The 2017 Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival begins on May 25th and ends on June 4th. This year’s program continues to provide a platform for many queer Asian stories. Below is a complete list of features and shorts with Asian representation both in front and behind the camera at this year’s Inside Out:
Features
SIGNATURE MOVE
Sunday May 27th • 7PM • TIFF Bell Lightbox – Cinema 1
Tickets Available Here
Director: Jennifer Reader
USA • Urdu & Spanish with English subtitles
A new romance with Alma forces Zaynab to confront her relationship with her recently widowed mother who escapes to TV dramas and finding her daughter a husband. In this coming-of-age Muslim melodrama, Zaynab copes by taking up Lucha-style wrestling.
SMALL TALK
Sunday May 28th • 12PM • TIFF Bell Lightbox – Cinema 1
Tickets Available Here
Director: Hui-chen Huang
Taiwan • Taiwanese with English subtitles
As a child, Huang was enlisted as an assistant to her mother, leaving school in the third grade to earn money to support their family. Her mother was rarely at home, spending time out with girlfriends. As the story unfolds, issues of trust, abuse and reconciliation come to the fore, as Huang begins to ask the questions that have tormented her throughout her life.
SISTERHOOD
Sunday May 28th • 7:15PM • TIFF Bell Lightbox – Cinema 2
Tickets Available Here
Director: Tracy Choi
Macau / Hong Kong / Taiwan • Cantonese & Mandarin with English subtitles
Love intertwines at the wrong time. Sei and Ling, former masseuses in Macau, in retrospect, had the best time together. Decades after, Sei learns that her late best friend has kept a secret she never knew.
Youth Shorts Program: TEENAGE DREAM
Friday May 26th • 1PM • TIFF Bell Lightbox – Cinema 1
Tickets Available Here
ARRIVAL
Director: Alex Myung • USA
A true coming of age story, Arrival follows one boy’s journey into adulthood, and the messy, complicated relationships that go with it. The story of the film pulls from Myung’s past relationships. It portrays a uniquely modern LGBTQ couple, exploring the highs and lows that come with feeling guilty for loving the right person.
Shorts Program: CALL YOUR GIRLFRIEND
Friday May 26th • 7:15PM • TIFF Bell Lightbox – Cinema 2
Tickets Available Here
US
Director: Jessica Fuh • USA • English
Two best friends find their relationship tested when one of them lands a new girlfriend.
MOMO
Director: Yun Joo Chang • South Korea • Korean with English subtitles
Sohee’s ex-couple is about to set off to live abroad in Germany. The one problem? Their cat, Momo.
SECESSION
Director: Yifan Sun • Poland • Polish with English subtitles
An ex-couple spend the day together before one moves away for good. Will they finally achieve the closure they need or will they further complicate their situation?
Shorts Program: THRIVE
Saturday June 3rd • 6:45PM • TIFF Bell Lightbox – Cinema 2
Tickets Available Here
AARSA
Director: Kawa Hatef • India • English
This is the story of Raju, an unnoticed dance studio caretaker whose admiration for a beautiful instructor ignites their search for self-identity.
Shorts Program: NEW VISIONS
Wednesday May 31st • 7PM • AGO Jackman Hall
Tickets Available Here
The New Visions intiative provides a unique opportunity to learn video production from professional artists and editors, using state-of-the-art high-definition cameras and the latest editing technology—all in a queer-positive group environment.
BOYS
Director: Seanpreet Chooti • Canada
A colourful queer man explores life through the lens of technology.
IN MY MOTHER’S CLOSET
Director: Adri Almeida • Canada
Adri, a young Indian trans woman, navigates a world that refuses to see her as she is, and finds her truth through musical theatre and magical femme friendship.