Up in the mountains at night, a young logger who illegally cuts down Formosan cypress trees meets a middle-aged solo trekker who broke his leg after falling off a cliff. The trekker offers the young man ten times the price of a Formosan cypress to carry him down the mountain.

SNEEZE! 8 min • 2021 • Japan • Japanese with English subtitle • Crime

A few years have passed since society collapsed due to the coronavirus. Gang members living in an abandoned building along a railway are barely scraping by, and they obtain medical-grade N95 masks with the intention of selling them at a high price.

Just when they are about to put them up for sale, they get an unexpected visitor...

TWINKLE TWINKLE L I T T L E ST A R

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

12 min • 2019 • China • N/A • Drama

Blessed with discovering his love for music, Tommy grew up with a passion. “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” was the first song that he learned. Easy to learn and can be adapted to fit the different tones that are the different phases of Tommy’s life. This melody accompanied Tommy's life from the beginning until it becomes Di Di Di….

CHANG JING YE’S previous work, THE TUNNEL (2007), has been screened at several international film festivals and won a number of accolades. In 2014 she directed The Period for PTS’ Innovative Story programme. SOLO TREKKER (2021) is her latest work, funded by the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development of Taiwan.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Chang Jing Ye PRODUCER Wang Yi Hua

YUKI TAKASHIMA studied theatre and film arts at Waseda University. His experience spans work in television, animation and original content production. He has produced and directed YouTube videos with over 500 million combined total views.

His movies have screened internationally, including at the Hawaii International Film Festival and Japan Cuts Hollywood.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Yuki Takashima PRODUCER N/A

SHIYUE XU was born in Tianjin, China.

She is a documentary director, best known for Left-Behind Children, made in collaboration with the Red Cross Society of China. She attended New York Film Academy in 2017 to learn about live-action movies. TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR is her first live-action short film.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Shiyue Xu PRODUCERS Shiyue Xu, Bin Wang

COMMUNITY SUPPORTER

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I N T E R N AT I O N A L S H O R T S

FAMI LY P O RT RA I T T H U NOV 1 1 , 1 1 AM

VAFF ON DEM AND

AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 11 – NOV 13, 2021)

T H E T AST E OF G I N G E R

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

34 min • 2021 • France / Taiwan • Chinese, English • Musical Drama

Zhi-Wei and Shu-Fen are a Taiwanese couple in their late forties, whose lives are marked by routine and sadness. Zhi-Wei meets with Amanda, a former lover visiting Taiwan, on a night during which the suffering he carries deep within himself is revealed.

T H E KIN G O F BA C KY A R D 30 min • 2019 • South Korea • Korean, English • Fiction

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

Jinho lives in misery. His boss torments him, and doesn’t pay his salary for months.

The one thing he takes pride in is being the champion of his backyard wrestling crew.

Desperate for a change, he challenges his boss to a no-holds-barred wrestling match to win his paycheck.

E VE RY T H IN G ST A YS 26 min • 2021 • USA • English • Drama

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

This is a story about what it’s like to be the first in a big Filipino family to leave home. Gabe has always been a big brother to his cousins; now they are trying to convince him to stay in Illinois. Gabe must decide what’s more important: his family, or his future?

WAO 25 min • 2020 • Japan • Japanese, English • Sci-fi, Family

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

Wao encounters three strange people: they are aliens, and Wao is told that he must return to his home planet with them. He’s worried about leaving behind his parents, who do not get along, so he enlists the aliens’ help to repair their relationship before he leaves.

SPONSOR

Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

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VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

JEAN-ROBERT THOMANN is a French-Taiwanese filmmaker.

Based in Taiwan since 2010, he has directed a number of movies related to the country, including the feature film SHORT STORY at the West Gate, released both in Taiwan and China. He is also the winner of the 2017 Prix franco-taïwanais.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Jean-Robert Thomann PRODUCERS Bertrand Normand, Laurent Normand, Garance Huang

HANSL VON KWON was born in 1993 in Incheon, South Korea. He is currently on a leave of absence from Chung-Ang University, where he majors in film. He has directed several short films. The King of Backyard is his 8th film.

DIRECTOR | WRITER | PRODUCER Hansl von Kwon

COLE BACANI is a Filipino-American writer/director. He grew up in the Chicago suburbs and recently graduated from USC. His directing work has been featured on Netflix, YouTube Originals, and more. He is currently working on his first feature film and his production company Violet Hill Pictures..

DIRECTOR | WRITER Cole Bacani PRODUCERS Norrie Palmer, Lily Norris, Akshay Ravi, Cole Bacani

EMI YASUMURA was born in Gunma Prefecture in 1985, and currently lives in Tokyo.

She is a director working on films, commercials, TV and music videos.

DIRECTOR Emi Yasumura WRITER Atsushi Asada PRODUCER Kazuhide Adachi

COMMUNITY SUPPORTER

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I N T E R N AT I O N A L A N I M AT E D S H O R T S S P O T L I G H T

ANI M AT I O N T HU NOV 1 1 , 1 1 A M

DAIS IE S AN D S PARROWS

VAFF ON DEM A N D

CANADIAN PREMIERE

11 min • 2020 • Singapore • Non-dialogue • Animation

DIRECTOR | WRITER Ervin Han PRODUCER Elaine Chan

12 min • 2021 • USA • English • Animation

S HI R O, T HE G I A N T, A N D T HE C A ST L E OF I C E 9 min • 2021 • Japan • Japanese with English subtitle • Sci-fi

At each step of this boy’s life, his mother is always there, providing love and support even when he doesn’t see it. When he becomes a parent, he tries to be the best father he can be for his son, but learns that it is not an easy journey.

H OVE R MAN

AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 11 – NOV 13, 2021)

The story takes place in Minamishimabara City, Nagasaki Prefecture.

Shiro, a third-year junior high school student, was spending ordinary days with his school friends in an area known for being the birthplace of the "Shimabara Rebellion," which shook the country during the early Edo period. One summer day, his older childhood friend Akane returns home from Tokyo. Alongside Tokiya, another childhood friend, Shiro and his friends take a walk around the city. As they were having mixed feelings while looking back in time, a mysterious creature named Goron suddenly appears in front of them.

