VAFF 2021
A list of films screened at the 2021 Vancouver Asian Film Festival.
Missing:
My Name (RYN) | Anand Pavamani | 5 mins
Zahida Rahemtulla (RYN) | Gary Singh Chatha | 5 mins
Trailblazn | Brian Cheung | 30 mins | World Premiere
To Make Ends Meat | Kimberly Ho | 30 mins | World Premiere
Nude to Me | Danny Berish | 20 mins
The Nikkei Way | Arjan Gill | 27 mins | World Premiere
Toe the Line | Jay (Carolyn) Wu | 23 mins | World Premiere
Americanized
Last Cut
Cocoon Love
Apart, Together
Influencer
Skəkm̓xísaʔt
Good Deal 거래완료 | Cho Kyoung-ho | 118 mins
Lynda (RYN)
Out of Touch
I am not an Angel
Fledgling
baba
The Door, the Hall, and the Wall
Two Wheels
Not My Age
Reverse
Lion on the Mat
Crouching Comic
In Pursuit of Light
In Another Language | Masaya Tsutsumi | 50 mins | Canadian Premiere
The Goddard Kit
Fuad
First Child | Jungjae Hur | 93 mins | NA Premiere
Solo Trekker
Sneeze!
Missing:
My Name (RYN) | Anand Pavamani | 5 mins
Zahida Rahemtulla (RYN) | Gary Singh Chatha | 5 mins
Trailblazn | Brian Cheung | 30 mins | World Premiere
To Make Ends Meat | Kimberly Ho | 30 mins | World Premiere
Nude to Me | Danny Berish | 20 mins
The Nikkei Way | Arjan Gill | 27 mins | World Premiere
Toe the Line | Jay (Carolyn) Wu | 23 mins | World Premiere
Americanized
Last Cut
Cocoon Love
Apart, Together
Influencer
Skəkm̓xísaʔt
Good Deal 거래완료 | Cho Kyoung-ho | 118 mins
Lynda (RYN)
Out of Touch
I am not an Angel
Fledgling
baba
The Door, the Hall, and the Wall
Two Wheels
Not My Age
Reverse
Lion on the Mat
Crouching Comic
In Pursuit of Light
In Another Language | Masaya Tsutsumi | 50 mins | Canadian Premiere
The Goddard Kit
Fuad
First Child | Jungjae Hur | 93 mins | NA Premiere
Solo Trekker
Sneeze!
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32 titles
- DirectorAmitabh Reza ChowdhuryStarsNaresh BhuiyanSiam AhmedChampaA daring Bangladeshi teenager attempts to help her struggling family by disguising herself as a boy and driving her father's prized rickshaw for much needed extra money. Based on the acclaimed novel by Mitali Perkins.
- DirectorDebbie LumStarsAlvan CaiShealand FairchildRachael SchmidtSeniors at one the best public high schools in the country face the pressure of applying to elite colleges.
- DirectorElizabeth D. CostaStarsSuma AkhtarAyesha AkterRifa AkterBangla Surf Girls is an immersive documentary that takes us into the heart of Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, where young girls join a local surf club and dare to dream of freedom and escape from a life of drudgery and abuse.
- DirectorEvan Jackson LeongStarsSung KangPerry YungAmy TsangA Chinese immigrant get caught up in an international crime ring of human smuggling while attempting to make a better life for her family.
- DirectorPolly PierceStarsDoug AbrahamsBen DextrazeLara DeglanAfter her comedy video with the school baseball team goes viral, an overweight tomboy learns how dark team rituals can go.
- DirectorLee ShortenStarsAlex BarimaWilliam BudijantoHiro KanagawaMakoto (Mayumi Yoshida), a Japanese American single mother, struggles to reconcile with her father, Musashi (Hiro Kanagawa) a notorious Yakuza enforcer following his release from prison.
- DirectorYûjirô HarumotoStarsRyô IkedaYumi KawaiYôta KawaseWhile documenting a controversial tragedy that shook her community, a filmmaker must put her morals to the test when a perverse secret in her own life is revealed.
- DirectorVinay GiridharStarsKayden BhanguRajwant NagraJaspal SanghaFor Kayden, Jag, and Amar, awakening to and expressing their sexuality within conservative South Asian families was a lonely and terrifying experience. Denial, shame and despair haunted their youths, even threatening their lives. Yet, they've emerged. In the gripping feature documentary Emergence: Out of the Shadows, the disparate journeys of Kayden, Jag and Amar candidly converge around a shared sense of compassion and healing as they bravely convey their often heart-wrenching stories. Confronted with tradition and taboo in their Punjabi Sikh cultures, resisting silence, Jag's parents and Amar's mother choose love over rejection, offering courage and inspiration to individuals and communities struggling with acceptance. Tender, thoughtful and teary, Emergence: Out of the Shadows asserts a potent and transformative voice in support of marginalized queer youth and their families.
