As you know, the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival begins next Wednesday, Nov 11th. I wanted to know from an insider’s perspective what this year festival will highlight. So I had a short conversation with the Festival’s International Programmer Raymond Phathananvirangoon (pictured left). Here’s what we talked about…
Hye: I know you’re also an International Programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). How do program films for Reel Asian vs TIFF?
Raymond: Well, TIFF is very prestigious and only some films get accepted. As well, I only program films from South East Asia, so that makes it kind of limited. Some of the films that make it to Reel Asian are films that might have missed the deadline for TIFF, some do not make it into TIFF, and of course, some that may never otherwise be seen in Toronto regardless.
Hye: What films are you excited about at this year’s festival?
Raymond: Agrarian Utopia is definitely interesting. [Neither of us want to give away much about the film but click on the title for a short synopsis].This is not an actual documentary but it may look like one. The “actors” in the film are actual Thai farmers and the director (Uruphong Raksasad) also comes from that upbringing as well as from North Thailand. [Raksasad] began as an editor; working on very commercial films. He quit his job to make films about his homeland… Agrarian Utopia’s political aspects are quite universal. In Thailand the government controls the price of crops; this issue very much relates to globalization. Agriculture is also still plays a big part in Canada; it’s mechanized but it’s very much tied to Global trade relations. I think this film is kind of revolutionary in terms of the way it exposes such issues.
Another film I really liked is Yang Yang, which is about an ordinarily Taiwanese girl, who happens to be half French. She’s struggling with wanting everyone to see her as just Taiwanese. The film is a coming of age story but also about this girl trying to find her roots and identity. This is different from North American society. In this case, it’s kind of the reverse. I also liked this film because the lead actress, Sandrine Pinna, has a great relationship with the director, Cheng Yu-Chieh. They had worked together on a previous film. Cheng is able to get Sandrine to give a very naturalistic performance; she has a lot of charisma.
I can also suggest the film Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly, if you’re feeling adventurous. It’s a crazy film from Indonesia. The whole films is a metaphor… Chinese people eat pork and the Chinese people living in Indonesia want to emigrate from there… So they’re the ones who want to fly. [Don’t want to give too much away about this film.]
One of my favourite films for the year is Breathless, our Closing Night Gala. This is the work of a first-time director, who also plays the lead character. It’s uncompromising… It presents an unpleasant man, for whom we’re not feel any sympathy, yet we do. The film involves violence within culture, domestic abuse. But the female character is also very fiery and actually stands up for herself. There is spark and chemistry; it’s a very mature film.
Well, here are just a few snippets of films for you to see at Reel Asian. For schedule and ticket info, visit their website. The festival runs from November 11-15.
A big shout out to Raymond Phathananvirangoon for taking the time to chat with me and to Nancy from VKPR.
Photo credit: Reel Asian and VKPR.