FIRE CRAFT

In a certain world, a boy finds scissors left as a memento of his father who has died. He learns from his mother that those scissors were made by a craftsman named Sasuke who lives in another country.

The boy goes to see Sasuke to fix the scissors.

DIRECTOR | WRITER NAOKI MATSUURA PRODUCER WAKANA ISOYAMA

DIRECTOR Okamoto WRITER N/A PRODUCER N/A

WORLD PREMIERE

In the pleasant town of Harmony City, Carl becomes a useless superhero with limited powers, known as Hoverman. With the help of a talented, beautiful scientist and black-belt martial artist named Jane, Hoverman fights crime against an equally unimpressive villain: the mysterious X.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Vincent Lin PRODUCERS Matthew Damato, Vincent Lin

D I N O BON E

CANADIAN PREMIERE

2 min • 2021 • USA • English • Animation, Comedy

After seeing a suggestive fossil of two dinosaurs "getting it on," an anxious father tells his curious son a series of little white lies to avoid having The Talk. Ultimately the son believes his father's last excuse, then reveals what he thought they were doing all along.

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

25 min • 2021 • Japan • Japanese with English subtitle • Fantasy

F LOW I N G HOM E ( N HU M ÔT DÒN G S ÔN G ) 15 min • 2021 • France, Canada • French wit English sub-titles • Short Animation

After the fall of Saigon in 1975, Thao leaves Vietnam with her uncle. Her sister Saoi Maï remains with their parents, hoping they will soon be reunited. But their separation lasts nearly 20 years. Thao and Sao Maï exchange letters about their everyday lives, their memories, the war, and its ghosts.

DIRECTORS | WRITERS | PRODUCERS Jordan Powers, Sam Durkin

DIRECTOR | WRITER Sandra Desmazières PRODUCERS Dora Benousilio, Julie Roy

SPONSOR

S PLIS H S P LASH 9 min • 2021 • Indonesia • Indonesian, English • Fantasy

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

Two bickering siblings unite to fight pirates who want to steal the precious Sun Pearl necklace that’s needed for their family ritual.

DIRECTORS | WRITERS | PRODUCERS Andra Fembriarto

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N A N A KOR OBI (SEVEN FALLS)

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

COMMUNITY SUPPORTER

7 min • 2021 • USA • Canada, English • Animated Short

A young girl in Hokkaido undergoes seven challenges to save a lost orphan.

DIRECTORS Glenna Burmer, Gaby Breiter WRITER | PRODUCER Glenna Burmer

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CANADIAN SHORTS

T HR OUGH A WO M AN 'S E Y E S FR I NOV 1 2, 1 1 AM

VAFF ON DEM AND

AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 12 – NOV 13, 2021)

PE RFE CT D A UG HT E R 13 min • 2021 • Canada • English • Sci-fi, Drama

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

New to the neighbourhood, the Sandhu family invites their neighbours, the Sainis, over for dinner. A glimpse into the Sandhu family’s past shows a very different image from the one they present to others, and raises more questions than answers when the true nature of their daughter, Rani, is revealed.

E ST H E R & S A I 13 min • 2021 • Canada • English • Period drama

15 min • 2020 • Canada • English • Horror

DIRECTOR | WRITER Jasleen Kaur PRODUCER Tania Quiroz

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

Sai, a Chinese immigrant, and Esther, a Nigerian immigrant, have come to train as nurses in Canada.

The night before their first class, both women find themselves homesick. Based on a true story, Esther & Sai captures the struggle of immigrating to a new country through the beginning of a lifelong friendship.

RE CE IVE R

JASLEEN KAUR is a filmmaker from Vancouver, Canada. She is a graduate of Capilano University’s Bachelor of Motion Picture Arts Degree Program, and is best known for directing the award winning short documentary “Maple”. Kaur also wrote and directed the sci-fi short “Perfect Daughter”.

WORLD PREMIERE

Sriyani, an idealistic and overtaxed Sri Lankan-Canadian social worker, is a counsellor at a telephone helpline. She has built her life around helping others, often at the expense of those closest to her. So who is going to defend Sriyani when she is hypnotized by a caller tonight?

YO KO M E SH I 21 min • 2021 • Canada • Japanese, English • Sci-fi

Nero, Sumi, Rainbow, Rakesh and Leonie all speak different languages. They communicate via Polyglob, an instant-translation device. When Polyglob servers crash, Sumi, a Japanese video gamer and Nero, an Italian pastry chef, struggle to communicate with each other and save their careers. Can their relationship survive without a shared language?

DIRECTORS Rosie Choo Pidcock, Anaïsa Visser WRITER Rosie Choo Pidcock PRODUCERS Jon Warne, Jesse Copeland

CAVAN CAMPBELL was raised on Prince Edward Island in Canada, his Island father a painter and his Sri Lankan mother a writer.

Cavan’s films have screened on four continents, and his film HANGNAIL was lauded by Academy Award®winner Paul Haggis as “very powerful, wonderful filmmaking.”

DIRECTOR Cavan Campbell WRITERS Cavan Campbell, Luke Higginson PRODUCERS Cavan Campbell, Sedina Fiati, Emily Andrews

DOM CUTRUPI was born in Italy, where he studied film and worked in theatre and television.

He moved to Vancouver in 2010. His production company, LUMBERWITCH Films, has produced internationally screened films such as the award-winning short documentary THE POWER OF WASTEWATER. His first feature is RESIDENTS OF ARCADIA. DIRECTOR | WRITER Dom Cutrupi PRODUCERS Olivier Leroux, Dom Cutrupi

RECLAIM YOUR NAME CAMPAIGN: MY NAME

5 minutes

Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

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Sugith Varughese tells us his story and pressures of being a BIPOC actor in the industry over the past several years and reflects on the importance of his name.

VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

DIRECTOR Anand Pavamani

COMMUNITY SUPPORTER

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N A R R AT I V E F E AT U R E

FR I NOV 1 2 , 1 1 A M V A F F O N D E M AND

M AK E - BE L I E V E R S

AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 12 – NOV 13, 2021)

KENJO MCCURTAIN

In this whimsical romantic musical, Masa hires rental actress and aspiring dancer Kanako to pose as his fiancée to impress his estranged, ailing father. But as his father's death delays, Masa has to navigate the spiraling web of lies and learn to follow his heart.

