Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival 2008

A Mongolian woman and an abstract painter are magically connected by visions of a little girl. They do not know each other, but are deeply connected by their common hopes, desires, and doubts. Set in Seoul’s Hong Dae Street and Jo-Gye Temple, Hers at Last beautifully portrays the daily lives of two women. Helen Lee was born in Seoul, Korea, and grew up in Toronto. Her short films, all of which have premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, include Prey, Subrosa (Reel Asian 2000) and Star (RA Opening Night 2003), as well as the feature The Art of Woo . Hers at Last is part of an omnibus film called "Ten Ten" that was commissioned by the Seoul International Women's Film Festival in celebration of its 10th anniversary.

In a small, quiet room in the Philippines, an old man waxes his floor to a disturbing shine. Ripe with bold texture and colour, Husk is a haunting look beneath the domestic veneer. Ivy Universe Baldoza is an independent filmmaker from Manila. She received training from the Mowelfund Film Institute. She was a participant in the 2008 Berlinale Talent Campus and was selected for the Berlinale Talent Campus’s Script Station.

(S.Nicks - originally performed by Fleetwood Mac) Performed by Sarah Jarvis In "Landside", Fleming's animated avatar, Stickgirl, takes stock of her life. "I was introduced to this song while washing my hands in a public restroom. And it's the only place I hear it. A lot of restaurants choose to play it. It always makes me cry, no matter how good the meal. It's not just a girl song, or a love song, or a breakup song, but it's all those things, too. It's the perfect pop song. Simple and heartfelt.” —AMF Ann Marie Fleming is an award-winning independent filmmaker, writer, and artist who is known for her explorations of her multi-culti family and the nature of relationships in various forms and formats. Sarah Jarvis was born and raised in Vancouver. Daughter of mezzo-soprano Delia Wallis and violinist Gerald Jarvis, Jarvis inherited her parent’s passion for music and studied classical voice for many years. These days, Jarvis can be found running special events for the Canadian Opera Company and occasionally at the Gladstone, enjoying a little taste of the spotlight.

Documentary filmmaker Chung-yee YU focuses on the subtle moments found in the daily lives of children of lepers living in a leprosy colony. Watching them chase animals and go swimming, life on the colony seems quaint. However, behind all the fun and games, there continues to be discrimination and social stigma against them: As their families struggle to survive with dignity, they are outcasts secluded from contemporary society. Chung-yee Yu graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and communication in 2001. Yu works in print and broadcast media as a journalist and was awarded the jointly funded Chevening Scholarship from Royal Holloway, University of London and the British Foreign Commonwealth Office to take a postgraduate course in documentary filmmaking.

LONG STORY SHORT Awards: Winner of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Audience Award and Jury’s Honorable Mention for Best Documentary Long Story Short is the latest film from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Christine Choy ( Who Killed Vincent Chin? ) and features the struggle of one Asian American family’s multi-generational attempt to break into mainstream show business. Narrated by long-time character actor Jodi Long (the mother on the ill-fated Margaret Cho sitcom All American Girl as well as numerous guest roles in television and film), Long Story Short delves into the past successes and failures of Jodi’s parents in order to understand her own experiences in the entertainment business. Through the 1940s and 1950s Jodi’s parents, Larry and Trudie Long, performed the Chinatown and nightclub circuit as “The Leungs” (which they felt sounded “more Chinese”), a song, dance, and comic act that at times both evoked and broke stereotypes of Asians. Their rise would result in an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show , a performance that Larry and Trudie Long always remembered bombing despite never having seen the episode. Another big break comes when Larry is considered for a leading role in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song , the first all-Asian American musical on Broadway. On talent alone Larry seemed the perfect fit, but at the time, fighting for the only mainstream opportunity for Asian-American performers would not only be about talent. Ultimately, Larry does not perform on Broadway, contributing to his disenchantment with show business and the eventual dissolution of the Long family. Born into entertainment Jodi Long takes on the family business as an actor and traces her own trajectory on stage, television, and film. When David Henry Hwang’s updated Broadway revival of Flower Drum Song is being cast, Jodi has the opportunity to fulfill her father’s Broadway aspirations more than 40 years later. In the process Jodi sees a chance to reconcile her parents’ disappointment and resentment towards each other and the business. Through personal anecdotes, performances, archival photos, and a rediscovered Ed Sullivan Show , Long Story Short presents the challenges of an American showbiz family that resonate with our own multi-generational experiences of setbacks and big breaks. - Aram Siu Wai Collier Christine Choy (AKA Chai Ming Huie) was born in Shanghai, China. Choy was a professor and the Chair of New York University’s Graduate Film/TV Program and is presently helping set up New York University in Shanghai. Choy has received over sixty international awards, including a 1989 Oscar nomination for Best Documentary for Who Killed Vincent Chin? Her works have been broadcast on HBO, PBS, Sundance Channel, and many other stations. Her works have also been featured in festivals around the world including Berlin, Cannes, and Pusan. COMMUNITY PARTNERS: Fu-Gen, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

