Allow us to introduce you to filmmakers who are blazing new trails in Asian cinema, who have transcended cultures, languages, and genres to define what it is to be Asian.
Here is your 2016 Reel Asian Marquee Programme!
MY DAD & MR ITO お父さんと伊藤さん
Thursday November 10 • 7:00PM
Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (6 Garamond Court)
34-year old Aya leads a quiet co-existence with 54-year old Mr. Ito, contented with their dead-end, part-time jobs. Will things change when Aya’s father suddenly moves into their cramped apartment? An intimate, moving dramedy by director Yuki Tanada.
LOST DAUGHTER 再見女兒
Saturday November 12 • 7:00PM
AGO Jackman Hall (317 Dundas Street West)
Taiwanese businessman Sheng returns from working in mainland China when his youngest daughter Lian dies in a scuba diving accident. Upon arrival, he is faced with another complication—the police are convinced that Shin, Sheng’s estranged daughter from a previous marriage, is responsible for her half-sister’s death.
REACH FOR THE SKY 공부의 나라
Monday November 14 • 3:45PM
TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 3 (350 King Street West)
Every November, South Korea is fully focused on the Suneung, a national student exam that determines your chance of being admitted to the most prestigious universities in the country. A documentary on the pursuit for perfection, Reach for the Sky is an in-depth look on the students’ gut-wrenching pressure to strive for excellence and to gain their place in the sky.
APOCALYPSE CHILD
Tuesday November 15 • 3:45PM
TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 3 (350 King Street West)
After Francis Ford Coppola shot the 1979 film Apocalypse Now in Baler, Philippines, rumours surfaced that the crew left something behind. Apocalypse Child is a fictional drama about Ford, a surfing instructor whose Filipina mom believes she was impregnated by Coppola. Unfazed by this, Ford is seemingly content with his beach bum lifestyle, until the return of his childhood best friend who is now the local congressman, threatens his dreamlike existence.
THE BACCHUS LADY 죽여주는 여자
Tuesday November 15 • 9:00PM
TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 3 (350 King Street West)
65-year-old So-young (Youn Yuh-jung) is a “Bacchus Lady” or bagkaseu halmeoni – a term given to elderly Korean women who sell a popular energy drink known as Bacchus and who offer sexual services on the side. Surrounding herself with ragtag members of society, So-young makes the best of her situation until she begins to receive unusual requests from her aging clientele.
MIXED MATCH
Thursday November 10 • 7:00PM
Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (6 Garamond Court)
Award-winning Japanese Canadian filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns’ new documentary explores the crisis in identifying bone marrow and cord blood donors for patients of mixed ethnicity suffering from life-threatening blood diseases such as leukemia.
THE LOCKPICKER
Tuesday November 15 • 9:00PM
TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 2 (350 King Street West)
After the death of a friend, a teen fantasizes about getting out of town. When his closest friend is victimized by violence, he is forced to choose between fighting back and becoming what he fears, or leaving behind everyone and everything he knows. A gritty portrait of youth, The Lockpicker is Randall Okita’s, feature film debut which was shot in a real school with real students as the cast.