CA N A DI A N PREMI ERE 100 minutes • Japan • 2021 • Japanese, English subtitles • Musical, Romance

KENJO MCCURTAIN is an award-winning filmmaker who moved to Japan to pursue his craft after graduating in Film Studies in the UK. Kenjo has written and directed four short films. MAKE-BELIEVERS (2020) is his feature film directorial debut. Kenjo is a Kyoto Filmmakers' Lab alumni and bilingual in English and Japanese.

DIRECTOR Kenjo McCurtain PRODUCER Humphrey Morgan WRITER Kenjo McCurtain

SPONSOR

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I N T E R N AT I O N A L S H O R T S

O N A CI N E M AT I C J O U R N E Y FR I NOV 1 2, 1 1 AM

VAFF ON DEM AND

AVAILABLE TO WATCH FOR THE DURATION OF THE FESTIVAL (NOV 12 – NOV 13, 2021)

SILE N T N IG HT 16 min • 2021 • Hong Kong • Cantonese, English • Drama, Action, Neo-noir

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

Deep in the dingy Temple Street of Hong Kong on Christmas Eve, Kit, who has been trafficking goods for his boss ManLong for years, is sent for a mysterious delivery pick-up that leads him to a shocking discovery about his past.

WAT CH YO UR BA C K 30 min • 2020 • South Korea • Korean, English • Fiction

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

“Why didn’t you check it, stupid” Gu-Mok who lives another day like a hyena gets his phone switched at the convenience store. Hwa-young gets invited to retrieve her phone at Gu-Mok’s office.

Once Gu-Mok arrives at the office, Hwa-Young claims to have came yesterday?

Graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and New York Film Academy respectively, CHARIS CHU and BEN LIU have been active in Hong Kong and New York for the past decade working on films and commercials of all kinds. They have produced and directed commercials for global brands such as Alibaba, Hennessy, Adidas and Microsoft. Their short films have made it into Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection, and have won multiple awards in the LA Women’s Independent Film Festival, International Film Festival for Peace, and the Los Angeles Movie Awards. In 2018, they co-founded First Series, a production agency.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Charis Chu, Ben Liu PRODUCER Christy Ip

Born in Seoul, JAESEUNG SUK graduated from Dongguk University with a major in Film.

Suk has directed several films with WATCH YOUR BACK being his third film.

DIRECTOR | WRITER SUK Jaeseung PRODUCER BYUN Youngchul

“She came yesterday?”

SWIN G IN '

CANADIAN PREMIERE

23 min • 2020 • Taiwan • Taiwanese Mandarin, English and Traditional Chinese subtitles • Drama, Comedy

When sixth-grader boy Qiu is bullied at school for having gay dads, he tries to prove that he is straight and manly.

Meanwhile, his stepfather Jia-How, a flamboyant jazz trumpet player, must confront his own childhood bullying trauma before he can give his son a true sense of security.

T H IRD CU LT UR E K I D 15 min • 2021 • Germany • English, German, Vietnamese • Experimental, Drama, Comedy

CANADIAN PREMIERE

James Heinrich Nguyen, a Third Culture Kid, is battling an inner conflict about cultural heritage, identity and marriage.

SHANG-SING GUO graduated from Berlinale Talents and NYU Graduate Film Program.

He has written, directed and produced numerous award-winning shorts, including SWINGIN’ (2020) and KONG PEH TSHAT or: HOW I LEARNED TO TELL A LIE (2012).

His films have screened at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, CAAMFest and Taipei Film Festival.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Shang-Sing Guo PRODUCER Ivan Wang

TRUONG DAM is a filmmaker and actor currently based in Germany. His passion for cinema and performative arts led to his directorial debut 'Third Culture Kid', which is partly based on his own experiences growing up as an Asian in Europe. His career goals include finding and manifesting his place as an Asian creative in the entertainment industry. To drive those forward, he is currently building his body of work and getting deeper into the craft of filmmaking and acting.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Truong Dam PRODUCERS Michel Deter, Truong Dam

B LU E SU IT 16 min • 2020 • USA • English • Coming of Age, Relationships

CANADIAN PREMIERE

John is a hopeless romantic with a mission: to confess his feelings for his friend, Henry.

But Henry is moving away the next day, and a surprise going-away party foils John's plans. Now, John is left wondering how he can still make his feelings known before the night is over.

Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

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VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

KEVIN J. NGUYEN is a queer Vietnamese-American who dreams of cultivating spaces that empower people to live a life true to themselves. His love for storytelling led him to a career in digital media and TV/film where he has worked for companies like BuzzFeed, Snapchat, and YouTube.

DIRECTOR | WRITER Kevin J. Nguyen PRODUCERS Kevin J. Nguyen, Jenine Pastores, Vu Hoang, Ace Underhill

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CLOSING SPOTLIGHT

S AT NOV 1 3 , 7PM V A F F L I VE VI R TU AL

LUM P I A W I T H A V E NGE A N C E PATRICIO GINELSA

One winter night, the authorities clear all their personal belongings while they are asleep. Sick of being evicted, Fai and his companion decide to build wooden fences around their living space. Meanwhile, Ms. Ho, a young social worker, helps them take their case to court to demand compensation for their losses.

I N TER N AT I ON A L PREMI ERE 109 minutes • USA • 2020 • English, Tagalog • Action Comedy

PATRICIO GINELSA is from Daly City, CA, where he discovered his passion while making neighborhood movies at the age of 13. After graduating cinema production at USC, he became the Associate Producer of THE DEBUT and wrote/directed the feature LUMPIA. Ginelsa has directed over a decade’s worth of music videos.

DIRECTOR Patricio Ginelsa PRODUCERS Lawrence Iriarte Lisa Chong Jeff Lam Rey Cuerdo A.J. Calomay WRITERS Patricio Ginelsa Bernard Badion Christopher Santiago

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VA F F I N D U S T R Y I N S I G H T P A N E L S E R I E S

PRE-FESTIVAL PANEL 1 – VAFF

GETTIN G YOUR F OOT I N T HE D OOR : HOW TO S UCCEED IN THE I N D U ST RY Date: Saturday, October 16 - 60 mins 11am - 12pm PST Location: Online VAFF is hosting a "Getting your Foot in the Door: How to Succeed in The Industry" in partnership with I.M.P.A.C.T during the I.M.P.A.C.T - 2 Day Magnify CommUNITY SUMMIT Event! Event producer, Joel Fecht of C21 and Content Canada will give the nuts and bolts of what it takes to get in the door. This will be followed by Carolyn Wu, a Production Executive at Bell Media with an intro to pitching once you get through the door. Q&A to follow.

