May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada!
For the entire month, we will be spotlighting the artists that graced us with their work and presence from our 2017 Reel Asian Film Festival.We will unveil different themes at the start of every week of this month to celebrate these Asian storytellers from around the world.
This week is Marquee Week! For the first week, we will be focusing on the filmmakers that made grand statements at the beginning, middle, and end of our 2017 festival.
Portraits by Mike Tjioe Photography.
2017 Reel Asian Opening Night Presentation:
DEAR ETRANGER 幼な子われらに生まれ
Biography:
After producing and directing the documentary programs at NHK, Yukiko Mishima’s directorial debut was in 2009 with Shisei: Nihohitsuki no Gotoku. She wrote and directed the subsequent features Bread of Happiness (2012) and the critically-acclaimed A Drop of the Grapevine (2014).
On The Horizon:
Yukiko’s next feature film is Antiquarian Bookshop Biblia’s Case Files, a live-action adaptation of the popular novel series of the same name. You can check out the film’s teaser poster here.
2017 Reel Asian Centrepiece Presentation:
IN YOUR DREAMS 以青春的名義
Biography:
Tam Wai-Ching graduated from the City University of Hong Kong. Since 2005, she has written several novels and made numerous short films that have premiered at festivals around the world. Most recently, she co-wrote the screenplays for acclaimed Hong Kong director Dante Lam’s Operation Mekong (2016) and Benny Chan’s Call of Heroes (2016). In Your Dreams is her directorial debut.
On The Horizon:
Tam has not announced her next project as she is currently touring festivals for In Your Dreams. You can follow her on Instagram here!
2017 Reel Asian Closing Night Presentation:
STAND UP MAN
Biography:
Aram Collier is a filmmaker, educator and former film festival programmer. He has a background in documentary film, including editing the award-winning feature documentary Refugee and directing and editing the short doc Who I Became, both of which were broadcast on PBS in the United States. From 2011 to 2014, his omnibus live music and film project, Suite Suite Chinatown toured Canada, the U.S. and Asia. A San Francisco native based in Toronto, Aram is a mixed-race Asian Canadian/American who has a BFA and MFA in Film Production from the University of California at Santa Cruz and York University respectively.
On The Horizon:
Aram will be taking Stand Up Man to the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and CAAMFest in his hometown of San Francisco this month.