The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is a charitable cultural

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

organization located in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, that advocates Asian representations through media arts. Works include films and videos by

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

, as well as those by Asian-Canadian and Asian-American filmmakers. As Canada's largest and longest-running Pan-Asian film festival in Canada with a 25-year history, Reel Asian provides a public forum for Asian media artists and their work, and fuels the growing appreciation for Asian cinema in Canada.

History

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival was founded in 1997 by film producer Anita Lee and journalist Andrew Sun in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

.Reel Asian Film Festival kicks off in T.O.
CTC.ca; retrieved 2007-11-15 The festival is held annually in November, featuring local and international films and artwork. Reel Asian has year round programs to promote local artists to showcase their skills such as So You Think You Can Pitch, Unsung Voices, Youth Programme, and Reel Ideas.

Notable guests

Guests such as

Simon Yam Simon Yam Tat-wah (; born 19 March 1955) is a Hong Kong actor and film producer. He received international acclaim for his performances in international film festival and box office hits such as ''Naked Killer'', '' SPL: Sha Po Lang'', ''Election' ...

Philip Yung Philip Yung Tsz-kwong () is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and critic. Yung won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Screenplay at the 35th Hong Kong Film Awards for his film ''Port of Call'' (2015). Early life Philip Yung Tsz-kwong g ...

Randall Okita Randall Okita is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and visual artist known for creating work that involves rich visual language and innovative approaches to storytelling. Career His 2014 National Film Board of Canada short film '' The Weat ...

Ann Marie Fleming Ann Marie Fleming is an independent Canadian filmmaker, writer, and visual artist. She was born in Okinawa, USCAR (nowadays Japan), in 1962 and is of Chinese, Ryukyuan and Australian descent. Her film '' Window Horses'' was released in 2016. ...

Jus Reign Jasmeet Singh Raina (born November 4, 1989), professionally known as Jus Reign, is a Canadian comedian and music artist of Indian descent. He is most prominently known as a YouTube personality, and one of Much Digital Studios' original creators. ...

, Tony Wu,

Derek Tsang Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung (; born 8 November 1979) is a Hong Kong film director and actor. The son of actor Eric Tsang, Tsang got his start in the Hong Kong film industry working for director Peter Chan Ho-Sun after graduating from University of T ...

Gingger Shankar Gingger Shankar is an American singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist. She has scored several films, including '' Circumstance''. Early life Shankar was born in Los Angeles, California and raised there and in India. She is the eldest daugh ...

Rhydian Vaughan Rhydian Vaughan (born 10 March 1988), also known by his stage name Feng Xiaoyue, is a Taiwanese-British actor, best known for his performances in the films '' Monga'', ''Girlfriend, Boyfriend'' and '' Winds of September''. Early life Vaughan is ...

, Fu Tien-Yu. The

Kim's Convenience ''Kim's Convenience'' is a Canadian television sitcom that aired on CBC Television from October 2016 to April 2021. It depicts the Korean Canadian Kim family that runs a convenience store in the Moss Park neighbourhood of Toronto: parents "Appa ...

cast,

Paul Sun-Hyung Lee Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (born August 16, 1972) is a Korean-Canadian actor and television host. He is best known for his roles as Randy Ko in the soap opera ''Train 48'' (2003–2005) and as family patriarch Appa in the play '' Kim's Convenience'' (20 ...

Jean Yoon Jean Yoon (born May 4, 1962) is an American-born Canadian actress and writer of Korean descent. Yoon is best known for originating the role of family matriarch Umma in the 2011 play ''Kim's Convenience'' and in the award-winning CBC Television ...

and

Simu Liu Simu Liu ( ; ; born 19 April 1989) is a Canadian actor. He is known for portraying Shang-Chi in the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe film ''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings''. He also played Jung Kim in the CBC Television sitcom '' Kim's ...

attended the 2016 film festival and artist panels.

References

External links

Official site
Asian-Canadian culture in Toronto Film festivals in Toronto Asian-Canadian cinema {{Canada-film-festival-stub