MODERATOR

JOEL FECHT C21 Canadian Division and VP of Sales & New Business Access Canada

CAROLYN J. WU Production Executive in Scripted Original Programming Bell Media

BARBARA LEE Independent filmmaker and community organizer, VAFF, RESO

PRE-FESTIVAL PANEL 2 – RESO AND VAFF

WORKIN G IN C HI N A 'S F I L M I N D U ST RY Date: October 16 - 60 mins 6pm PST Location: VAFF VIRTUAL - LIVE (Sessionn Mandarin with simultaneous translation in English) Have you ever thought about shooting a film in China? Come out and hear what it takes to make a film in China from experienced filmmakers/crew that have taken the leap and have built a career overseas. Session is in Mandarin.

MODERATOR

YU WANG Award winning Director of Photography and Director. THE GO MASTER, THE GOLDEN ERA.

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SHAN TAM Multiple award winning Producer, received Gemini, Genie, Leos, Canadian Screen and Sundance Awards.

VAN YANG Chinese-American writer, director and cinematographer based in China since 2008.

SUIKI ZHANG TV & Radio Host, Fairchild TV/Radio, Actress

VA F F I N D U S T R Y I N S I G H T P A N E L S E R I E S VI² PANEL 1

M E ET & PI TCH - BELL M ED I A Date: November 8, 2021 (Monday) 2pm (PST) | 5pm (EST) Location: VAFF VIRTUAL Live

RACHEL GOLDSTEIN-COUTO Head of Development, Original Production, Bell Media

HEATHER WILLIAMSON Bell Media

FACILITATOR

ALISON RHEAUME Bell Media

CAROLYN WU Bell Media

REGINA LEUNG VAFF Industry Panel Director

E8 VI² PANEL 2

A SIAN REP RESENTA TIO N : S UST AININ G THE MOME N T U M Presented by: Warner Media Access Canada Date: November 9, 2021 - 60 mins (Tuesday), 7pm PST Location: VAFF VIRTUAL - LIVE

AARON AU Producer Brightlight Pictures

LISA KYONGA PARSONS Writer - Hallmark's "BOYFRIENDS OF CHRISTMAS PAST"

MODERATOR

ANDREA NIRMALA WIDJAJANTO Film maker

ABUBAKAR KHAN CMPA BC

VI² PANEL 3

A SIAN REP RESENTA TIO N : M AK ING CHA N GES A T THE TOP

ZOE SI Cartoonist & Illustrator

MODERATOR

Date: November 10, 2021 - 60 mins (Wednesday), 6pm PST Location: VAFF VIRTUAL - LIVE AUDREY WONG Elimin8Hate

VI² PANEL 4

T R ANS IT IONING FROM I N D I E TO PR OF E SS IONAL SETS - SU G I T H V A R UG H ESE Date: November 11, 2021 - 60 mins (Thursday) Time: 5pm PST | 8pm EST Location: VAFF VIRTUAL Live

SUGITH VARUGHESE Award winning Actor, Screenwriter, Director and Playwright

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VA F F I N D U S T R Y I N S I G H T P A N E L S E R I E S VI² PANEL DAY – IN PERSON

Date : N ove m b e r 1 3 , 2 02 1 Ti m e : 1 2 p m VI² TECHNICAL WORKSHOPS 1

"SO YOU WANT TO ACT” – CASTING WORKSHOP (JODI CAPLAN AND DIANE NHAN) Date : N ove m b e r 2 0, 2 02 1 Ti m e : 1 0 am – 4 p m Lo cat i o n: T B A

By Ap p o i nt m e nt o nl y JODI CAPLAN

DIANE NHAN

VI² TECHNICAL WORKSHOPS 2

P R O D UC E R E SSE N T I ALS: FI LM FI NANCI NG AND B UDGE TS” – B USINESS AFFAI RS ( LORI MASSI NI ) O nce yo u re g i ste r, a l i nk to th is bu sin e ss modu le will be se n t to you . (avai l ab l e o nl i ne Nov. 1 2 - 20) LORI MASSINI is Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs at Thunderbird Entertainment Group. Prior to joining Thunderbird, Lori practiced entertainment law for more than ten years, assisting numerous Canadian and American producers and studios with their legal and business affairs needs. Lori has acted as production counsel for original programming for networks such as Nickelodeon, Disney, the Food Network and Discovery.

She has extensive experience negotiating contracts for actors, directors, producers and crew, managing employment and labour issues, advising on corporate legal matters and overseeing complex financing arrangements. Lori was formerly Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs for a major film and production studio. She is active in the arts, and is an accomplished dancer and musician. Lori is a co-creator of Producer Essentials.

VI² TECHNICAL WORKSHOPS 2

P R O D UC E R E SSE N T I ALS: A COMPREHENSI VE GUI DE TO IN D E P E N D E N T FI LM PRODUCTI ON - PRESENTED B Y SE A N C OVE L A SK M E A N Y THIN G WI TH SEAN COVEL Date : N ove m b e r 2 3 , 2 02 1 Ti m e : 6 p m P ST SEAN COVEL is a Los Angeles-based Film and Television Producer whose credits include ”Beneath” for Paramount Pictures, ”The 12 Dogs of Christmas” directed by Academy Award Winner Keith Merrill, and the iconic independent film ”Napoleon Dynamite”.

Together, Covel’s films have won multiple awards, generated over one-quarter-billion dollars in revenue internationally, and gotten nerds prom dates across the globe. He very much wishes that would’ve been the case when he was in high school.

S P E C IA L THA N KS TO OUR VAFF I NDUSTRY I NSI GHT P A N E L SE R IE S SP O NSORS:

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*Special VAFF pricing for the complete program to attendees.