(J.Bass/M.Mathers/L.Resto - originally performed by Eminem) Performed by Mandy Cheetham Kobayashi’s video is a mix of literal representations of the Eminem lyrics along with more interpretive visual illustrations that allow the karaoke singer to read the song through images as an alternative to text. Cheetham chose to perform Lose Yourself because it speaks to everyone who has ever felt their fear and made the choice to face it with determination and spirit. Alison S. M. Kobayashi is a visual artist working in video, performance, and print. She is currently studying at the University of Toronto at Mississauga, and Sheridan College in the art and art history program. In 2006, Kobayashi won the TSV Artistic Vision Award at Reel Asian for her video From Alex To Alex. Mandy 'May' Cheetham has been a regular on the karaoke scene for three years, frequenting the Gladstone, Kick Ass Karaoke at the Rivoli, and Hip Hop Karaoke in Toronto and London. Cheetham is well known for her dynamic performances and was featured on Much Music's The New Music for Hip Hop Karaoke's one-year-anniversary celebration.

In a live-action film featuring the work of Arthur Ganson, Okita uses innovative camera choreography, photo sculpture, and kinetic sculpture to tell the tale of a mechanical wishbone that has come to life. Through bewitching landscapes and impossible interactions, machines and objects become characters in a spellbinding experience like nothing you have ever seen before. Randall Okita was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, and is currently based in Vancouver. The grandson of West Coast Japanese Canadians and East Coast Irish Canadians, Okita celebrates a diversity of personal influences. Machine with a Wishbone was made with the support of Bravo!FACT, the British Columbia Arts Council, and the National Film Board of Canada.

MONDAY Waking to the Monday morning weather report, salaryman Koichi Takagi finds himself in an empty hotel room. He cannot remember where he has been or how he got here and he is suffering from an intense hangover. Reaching into his pocket, he begins to remove items that trigger his memory, slowly unravelling the events of the past few nights: an explosion at a bizarre funeral, a hysterically dull conversation with his girlfriend, accidentally falling in with the Yakuza…. The more he recalls, the more sinister his circumstances prove to be. Bouncing back and forth across moments in time in order to make sense of the present, director Sabu playfully confuses reality, emphasizing the instability and re-writability of history. Shinichi Tsutsumi’s turn as the hapless salaryman should also be applauded, both for his nuanced, endearing performance of a man scrambling to reorder his life and for his jaw-dropping dance moves in a sequence that should be recognized among the great cinematic dances of all time. Monday , winner of the Don Quixote Award and FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival (2000), is crafted with knife-sharp wit, astute social satire and a hypnotic cinematography that diffuses the film with an air of surrealism. Such qualities can be found in Sabu’s previous efforts, but in Monday they have been honed to perfection. - Eric Cazdyn and Peter Kuplowsky Sabu was born in 1964 as Hiroyuki Tanaka, He began his film career as an actor. His performance in Katsuhiro Otomo’s World Apartment Horror (1991) won him an award at the Yokohama Film Festival 1991, and he went on to appear in several other films, working under Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Hideo Nakata and Takeshi Miike. In 1996, he debuted as both a writer and director with D.A.N.G.A.N. Runner . Celebrated for his inventive style and humorous storytelling, Sabu quickly became a highly regarded director in both Japan and overseas, particularly in Europe. SPONSOR: University of Toronto Munk Centre of International Studies at Trinity College, Asian Institute COMMUNITY PARTNERS: Gendai Gallery, Canada Japan Society of Toronto