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Taiwanese Film ‘DEAR EX’ Set to Open Reel Asian

  • Date:2018-11-02

The multi-award-winning melodrama DEAR EX, co-directed by acclaimed TV script writer Mag Hsu and emerging director Hsu Chih-yen, will kick off the 22th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, which runs from Nov 8 to Nov 16, 2018. It will be the first time Reel Asian opens the festival with a Taiwanese feature film. Co-director Mag Hsu and the lead actor Roy Chiu will be coming to Toronto for the opening night red carpet and the Canadian Premiere of this film. 


As one of the finest films from Taiwan this year, DEAR EX follows three people who are linked by fate because of love and family. Young teen Song Chengxi loses his father to cancer, but instead of having time to mourn, he finds himself caught in a feud between his widowed mother and his father’s gay lover Jay (Roy Chiu). This film not only won four major awards at the Taipei Film Festival but was recently nominated for eight Golden Horse Awards, which honors the best in Chinese-language cinema. 


This year’s Taiwanese feature presentations also include Chuang Ching-sen’s gripping thriller HIGH FLASH, featuring the mysterious death of a fisherman Ah-Hai, who is found dead of self-immolation during a protest, puzzles the truth-seeking public prosecutor; Chiang Chung-chieh’s short SHIBA SAN AND MEOW CHAN, chronicles an journey leading the older Shiba san and the young Meow Chan to confront their emptiness inside as they both have something on their minds.


The Taiwanese feature presentations are presented in collaboration with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Toronto, with 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), presented by National Bank, 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

Dear Ex

Thursday, November 8, 7:30 pm

Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles St W, Toronto, ON M5S 2C7)

Dir. Mag Hsu, Hsu Chih-yen / 2018 / 100 min / Mandarin with English Subtitles

*With co-director Mag Hsu and lead actor Roy Chiu in person!

 

High Flash

Monday, November 12, 8:15 pm

Tiff Bell Lightbox, Cinema 4 (350 King St W, Toronto, ON M5V 3X5)

Dir. Chuang Ching-sen / 2018 / 109 min / Mandarin with English subtitles

 

Shiba San and Meow Chan

Tuesday, November 13, 10:30 am   

Bachir / Yerex Presentation Space (401 Richmond St W, Toronto, ON M5V 3A8)

Dir. Chiang Chung-chieh / 2018 / 30 min / Taiwanese with English Subtitles