VA F F 2 0 2 1 A W A R D N O M I N E E S Fou r (4 ) n o m in ee s fo r 2 02 1 B E ST C INEM ATOG RA P H Y FO R C ANADIAN F E AT U RE AWA RD, 2 02 1 BE ST DIR E C TO R FO R C A N A DIAN FEATU RE AWA RD and 2 02 1 B E ST C A N A DI AN FEATU RE AWA RD are ( al p hab e t i cal l y, by film title): B AN GL A SURF GIRLS Dire c tor Eliz abeth D Cost a EMERGENCE: OUT O F T H E SH AD OWS Dire c tor Vinay Gir id h ar R ESIDENT S OF ARCAD I A Dire c tor Dom Cutr upi W UHAN WUHAN Dire c tor Yung Chan g

Twe n t y (20) n om i ne e s fo r 2 02 1 B E ST C INEM ATO G RA P H Y FO R C ANADIAN S H O RT AWA RD, 2 02 1 BEST DIR E C TO R FO R C A N A DIAN S HORT AWA RD a n d 2 02 1 B E ST C A N A DI AN S H O RT AWA R D a re (a lp h ab e t i cal l y, by f i l m t i t l e) : 4 NORTH A Di re c tor Marty na Cz ap l ak

P AR AB O L A

BÃ BA Di re c tor Stephanie Won g

P E R FE CT D AUG H T E R

B UT YOU'RE NOT BL ACK Di re c tor Danielle Ayow EST HE R & SAI Di re c tor Rosie Choo Pi dco ck & Anaïsa Viss e r F LEDGLING Di re c tor W Chung I AM NOT AN ANGEL

D i re ctor Le e Sh orten D i re ctor J as l e e n Ka u r R E CE I V E R D i re ctor C avan C a m p b ell SLUM P D i re ctor Pol l y P i erce T H E G O D D AR D K I T D i re ctor A l i ce Wan g T H E NI K K E I W AY

Di re c tor J oe Chang

D i re ctor A r j an G i ll

IN T HE SHADOW OF T H E PINES

TO E T H E L I NE D i re ctor C arol yn J. Wu

Di re c tor A nne Koizumi

W H AT FLOW E R S TH E Y B LO O M

LOOKING BACK Di re c tor A nna Anaka MR JAMES IS DEAD Di re c tor Daniel Irvin g , J os h Ari e s

D i re ctor C . Hu d s o n H wa n g YO KO M E SH I D i re ctor D om C u t r u p i

N U DE TO ME Di re c tor Danny Beris h OUT OF TOUCH Di re c tor Henry He B E ST CA N A DIA N DI R EC TOR , BEST C A N A D I A N S H O RT

PE O PLE'S CHOICE AWA R D BEST C A N A D I A N F EAT UR E T EL E F I L M LOG O 49

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SPECIALS THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS

W H AT I S T H E P E O P L E ' S C H O I C E AWA R D S ?

Th e Pe ople ’s C h oice Award s w i l l b e p re s e n te d d u r i n g th e Fe sti va l . Yo u w i l l b e the ju dge to se le ct t h e Ove ral l Fe atu re, O ve ra l l S h o r t, O ve ra l l Pe r fo r m a n ce. Th e vo t ing will be ope n from N ove m b e r 4 , 2 02 1 ( 1 2 :00 a m ) P ST – N ove m b e r 1 3 , 2 02 1 ( 1 1 :59 pm) P ST du rin g t h e fe st iva l . Yo u c a n vo te o n l i n e at www.vaf f.o rg /vote “ OU TST A N D I N G C ON T R I B U TI O N ” DI V E R S I TY I N F I L M A W A R D: Le arn abou t ou r past re cip i e n ts : Each ye ar an ou t st an din g a r ti st i s s e l e c te d by a co m m i tte e at VA F F to ack n owle dge an in div idu a l ’s a c h i eve m e n t i n co n tr i b u ti n g to th e f i g h t fo r m a ki n g u n de rre pre se n te d voice s h e a rd a n d p u s h i n g fo r wa rd th e c u l tu re o f d i ve r s i ty t h rou gh t h e ir act ion s or wo r k.

2 016 Re cipie n t – TZ I M A 2 017 Re cipie n t – J EF F C H I B A - STE A R N S 2 019 Re cipie n t – M I N A SH U M We will an n ou n ce all of t h e awa rd s re c i p i e n ts at th e O va s i a n Awa rd s Ce re m o ny by VA F F 2 5 an d Afte r Part y o n N ove m b e r 1 4 , 2 02 1 at H o l l ywo o d Th e atre.

D oors Ope n at 7 pm.

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Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

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WE’RE HIRING!

EASTSIDEGAMES.COM/JOBS

VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

INTRODUCING THE RACIAL EQUITY SCREEN OFFICE In 2017, the Board of VAFF held a Strategic Visioning session and identified the need for a national organization to advocate and provide support for greater Asian Canadian representation in Film, television and media. Then, earlier this year, VAFF brought public attention to the problematic and systemically inequitable funding process at the Canada Council for the Arts. This prompted VAFF to consult with many racialized stakeholders and organizations in the Canadian Screen Industry who are also underrepresented in terms of advocacy for equitable treatment for funding, jobs, access, and visibility. Over the past year, after convening and consulting different representative groups, VAFF concluded that this was the right time to activate what it recognized during its strategic planning session in 2017.

The Racial Equity Screen Office (RESO) is a national organization situated in Western Canada that will be the most efficient and effective mechanism to advocate for financial, social, and geographical equity from government funding agencies while also identifying the structures and practices within the screen-based industry that negatively impact racialized creatives and impede our success. RESO is built on a foundation of advocacy work done by VAFF over the past 25 years..

RESO will serve to give a voice to the large group of racialized people encompassed by the ‘POC’ acronym in BIPOC. RESO is needed to give a centre for our unique challenges and possibilities. RESO will have a Vancouver based national office that supports the mentorship, training, funding, production, and distribution for racialized Canadian filmmakers with diverse stories told through our diasporic migrant lens with a major goal of building greater business opportunities and markets for content from racialized communities inside and outside of Canada.

For RESO our focus is on the distinct nature of the immigrant diaspora and the opportunities, realities, and stories that live within our communities and our lived experiences and the ever expanding export opportunities and markets for these stories.

RESO is founded on the core principle of collaboration to address the culture of scarcity within governmental funding bodies. These processes prevent community organizations from cooperating with one another.

