by Aaron Licht

In this month’s editorial, I’ll share my first experience working at a Toronto international film festival, other than the Toronto International Film Festival.

Toronto is home to over thirty annual film festivals, many of international importance, specializing in experimental new media (Images in April), documentary (Hot Docs in late April), children’s programming (Sprockets in early May) and short film (Worldwide Short Film in June).

In previous years, Toronto’s Reel Asian International Film Festival has been voted our city’s best small film festival by Now magazine, Toronto’s cultural weekly. This year it ran from November 24th to 28th, incorporating 54 films and videos, 24 of which were Canadian. The rest were from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the US. The festival is part of a network of Asian film festivals across North America, with New York being the largest, consisting of well over 100 screenings.

Reel Asian is a very small not-for-profit, community based festival, run by a staff of three: director, manager and programmer, along with the help of many volunteers. Because of the small nature of the event, eager volunteers can get involved with the entire process of a successful festival screening.

I volunteered each day of the festival and got to know a diverse mix of fellow volunteers. From a recent immigrant from Moscow who practices her English by sharing her enthusiasm for Japanese culture, to a Japanese woman here on a year long work visa quickly developing a passion for film, to a Toronto festival regular who has volunteered at 24 festivals this year alone. I feel silly mentioning this, it’s an Asian festival but hey, I’m not Asian! Sure, Reel Asian will never programme a video I make, but well over 30% of the audience & volunteers are of a non-Asian background. These differences shouldn’t be a problem when it comes enjoying cultural goodness.

Getting to know many wonderful cinema lovers and keeping in touch with those on the festival scene is my highlight of the experience. But I did manage to catch some of those so-called “movies”:

Secondary School (Tammy Cheung, Hong Kong, 2002)

Ran as a part of the spotlight on Tammy Cheung. A controversial documentary about Hong Kong’s highly competitive education system. Apparently, this film was one of only a few documentaries to be screened in Hong Kong theatres and it sparked a heated debate. Cheung uses a ‘fly on the wall’ camera and allows us to view the schoolchildren in competition as they become molded into performance-obsessed citizens. Fascinating and painfully honest.

Welcome to Destination Shanghai (Andrew Cheng, China, 2003)

An experiential, freewheeling meditation on loneliness in the urban ‘jungle’ of China. But this ain’t no In the Mood for Love. Many scenes fall flat. But it was shot beautifully, is sexy, and demonstrates the new 'guerrilla' DV filmmaking possible in China.

Chinese Restaurants: On the Islands (Cheuk Kwan, Canada, 2004)

Easily the most well-attended screening at the festival. The Innis venue has a capacity of 200, and we had to add 40 chairs along the front. The film was a collection of three shorts (of a total of 39!) exploring family-run Chinese restaurants on three different islands: Mauritius, Trinidad & Tobago and Cuba. But it was about more than just excellent food. The Cuban segment was particularly interesting, seeing how after the revolution, the mere 300 Chinese who stayed were assimilated. The specialty of the Chinese Cuban restaurant was pizza. Kwan, along with his cinematographer, participated in an hour long discussion after the screening. Together they have documented Chinese Diaspora through restaurants in over 39 countries.

A Tale of Two Sisters (Kim Ji-Woon, South Korea, 2004)

South Korea’s contribution to the current wave of Asian horror. One of the most blissfully creepy films I’ve seen in years. Sisters will see a run in Toronto’s rep theatres sometime this winter. See it before the inevitable American remake.

Getting involved with Reel Asian 2004 was a rich experience. Next up? Probably the World of Comedy International Film Festival in February.

P.S. Conclusion of last month’s editorial: human flesh.



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