The 23rd annual Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival returns November 7-15 with a spotlight on the best of this year’s Taiwanese presentations including Jung-chi Chang’s WE ARE CHAMPIONS, an inspirational sports film featuring Taiwanese high school basketball championship and Valerie Soe’s LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN, a provocative documentary exploring Taiwan’s longest-running summer program for diasporic Chinese youth worldwide. Both films will make their Canadian premieres on November 9th and 10th with the filmmakers in attendance for post-film discussions.
This year’s Reel Asian celebrates the Toronto Raptors championship with WE ARE CHAMPIONS, the stunning new film from Taiwanese director Jung-chi Chang, who won Best New Director at 2012 Golden Horse Awards for his debut feature TOUCH OF THE LIGHT. Based on a true story, WE ARE CHAMPIONS follows two brothers from a struggling family who shared their dream and love of basketball but ended up competing against each other on opposite teams. By delivering dazzling performance in a realistic style, this film was recently nominated for six Golden Horse Awards, including Best Supporting Actor and Best New Actor.
Highlights also include Valerie Soe’s LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN, a documentary about Taiwan’s iconic Overseas Compatriot Youth Formosa Study Tour, akin to Birthright Israel, a government initiative that started in the 1960s and has become a legend among diasporic Chinese. This film traces Chinese diaspora and Taiwanese identities by exploring the history and popularity of this summer camp. Having been screened across the United States, it will hit Reel Asian as director Valerie Soe, a Love Boat alumna herself, will be in attendance to talk about the making of this documentary that interviewed the participants and counselors in the program.
Reel Asian’s shorts programs also feature a mix of narrative and animation from emerging filmmakers of Taiwanese descent, including KEFF, whose SECRET LIVES OF ASIANS AT NIGHT is a screwball noir about what the model minority does after dark; Athena Han, whose BUNNY MAN observes the differences between the categories of CBC (Chinese Born Canadian) and FOB (Fresh Off the Boat); Kevin Feng, whose I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW, is an intimate essay animation about the process of working through the grief of losing someone you love; and Zozo Jhen, Tena Galović, Marine Varguy, Liu Yen-Chen & Ellis Kayin Chan, whose GRANDPA follows a little boy who processes the death of his grandfather during a traditional Taiwanese funeral procession.
The Taiwanese presentations are presented in collaboration with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Toronto, with the support from the Taipei Cultural Center in New York. For the full lineup and schedule, please visit reelasian.com
About Reel Asian
The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (Reel Asian) is a unique showcase of contemporary Asian cinema and work from the Asian diaspora. As Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival, Reel Asian provides a public forum for Asian media artists and their work, and fuels the growing appreciation for Asian cinema in Canada.
Screening schedule and Film Description
LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN
Saturday, November 9, 3:30 pm / TIFF Bell Lightbox, Cinema 3
Valerie Soe / 2019 / 60 min / English and Mandarin with English Subtitles / Documentary
*This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Valerie Soe, moderated by journalist, Jan Wong
One of the longest-running summer programs in the world, Love Boat spanned a number of large political shifts in the region, aspiring to connect young people to their roots through cultural programming—or some would say, propaganda.
Director Soe, who was herself a Love Boat participant in the 80s, presents the differing positionalities and experiences of program participants from the 60s to the present day, who in one way or another, find themselves part of this program and are expected to cultivate a relationship with their Taiwanese homeland and develop new understandings of their identity.
WE ARE CHAMPIONS
Sunday, November 10, 5:15 pm / TIFF Bell Lightbox, Cinema 3
Jung-chi Chang / 2019 / 115 min / Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles / Drama
*With director Jung-chi Chang in person!
Born into the bottom rungs of society, two teenage brothers with nothing but each other hope to change their fate through their love of basketball. Little brother Tung-hao joins an elite school and transforms into a dazzling James Harden-esque superstar; big brother Hsiu-yu brings his scrappy Steve Nash-game to a ragtag squad about to be disbanded, finding an unexpected camaraderie in his never-say-die teammates.
Shorts Program
SECRET LIVES OF ASIANS AT NIGHT
Saturday November 9, 2019, 1:15 pm / TIFF Bell Lightbox, Cinema 3
KEFF / 2018 / 18:00 / English, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, & Mandarin with English Subtitles / Canadian Premiere / Comedy / Thriller
What does the model minority do at night? A screwball noir in five different languages.
I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW
Tuesday November 12, 2019, 10:30 am / Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space
Wednesday November 13, 2019, 1:30 pm / Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space
Kevin Feng / 2019 / 6:10 / English Titles / Canadian Premiere / Animation / Drama
A letter written to the director’s mother, this tender and haunting animation shares the process of working through the grief of losing someone you love.
GRANDPA
Tuesday November 12, 2019, 10:30 am / Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space
Zozo Jhen, Tena Galović, Marine Varguy, Liu Yen-Chen & Ellis Kayin Chan / 2018 / 5:00 / Mandarin with English Subtitles / Canadian Premiere / Animation / Drama
A 7-year-old boy processes the death of his grandfather during a traditional Taiwanese funeral procession.
BUNNY MAN
Wednesday November 13, 2019, 10:30 am / Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space
Athena Han / 2018 / 7:51 / English and Mandarin with Chinese and English Subtitles / Drama / Comedy
Four Taiwanese friends get into a heated conversation about the differences between the categories of CBC (Chinese Born Canadian) and FOB (Fresh Off the Boat) over a meal when a mysterious bunny enters the restaurant.