Our hope is through RESO, we can all contribute to building a bigger table for everyone to have a seat at the table.

RESO BOARD MEMBERS

RESO ADVISORY BOARD

Barbara Lee, Vancouver Asian Film Festival Society

Jeff Young, Entertainment Lawyer

Nilesh Patel, Roaming Pictures, DOCBC

Mostafa Keshvari, BC Minorities For Film and TV Society

Elfred Manning, Film Consultant

Christian Sida Valenzuela, Vancouver Latin American Film Festival

Erika Kumar, Warner Media Shivani Saini, Creatives Empowered Society Ying Wang, Cinevolution Media Arts Society

Jason Mackay, Collective Bunch Society Shawn Tse, CANAsian Artist Network

Pezhman Hadavi, Vancouver Iranian Film Society Dhirendra Miyanger, co-chair of BIPOC Committee for UBCP/ACTRA Anand Pavimani, Paixtriot Media Baljit Sangra, Viva Mantra films Inc, co-chair DOCBC Teresa M. Ho., 100 Dragons Productions Inc. Andrew Chung, Asian Canadian Film Alliance

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#VAFF

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@VAFFVANCOUVER

T H A N K YO U TO RICHARD WONG FILM FUND (RWFF) JUDGES AARON AU

Congratulations to VAFF on 25 Years of Excellence!

ANDREA STOKES KEVIN LI SANDRA SUNG SPONSOR: RICHARD K. WONG VAFF LIFETIME PATRON

Elementus Wealth Management is a sponsor of the Vancouver Asian Film Festival and a proud supporter of the arts, diversity and inclusivity.

“The more socially conscious you are, the better work you make” - Ali Wong We are an equal opportunity and culturally diverse boutique wealth management firm committed to helping entrepreneurs, business owners and incorporated professionals reach their personal and corporate financial goals. Speak to one of our specialists about corporate wealth and tax planning, investments, life and health insurance and employee benefit plans.

604-681-4493 • elementuswealth.com Vancouver • Victoria

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E L I M I N 8 H AT E O V E R V I E W

ABOUT ELIMIN8HATE Elimin8Hate is the advocacy arm of the Vancouver Asian Film Festival. We work to interrupt, dismantle and eliminate anti-Asian racism at the individual, institutional and systemic level by harnessing the power of arts, film and media. We provide anti-Asian racism learning opportunities, and create safe, inclusive ways for impacted community members and allies to participate in initiatives aimed at supporting systemic change for an equitable society.

EDUCATE. EMPOWER. ELIMINATE. THANK YOU TO THE GENEROUS DONORS THAT HAVE SUPPORTED THE MANY PROJECTS UNDER ELIMIN8HATE.

ReClaim Your Name with Tik Tok Canada.

ReClaim Your Name Videos – watch these videos throughout VAFF's Festival programming.

ReClaim Your Name Sharing and Healing Circles empowering our communities to speak up and speak proudly.

Coming Soon!

Elimin8Hate Style Guide for Journalists and Media Reporting on Asian Canadian communities www. elimin8hate.org/style-guide

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Connect.Heal.Act Project - Community Boards providing outreach opportunities for the Asian Canadian community to bond over shared experiences during Covid-19.

VAFF/RESO/Eimin8Hate conduct a deep dive on diversity in television and work with institutions on solutions going forward.

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#VAFF

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@VAFFVANCOUVER

AMBASSADORS Elimin8Hate announced the launch of our Ambassador Program in September.

Our three pioneering ambassadors, Eileen Park Robertson, Lainey Lui, and Zoe Si, will be using their platforms to educate and empower our communities to eliminate racialized hate — as we strive towards racial equity and an inclusive society for all Asian Canadians.

Representation and role models matter. “To dream it, you need to see it” Follow us on Instagram @Elimin8Hate Learn more at www.elimin8hate.org Donate to elimin8hate.org and vaff.org

ZOE SI is a cartoonist and illustrator who holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of British Columbia and practiced law for a number of years, working primarily with low-income and marginalized clients. She now spends her days making children’s books, cartooning and writing for The New Yorker, and drawing comics of everything in sight.

LAINEY LUI is co-host of CTV’s THE SOCIAL, ETALK Senior Correspondent, and scribe of the immensely popular celebrity gossip blog, LaineyGossip.com, Lainey does what she does for one reason – to provide a gossip education to the Canadian public.

EILEEN PARK ROBERTSON is the founder of Anecdotia, a production agency focused exclusively on racial, social, and climate justice storytelling.

Most recently, she ran communications at the Office of the Mayor of Portland as Director of Communications, after more than a decade working as a reporter in the United States, South Korea, and around the world.

Investing in the Arts with a Passion for Performance The Vancouver branch of National Bank Financial – Wealth Management is committed in their dedication to the Vancouver Asian Film Festival Your investments deserve that same commitment and dedication Contact us for more information 604-623-6777 475 Howe Street, Suite 3000 Vancouver, BC nbnfw.ca National Bank Financial – Wealth Management (NBFWM) is a division of National Bank Financial Inc. (NBF), as well as a trademark owned by National Bank of Canada (NBC) that is used under licence by NBF. NBF is a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF), and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NBC, a public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: NA).

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MAMM OVERVIEW The 16th edition of the Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF)’s Mighty Asian Moviemaking Marathon (MAMM) took place at Vancouver’s Playhouse on Friday, August 27, 2021.

MAMM16 made a triumphant live return as the gala became VAFF’s first in-person event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony had a limited live audience in attendance at the reduced-capacity venue to comply with COVID-19 restrictions. As a result, the screening and awards show were live streamed online to allow more people the opportunity to take part in this experience, making the evening the biggest MAMM edition to date with a total of more than two thousand attendees and online viewers.

Several films were recognized during the awards presentation. These shorts and ultra-shorts will be screened again at the 25th Vancouver Asian Film Festival in November.