- DirectorC. Hudson HwangStarsRosie Ferguson
- DirectorAnne KoizumiFilmmaker Anne Koizumi explores the childhood shame she felt about her Japanese immigrant father, who worked as a janitor at her school, through stop-motion animation and archival footage. She focuses on the difficult father-daughter relationship questions ideas of shame around being othered as an immigrant in North America and how life-defining experiences can inhibit us from claiming and owning our identities.
- DirectorJordan CanningHowie ShiaA woman facing an inevitable loss escapes her loneliness - and the constant din of the hospital - through vivid childhood memories.
- DirectorTammy TsangStarsKingston ChanLeanne PoonJocelyn TamAfter scrutinizing herself in the mirror, Lauren comes face-to-face with moments from her past and future, giving her the push to step towards accepting herself.
- DirectorPo Chun ChenCynthia ZhouStarsAileen WuCynthia ZhouBeryl LiuIn 1990s Vancouver, Susanne returns to her former workplace and residence, a Chinatown hostel, to retrieve her belongings. As she waits for the elevator, she meets her estranged best friend Su Qi.
- DirectorArthur Rodger 'Harley' MarananStarsDarnelle DavidGabrielle JacintoSigrid ParejaHaving recently moved to Vancouver, the youngest son of a Filipino family tries to win the respect of his parents by proving he can become more Western than his older, queen-like sister.
- DirectorJosh AriesStarsCurtis LumDonna BenedictoLissa NeptunoA hardened, time-travelling, hitman reluctantly chooses between eliminating his high-profile target or stopping the painful (and pivotal) heartbreak of his younger self happening across the room.
- DirectorTakayuki HiraoStarsHiroya ShimizuKonomi KoharaAi KakumaA famous movie producer gives her young production assistant a chance to direct his first film.
- DirectorJun LiStarsFrancis NgLoletta LeeKwan-Ho TseJust out of jail, Fai finds a spot on a street corner where other homeless people welcome him. But he doesn't get much time to settle in. The police soon chase them away, and their possessions disappear into a garbage truck. Young social worker Ms Ho thinks it's time to fight this in court. In the meantime, Fai and his friends have other concerns.
- DirectorSim Deok-GeunStarsKim Kang-wooKim SohyeGoo Ga-EunIn a community center where a mass murder took place years earlier and it involves a paranormal investigator who discovers a door to another world.
- DirectorYung ChangStarsChuning YinXingli XuXiannian ZhengIn a time when the world needs greater cross-cultural understanding, WUHAN WUHAN is an invaluable depiction of a metropolis joining together to overcome a crisis.
- DirectorDom CutrupiStarsNick PrestonIshaval GillMichael Stephen PerryTwo successful online influencers are confronted with the appearance of a mysterious countdown on their mirrors, that threatens to reveal what's behind their apparently perfect life.
- DirectorSatoko YokohamaStarsRen KomaiDaimaô KosakaMei KurokawaA shy country girl chooses a part-time job at a "maid cafe" where she serves customers while dressed up as a maid.
- DirectorYaosheng ChangStarsGwei Lun-MeiYo YangShao-Huai ChangA wife battles to keep her husband's body intact after he dies of a leg amputation.
- DirectorDanielle AyowStarsDanielle AyowA Chinese-Caribbean-Canadian woman tries to embrace her parents' identity.
- DirectorAnna AnakaStarsArielle TuliaoJennifer SuratosCyril RedillasWhat is your biggest regret? For Maria, a well-established, professional Filipino woman, her biggest regret has to do with her relationship with her mother, Gloria. When Maria finds out Gloria has passed away, she is angry that she has been abandoned once again without explanation (just as Gloria did when Maria was a child) - an anger she has carried with her throughout her life. Gloria, on the other hand, is full of regret about all of the decisions she has made regarding Maria - a regret she has carried throughout her life. But given Gloria's situation, was she really to blame?
- DirectorJosh AriesDaniel IrvingStarsDonovan Ahmadi-GammonFrancisco Trujillo Avalos-DavidsonJames CouplandTom attends his estranged father's funeral only to find out that his father had been a spy all along, and his funeral is filled with spy villains from all shapes and sizes from his past.
- DirectorVictoria FistesMasashi Nozaki
- DirectorShiyue XuStarsJiaxi ChenZhilv ZhangWenxin Xie
- DirectorKenjo McCurtainStarsTakashi KawaguchiYuki MorikawaShouta HatoriMasa hires rental actress and aspiring dancer, Kanako, to pose as his fiancee to impress his estranged, ailing father. But as his father's death delays, Masa has to navigate the spiraling web of lies and to learn to follow his heart.
- DirectorPatricio GinelsaStarsMark MuñozApril AbsynthDanny TrejoThe LUMPIA-armed hero reappears in Fogtown and teams up with high school student Rachel to prevent a mysterious crime syndicate from destroying their town, and her parents' dream wedding.