Asian Institute x Reel Asian: November 10-19, 2021
Screening Dates: November 10-19, 2021
View the 2021 programming lineup at: https://www.reelasian.com/archive/2021-festival-archive/
We were delighted to partner with the 25th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and present the following film screenings:
MANZANAR, DIVERTED: WHEN WATER BECOMES DUST (Directed by Ann Kaneko)
USA | 2021 | 84 min | English | Canadian Premiere | Documentary, Women Filmmakers
“Ann Kaneko’s Manzanar, Diverted invokes this history to tell the story of generations of women: Native American, Japanese American WWII incarcerees, and environmentalists, fighting for the future of the valley. Through a mix of testimonials, archival, and aerial photography, Kaneko weaves intersectional histories with the urgency of the present.” (- Aram Siu Wai Collier)
THE BLIND RABBIT (Directed by Pallavi Paul)
India | 2020 | 43 min | Hindi, English with English subtitles | North American Premiere | Documentary, Experimental, Women Filmmakers
“Using scattered but historically significant fragments of documentation, including video and audio eyewitness accounts, Paul explores the intersections of power, gender, and the narrativization of memory. The film moves across moments like the national emergency of 1975–77, and the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984, all while remaining contemporary by alluding to recent police brutality across university campuses.” (- Mariam Zaidi)
S-EXPRESS: MYANMAR
Myanmar | 66 min | Burmese with English subtitles | Drama, Experimental, Women Filmmakers
Guest-programmed by Thaiddhi in partnership with the Minikino S-Express Short Film Program Exchange, this collection of short films showcases young and new voices of independent filmmakers from Myanmar amid the sociopolitical changes of the country.
This collection includes Late Summer Day by Nay Wunn Ni, Burn Boys by Kaung Myat Thu Kyaw, The Cockroach Thu by Sxar Kiss, and Age of Youth by Myo Thar Khin.
In partnership with the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies
I WAS A SIMPLE MAN (Directed by Christopher Makoto Yogi)
USA | 2021 | 100 min | English | Drama
PART OF THE CENTREPIECE SPOTLIGHT ON HAWAI’I
“On the pastoral North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, the end is near for Masao, an ill and elderly man with regrets to spare. As he looks back, his family history, dreams, and mythology swirl around him as ghosts he carries with him in his final days. Meanwhile, I Was A Simple Man shifts in time through pre-WWII country landscapes of days past, statehood, and a concrete-bound, contemporary Honolulu, mirroring 20th-century Hawaiian history.” (- Aram Siu Wai Collier)
In partnership with the Dr. David Chu Program in Asia-Pacific Studies
WAIKIKI (Directed by Christopher Kahunahana)
USA | 2020 | 77 min | English, Hawaiian with English subtitles | International Premiere | Drama
PART OF THE CENTREPIECE SPOTLIGHT ON HAWAI’I
“Christopher Kahunahana’s captivating storytelling ventures beyond the world-famous titular tourist destination and strikes an aesthetic that is perhaps unfamiliar to those with cursory knowledge of idyllic Hawaii. Kahunahana’s juxtaposition of the latter against the cold concrete of looming and perpetual urban development casts a critical look at the gentrified waste of ecological decay, systemic poverty, and the enduring legacy of U.S. colonization, which haunts the faces and spaces of Kahunahana’s film. Waikiki is a critical contribution to the growing body of Native Hawaiian cinema.” (- Kevin Lim)
In partnership with the Dr. David Chu Program in Asia-Pacific Studies
RELATED EVENT: Centrepiece Spotlight on Hawai’i: Live Discussion
Date/Time: November 15, 2021, 7pm EST
Since the advent of cinema and the forced colonization of the islands, Hawai’i stories on film have too often been told by outsiders. Reel Asian is bringing a spotlight onto two acclaimed Hawai’i-made dramatic feature films. Christopher Kahunahana’s award winning WAIKIKI is the first dramatic feature film written and directed by a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian). Christopher Makoto Yogi’s I WAS A SIMPLE MAN had its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2021. In this moderated filmmaker to filmmaker conversation Kahunahana and Yogi will discuss each others films and the groundbreaking context that surrounds them.
Main Sponsor: Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto
Sponsors: Centre for Southeast Asian Studies and the Dr. David Chu Program in Asia-Pacific Studies at the Asian Institute