Here is the night’s full list of winners:

Best Best Best Best

PERFORMANCE for Ultra Short: Cynthia Zhou of "CLOSING DOORS" PERFORMANCE for Short: Curtis Lum of "REVERSE" SCREENPLAY for Ultra Short: Tammy Tsang of "LAUREN IN THE BATHROOM" SCREENPLAY for Short: Harley Maranan of "HAIL MARIE"

Best CINEMATOGRAPHY for Ultra Short: DOP Po Chun Chen of "CLOSING DOORS" Best CINEMATOGRAPHY for Short: DOP Po Chun Chen of "REVERSE" Best Best Best Best Best Best

FIRST TIME DIRECTOR for Ultra Short: Darian Lung of "THE DOOR, THE HALL, AND THE WALL" FIRST TIME DIRECTOR for Short: Kaitlyn Lee of "NOT MY AGE" DIRECTOR for Ultra Short: Tammy Tsang of "LAUREN IN THE BATHROOM" DIRECTOR for Short: Joshua Aries of "REVERSE" FILM for Ultra Short: "KAMADHENU" by Tesh Guttikonda FILM for Short: "SWITCH CITY" by Moheb Jindran

The following “People’s Choice Awards” were voted for by viewers: Best Best Best Best

Overall Overall Overall Overall

Performance for Ultra Short: LAUREN IN THE BATHROOM Performance for Short: REVERSE Ultra Short: CLOSING DOORS by Team ABC Power House (Cynthia Zhou) Short: TWO WHEELS by Team Flower Bomb (Crystal Kong)

Thank you to our MAMM creative producers:

JOSHUA LAM MAMM Lead Creative Producer

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MAYUMI YOSHIDA MAMM Creative Co-Producer

Image credits: Alisha Weng

NACH DUDSDEEMAYTHA MAMM Creative Co-Producer

ARNOLD LIM MAMM Creative Consultant

REGINA LEUNG MAMM Producer

LYNNE LEE MAMM Director / Producer

VA F F B O A R D M E M B E R S

Barbara Lee

Clement Lau

Founder & President

Edmond Ng Treasurer

Andry Tanusdjaja

Cher Lee

Kathy Leung

Programming & Board Advisor

Alex Gray

Justin Park

Member at large

Member at large

VAFF Co-Executive Director

Cathy Lim

Audrey Wong

Andy Chu

Amélie Nguyen

Ken Takagi

Board Advisor

Leon Ng

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Member at large

Member at large

Board Advisor

Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

Vice President

Board Advisor

Mona Mok Board Advisor

VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

E8 Co-Executive Director

Board Advisor

Nilesh Patel Board Advisor

Kevin K. Li Board Advisor

Peter Leung Board Advisor

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VA F F E X E C U T I V E S

SUSAN HANSON Festival Director

LYNNE LEE MAMM Director / Producer

REGINA LEUNG VAFF Industry Director / Producer

AUDREY WONG Elimin8Hate Executive Director

ALINA WONG Programming Director (Feature)

JONATHAN LEE Operations Director

GILLIAN LO Creative Director

WALID EI ATRACHE Content Marketing Director

VINCENT CHOU Media Director

WILLIAM LAU Programming Director (Short)

RAKESH GEORGE Sponsorship Director

CHRISTINE PILKINGTON Social Media Director

VA F F C O M M I T T E E S P ROG R A M M I N G T EA M

AL YOSHIZAWA Programming Advisor

ANTHONY LEE Programmer

ARRAN CRAWLEY Programmming logistic Manager & Consultant

COLIN HONG Print Traffic Manager

CHLOE LAI Programmer

DEBBIE LIN Programmer | Programming Advisor

HELEN LIU Programmer

ISAAC YOU Programmer

JOHN THIMOTHY Programming Advisor

KEVIN FENG Programmer

KRIZIA VICTORIA Programmer

LILLY LIN Programmer

NATALIE MURAO Programmer

NICHOLAS YEE Programmer

RJAY STA. TERESA Programmer

SIDARTHA MURJANI Programmer

ROSIE HSUEH Programmer

TARUN KERAM Programmer

VIDYA CRAWLEY Programmer

OP ER AT I ON S T EA M

MATTHEW WU Bookkeeper

AMY TSAI Festival Project Manager

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DANIEL PEARSON Volunteer Manager

EMMA COFFIN Operations Coordinator

KYLEEN LEE MAMM Admin Assistant | Festival Assistant

VINCENT GAN Box Office Manager

SUCHITA NAHID Volunteer Manager

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#VAFF

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@VAFFVANCOUVER

VA F F C O M M I T T E E S MA RK ET I N G / COM M UN I C AT I ON S T E A M

AKARSHA SURENDAR Marketing Coordinator

ALEXIS OCAMPO Content Editor & Copywriter

ANGELA LEUNG E8 Content Editor & Copywriter

ISHA JAIN Marketing Coordinator

JARED YU Content Editor & Copywriter

ROISIN ABBOTT Social Media Specialist

SARA CORTEZ Content Editor & Copywriter

SMIELY KHURANA Production Coordinator

VANESSA BBOROWICZ Social Media Specialist

VIKTORIIA TIAN Social Media Specialist

HANLON WU Senior Graphic Designer

GARVIN LEBLANCE Graphic Designer

VIKA ZHENG Graphic Designer

WILLIAM HU Web Designer & Web Admin

KAREN LEUNG Web Designer & Web Admin

DYLAN ST. AUBIN Video Editor

LINDA MIM

NINA NG

JANIRA MONCAYO Media Specialist

JOCELYN WONG Content Edito

MAELIN CHEUNG Social Media Coordinator

GRA P HI C D ESI G N T EA M

BELLA KANG Graphic Designer

BRONWYN AUSTIN Graphic Designer

DIGITA L T EA M

AARAV KATARIA Video Editor

CHEN SING YAP Video Editor

SP ONSOR SHI P T EA M

CRISTINA LOW Sponsorship Manager

BEN YIM Business Development Manager

CHARLEEN LUI Community Outreach Liaison

ELIMIN8HAT E T EA M

AMY WU

ANGELA LEUNG

ASMIN CHEN

SIJIA CHENG

VOLUN T EER S A n i t a N gai, Andrea Valentine- Lew is, Carm el Ta n a ka , Cristin a N orm a n dia , E ri ka Lo r bes, H alimah Beaulieu, P rabhnoor Ka u r, Sa h a j Goel, N in a S o h i b ra r, Tessa D anelesko, Vidushi Rajpu t

Tickets online at VAFF.ORG

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VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

