That’s a wrap! Thank you to everyone who come out to our 19th annual Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and making this year a special one for many of us.
Thank you to our all of our festival funders, sponsors and community partners for their support. Special shout-out to our amazing volunteers, committee members and staff for all their hard work. Of course, big thank you to our audience members and fans for making this such an incredible year!
We are overjoyed by the overwhelming response from the crowd this year from selling out of advanced tickets within 72 hours after our press launch, to the standing ovations at our Opening and Closing Galas.
View all the pictures here and search #RA2015 on social media to see other Reel Asian memories. Get ready for Reel Asian’s 20th anniversary in November 2016! Relive the best festival moments in our photo recap below:
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube to see what Reel Asian is up to all year round!
Are you ready? We open the 19th annual Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival with a full house and standing ovation at Isabel Bader Theatre for Canadian feature documentary, DRIVING WITH SELVI. We’re thrilled to have film subject Selvi and her family join the stage with Director Elisa Paloschi for the Q&A.
Bring out the booze, the music and photo frames because it’s party time! This year we were back at The Spoke Club to kick-off celebrations and end the festivities with some 80s groove. Our photobooth (provided by Shutterbug) was as popular as ever. Find your digital snaps HERE.
Think fast because many of our screenings were in high demand with tickets going off-sale like crazy including both screenings for the Centrepiece Presentation, OUR TIMES. The screening ran out of advanced tickets within 72 hours after tickets went on sale!
A new year means new beginnings to the growing number of young, emerging talents including the 4th generation of UNSUNG VOICES Asian-Canadian filmmakers. We were very proud to see their story on the big screen at the World Premiere of their films.
We opened a new chapter to many of the guests who were part of this year’s festival including Director Anucharan Murugaiyan who came all the way from India for his International Premiere of KIRUMI! Reel Asian was proud to screen our first Tamil film at the festival with KIRUMI.
This year we also welcomed more international guests to the 2015 festival than before! Picture from left to right: Director Lau Ho Leung (TWO THUMBS UP), Director Philip Yung (PORT OF CALL) and Director Lee Won-suk (THE ROYAL TAILOR).
Reel Asian continues to support homegrown talents by bringing features and short films from Canadian directors to the festival! Did you know that 42% of this year’s programming line-up included Canadian titles with 10 world premieres? We’re pleased to also have Canadian YouTube celebrity JusReign speak at one of our Industry Series talks.
Loud cheers from the crowd could be heard throughout the theatre for our Closing Night Presentation of SEOUL SEARCHING. Director Benson Lee and actress, Rosalina Leigh had the entire auditorium to do the wave to close the night and wrap-up the Toronto festival at The Spoke Club!
The festival would feel empty without the presence of special guests in attendance to celebrate with us. It was great having David ‘Mas’ & Marcy Masumoto join us for brunch before the screening of CHANGING SEASON: ON THE MASUMOTO FAMILY FARM. Thanks to all our international and local filmmakers, panelists, and guests for making this a special and memorable occasion.
It wouldn’t REEL-y be a REEL ASIAN festival without all the food & drinks. That’s why we made an entire FOOD ON FILM tasting reception event following OFF THE MENU. Yes, you’re welcome!
Aside from films and delicious munchies, we also had the opportunity to invite film and media industry professionals as panelists for our Industry Series. This year marked our 10th anniversary of the Industry Series with great success. Thank you to all the Industry Series Community Partners for their support!
(*drumroll *drumroll), Congratulations to MINA WALKING on winning the Menkes Audience Award! We would also like to applaud ALL the films in selection this year. See the full list of award winners here.
If you missed Randall Okita‘s Canadian Spotlight Events during the festival, make sure to come out and see his gallery exhibition, THINGS I CAN’T TELL YOU at the Robert Kananaj Gallery which runs until November 28.
It’s showdown time! A new group of competitors were up for the challenge at the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN PITCH Competition Live Finale for a chance to win an amazing prize package that will kick-start their winning film into a reality. Congratulations to Philip Leung and Nicole Chung!
Missed the chance to purchase the Reel Asian T-shirt or Canvas Tote Bags? Email us at info@reelasian.com to see if we have your T-shirt size or if the items are still available. Receive 25% off for members or sign-up to enjoy year-round benefits!
Thanks for a great night and to everyone who came to our Richmond Hill Closing Night presentation of FULL STRIKE, including guests from Yee Hong Centre. Happy smiles with Hong Kong veteran actress Susan Shaw to end the 6th annual Richmond Hill festival and wrap-up the Reel Asian festivities.
Thank you to all of our 2015 festival sponsors and community partners for your support. In addition, we would like to give a big shout out to our dedicated team of volunteers and committee members for all of your hard-work.
We couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you to everyone who came out to the festival and we look forward in seeing you at the 20th year!
Share your #RA2015 moments with us on social media and re-live the festival moments with the photos: HERE