‘They will be the next big names of tomorrow’: Reelworld Film Festival returns to Toronto and online

The 22nd Reelworld Film Festival returns with a lineup of 34 films and industry panels, with a focus on Canadian filmmakers who are Black, Indigenous, Asian, South Asian and People of Colour.

The festival, which runs from Oct. 12 – 18, returns as a hybrid festival with online and in-person screenings and industry events taking place at the Royal Theatre, the Paradise and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

This year, there will be two cash awards: $25,000 for Outstanding Feature Film and $10,000 for Outstanding Short Film. In addition to the film awards, the festival recognizes industry leaders with the Trailblazer Award, which goes to Barbara Ka Yee Lee, Joel Oulette, Jorge Camarotti, Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, Shant Joshi, and Sonya Carey; Visionary Award to Nicholas Davis, and the Award of Excellence recipient Jennifer Podemski.

The Reelworld Film Festival showcases programming that supports and amplifies under-represented Canadian voices. Reelworld founder Tonya Williams is proud of how much the festival has accomplished. She told the Star, “We are the only festival in Canada dedicated to creators and talent who are Canadian Black, Indigenous, Asian, South Asian or People of Colour. So for the past 22 years we have been able to give the proper attention and validation to the amazing talent that has hailed from these communities and launched careers.

She continued, “This year we are seeing a lot of breaking talent on the verge of success coming to our festival. These filmmakers are the ones to watch. They will be the next big names of tomorrow and you get to see them here, at the Reelworld film Festival, first.”

Given the pandemic, she is aware that the festival won’t be fully in-person and so it will be a hybrid one to reach as many moviegoers as possible. “We have expanded our hybrid festival because since COVID-19, it has become clear that we will not be going back to only in-person. This year we have screenings and industry panels online, but we also have our full program of screenings and panels in-person too. Also, this year we were able to fly in a number of filmmakers. We wanted a real celebration after the two years we have just gone through.”

Williams said the festival is committed to having the filmmakers meet other filmmakers and industry members, while building an audience that will support them for the long run. “It’s vital to build relationships in our industry. That is how content is created and how productions are manifested.”

This year’s slate includes a wide variety of films in narrative and documentary features and shorts. Opening the festival is Jason Karman’s “Golden Delicious,” a coming-of-age drama set in the digital age about a basketball-obsessed Asian-Canadian teen.

Here are some of the Toronto films being featured at the festival.

Features

Pattern (directed by Ivan Madeira)

After the death of Curtis’ partner due to post-birth complications, the grief starts to lift, and he finds himself at a crossroads of how he wants to raise their daughter.

Exegesis Lovecraft (Qais Pasha)

Pakistani-Canadian Qais embarks on a journey to trace the life of H.P. Lovecraft – from cemeteries in Rhode Island to the docks of New York and to the cobblestoned streets of Quebec City.

Bite of a Mango (Ron Dias)

After a casual hookup with Tray during lockdown, Jayne, an independent half-Nigerian half-Jamaican woman is left dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. In Jayne’s absence, Tray seeks the friendship of an old flame only to realize how he truly feels about Jayne.

Shorts

Better at Texting (Mary Galloway)

Radical, Indigenous feminist Trinity and a devout Black Mormon Addison are forced to work together on a school project. They soon discover they have more in common than either cares to admit.

Blue Honey (Valeriya Khan)

When Bon’s mother isn’t able to attend a photo shoot for her first dance performance, Bon wanders in the halls of the building when her first period suddenly starts and finds fleeting solace in her teacher’s presence.

Ahu (Mahsa Razavi)

Ahu is a studious international university student and a part-time bartender in Toronto who must get the tenants’ agreement to spray their bedbug-infested building while attempting to help her neighbour trapped in an abusive relationship.

I Live Here (Tyler Evans)

A day in the life of Black university student James, who attends a white-dominated school and is one exam away from his last class before graduation. He deals with romance, prejudice and racism and must come to terms with it all.

There are No Children Here (Shehrezada Mian)

Saima, 16, attends her cousin’s South Asian wedding with her family. However, after experiencing a traumatic event, she turns to the women in her life for guidance.

The Last Shot (Roble Issa)

A former high school basketball phenom in his 30s grapples with the fact that it might be time to give up on his hoop dreams.

Everything Will Be Alright (Farhad Pakdel)

Amid the outbreak of the pandemic in Montreal, a young drama teacher, who has been keeping a secret from her family, is called back home in the Middle East after her father falls sick.

For more information on the Reelworld Film Festival, go to reelworld.ca

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