AWARD-WINNING ASIAN CANADIAN SHORT FILMS TOUR FOUR CITIES THIS MAY 2010 (information taken from press release)
Winnipeg, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver
Toronto, April 26, 2010 – In celebration of Asian Heritage Month, Reel Asian’s presents its first cross-Canada tour SENSE OF WONDER, a dynamic selection of thought-provoking Asian Canadian shorts from across the country. This program will be seen in four different cities this May including Winnipeg, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver, thanks to four presenting partners: Winnipeg Film Group, Accès Asie, Ottawa Asian Heritage Month, and Explorasian.
Winnipeg • Thu May 13 • 7:00PM at the Winnipeg Film Group’s Cinematheque
Montreal • Sun May 16 • 1:00PM at NFB ONF
Ottawa • Tue May 18 • 7:30PM at the Library & Archives Auditorium
Vancouver • Tue May 25 • 7:00PM at the Pacific Cinematheque
SENSE OF WONDER includes three of the 2009 festival’s award-winning shorts, including:
REX VS. SINGH (Canada 2009) by Richard Fung, John Greyson and Ali Kazimi
This four-part drama, documentary, musical and conceptual video provides an insightful perspective on the history of homophobia and racism towards Sikhs in Vancouver, Canada. The video won the NFB Best Canadian Film Or Video Award at Reel Asian in 2009 “for the artful mining of archival material, for great cast and production, and for the inspired multi-POV structure that looks at how history is interpreted and then re-interpreted.”
Ali Kazimi was born and raised in India and is an internationally acclaimed documentary filmmaker. He currently teaches film and video at York University in Toronto. His documentary Continuous Journey is a provocative and multilayered film essay that interweaves photographs, newsreels, home movies and official documents.
John Greyson is a prolific video artist, filmmaker and writer whose work has been screened in numerous international festivals and venues. Greyson currently teaches film and video at York University and recently completed his new feature, Fig Trees.
Richard Fung is a Trinidad-born, Toronto-based video artist and cultural critic whose work deals with the confluence of race and queer sexuality and with issues of post-colonialism, diaspora and family. Winner of the Bell Canada Award for Outstanding Achievement in Video Art, Fung currently teaches at the Ontario College of Art & Design.
Richard Fung will be in attendance in Montreal and Ottawa for a Q&A following the screenings.
FOUND (Canada 2009) by Paramita Nath is about Toronto poet Souvankham Thammavongsa, who was born in a Lao refugee camp in Thailand. Nath beautifully brings together Thammavongsa’s words and her father’s abandoned scrapbook into a moving visual poem. Found was awarded the TSV Visionary Video Award at Reel Asian 2009 for being “a memoir film done exceptionally well and for its haunting poetry.”
Paramita Nath was born in India and moved to Canada 12 years ago to pursue studies in music. She received a BA in music from Memorial University of Newfoundland and an MA in interdisciplinary fine arts from York University in Toronto.
Paramita Nath will be in attendance in Montreal and Ottawa for a Q&A following the screenings.
FISH IN BARREL (Canada 2009) by Randall Okita. In a stunning cinematic exploration of a young man’s internal struggle, director Okita questions what lies below the surface. Fish In Barrel won the Centennial College @ Wallace Studios Most Innovative Film Production Award, where it was described as “brilliantly shot, with a potent and evocative integration of music and sound with image.”
Randall Okita was born in Calgary, lived in Vancouver for a number of years and is currently a director-in-residence at the CFC in Toronto. Fish In Barrel screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and has screened internationally. The Vancouver screening will be the Vancouver premiere of FISH IN BARREL.
Randall Okita will be in attendance in Winnipeg, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver for a Q&A following the screenings.
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Filmmakers attending screenings in these cities include Richard Fung, Leslie Supnet, Victoria Cheong, Lydia Fu (who also illustrated our 15.2 RepresentASIANS cover), Paramita Nath, Randall Okita, and Yung Chang.