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INDEX OF FILMS

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4 N O RT H A

G O O D DE AL

P g 22 | 11 min

P g 19 | 118 min

A BA L A N C E

G U IMO O N: T H E LIG H T LE SS DOOR

P g 20 | 152 min

P g 28 | 85 min

A L EG

H AIL MARIE

P g 35 | 115 min

P g 23 | 13 min

A M E RI CA N I Z E D

H OVE RMAN

P g 18 | 17 min

P g 40 | 12 min

A P A RT, TO GE T H E R

I AM NOT AN ANG E L

P g 18 | 19 min

P g 22 | 5 min

BÀ BA

IN ANOT H E R LANG U AG E

P g 22 | 5 min

P g 34 | 50 min

BA N G L A S U R F GI R L S

IN PU RS U IT O F LIG H T

P g 14 | 86 min

P g 33 | 35 min

BLUE SU I T

IN T H E S H ADOW O F T H E PINE S

P g 43 | 16 min

P g 22 | 8 min

BUT YO U AR E NOT B L A C K

INFLU E NCE R

P g 36 | 19 min

P g 18 | 37 min

C LOSI N G DO O R S

ITO

P g 23 | 1:20 min

P g 32 | 117 min

C OC O ON LOV E

K AMADH E NU

P g 18 | 15 min

P g 23 | 1:40 min

C RO UC H I NG C O MI C

KO RE ATOWN G H OST STO RY

P g 33 | 11 min

P g 33 | 15 min

D A I SI E S AND S P A R R OWS

LAST CU T

P g 40 | 11 min

P g 18 | 25 min

D I N O BO N E

LAU RE N IN T H E B AT H RO O M

P g 40 | 2 min

P g 23 | 1:20 min

D RI F T I N G

LIO N O N T H E MAT

P g 25 | 112 min

P g 33 | 17 min

E M ERG E NC E : O U T O F T H E S H A D OWS

LO O K ING B ACK

P g 21 | 81 min

P g 36 | 11 min

E ST HE R & S A I

LU MPIA WIT H A VE NG E ANCE

P g 41 | 13 min

P g 44 | 109 min

E V E RYT H I N G ST A YS

MAK E -B E LIE VE RS

P g 39 | 26 min

P g 42 | 100 min

F I RE C R A F T

MR. JAME S IS DE AD

P g 40 | 25 min

P g 36 | 15 min

F I RST C H I L D

N A N A KO R O B I ( S E V E N F A L L S )

P g 37 | 93 min

P g 40 | 7 min

F L E D G L I NG

N OT M Y A G E

P g 22 | 4 min

P g 23 | 8 min

F LOW I N G H O ME ( N H U MÔT DÒ NG S Ô NG )

N U DE TO M E

P g 40 | 15 min

P g 17 | 20 min

INDEX OF FILMS O UT OF TOUCH

SPLISH SPLASH (CIPAK CIPUK)

P g 22 | 3 min

P g 40 | 9 min

PAR ABOLA

SW I N G I N '

P g 17 | 16 min

P g 43 | 23 min

PE R F ECT DAUGHTE R

SW I TC H C I TY

P g 41 | 13 min

P g 23 | 12 min

PO MP O THE CIN EP HI L E

TA N A G O KO R O : A C U L I N A RY P O R TR A I T

P g 24 | 90 min R EC L AIM YOUR NAM E: F U A D P g 36 | 5 min R EC L AIM YOUR NAM E: LYN D A P g 21 | 5 min R EC L AIM YOUR NAM E: M A R I A D EL A C R U Z P g 17 | 5 min R EC L AIM YOUR NAM E: M Y N A M E P g 41 | 5 min R EC L AIM YOUR NAM E: P A T R I C I A WON G P g 14 | 5 min R EC L AIM YOUR NAM E: SK əKM X Í SA T S O PH I A TERBA SKET-F U N M A KER

P g 38 | 32 min TH E DO O R , TH E H A L L , A N D TH E W A L L P g 23 | 1:40 min TH E G O DD A R D K I T P g 36 | 6 min TH E K I N G O F B A C KY A R D P g 39 | 30 min TH E N I K K E I W A Y P g 17 | 27 min TH E TA STE O F G I N G E R P g 39 | 34 min TH I R D C U LTU R E K I D

P g 18 | 5 min

P g 43 | 15 min

R EC L AIM YOUR NAM E: ZAH IDA RA HEMTUL L A

TO M A K E E N DS ME A T

P g 13 | 5 min

TO E TH E L I N E

R EC E IVER

P g 17 | 23 min

P g 41 | 15 min

TR A I L B L A Z I N !

R ES IDEN TS OF A RC A D I A

P g 16 | 30 min

P g 31 | 83 min

TRY H A R DE R !

R EVERSE

P g 13 | 85 min

P g 23 | 12 min

TW I N K L E TW I N K L E L I TTL E STA R

R IC KSHA W GIRL

P g 38 | 12 min

P g 12 | 110 min

TWO W H E E L S

S H IRO, THE GIA N T, A N D T HE C A ST L E

P g 23 | 10 min

P g 40 | 9 min

WAO

S IL E NT N IGHT

P g 39 | 25 min

P g 43 | 16 min

W A TC H YO U R B A C K

S LUMP

P g 43 | 30 min

P g 17 | 18 min

W H A T F LOW E R S TH E Y B LO O M

S NAKEHEAD

P g 21 | 27 min

P g 15 | 90 min

WUHAN WUHAN

S NE EZE!

P g 30 | 91 min

P g 38 | 8 min

YO KO ME S H I

S O LO TREKKER

P g 41 | 21 min

P g 16 | 30 min

P g 38 | 25 min

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F E S T I VA L S P O N S O R S Thank you to the following VAFF 2021 Festival sponsors for making this festival possible

PRESENTING SPONSOR

B E N E FA C T O R S

RICHARD K. WONG VAFF LIFETIME PATRON

PUBLIC FUNDERS

INDUSTRY SPONSORS

F E S T I VA L S P O N S O R S

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MEDIA SPONSORS

VENDOR SPONSORS

VENUE SPONSORS

COMMUNITY SUPPORTERS

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PRESENTING SPONSOR OF

VAFF PROUD SUPPORTER OF

ASIAN STORYTELLERS. cmf-fmc.ca