The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is back!
After years of diminished festivities thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and then last year’s actors’ and writers’ strikes, TIFF is returning to its former glory as a must-visit event for cinephiles, star watchers and movie fans from all walks of life. Plus, the 11-day festival has a massive slate of Asian-created and led films from around the world that are worth checking out.
Here are some of the Asian movies at TIFF that we’re excited for this year.
Boong
(Directed by Lakshmipriya Devi)
This Indian coming-of-age movie follows young schoolboy Boong as he endeavours to bring back his father who left their home city Manipur for the border city of Moreh, near Myanmar, in search of better opportunities. With rumors circulating about his father’s death, Boong and his friend Raju embark on the risky adventure in a story about friendship, ethno-racial discord and belief.
Bound in Heaven
(Directed by Huo Xin)
Renowned scriptwriter Huo Xin’s debut feature film stars some of China’s biggest stars (Ni Ni, Zhou You and Liao Fan among them). Bound in Heaven follows a successful finance professional Xia You who, under her glittering facade, has an abusive partner. Her desperation to see idol Faye Wong in concert leads Xia You to meet a terminally ill man with whom she has unforgettable chemistry.
Cloud
(Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Directed by one of the great auteurs of Japanese cinema, Cloud centres on a factory worker in Tokyo who makes extra money reselling goods online. Once successful, he relocates to the countryside for an idyllic life with his girlfriend—but his idyll is shattered when mysterious attacks threaten the peace he’s created.
Dead Talents Society
(Directed by John Hsu)
Shy and newly dead teen (played by Gingle Wang) learns from an undead diva (Sandrine Pinna) how to haunt the living in this supernatural comedy from Taiwan by John Hsu.
Don’t Cry, Butterfly
(Directed by Dương Diệu Linh)
Don’t Cry, Butterfly follows wedding hall worker Tam who finds out about her husband’s infidelity and seeks the “Master” to magically bring her husband back to her. This is director Dương Diệu Linh’s debut feature film and incorporates surrealism, absurdity and humour.
Escape from the 21st Century
(Directed by Yang Li)
Writer-director Yang Li’s latest follows a group of teenagers who discovers that plunging into chemical waste gives them the power to sneeze their consciousness 20 years into the future. Seeing the future, the teens are cursed to know that the future sucks—but they have the ability to change it. It’s a high-concept, hilariously imaginative adventure that’s sure to delight.
Harbin
(Directed by Woo Min-ho)
This historical thriller stars K-drama icon Hyun Bin as a Korean independence activist and political assassin on a mission to kill the first Japanese Resident-General of Korea during the brutal Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula.
K-Pops
(Directed by Anderson .Paak)
Best known for his music career, Anderson .Paak’s first film K-Pops stars the artist alongside his real-life son in a story inspired by their family’s own connection to South Korea. .Paak plays BJ, a washed-up drummer who moves to South Korea to work on a pop idol show. There, he meets Tae Young (.Paak’s son, Soul Rasheed), a competitor who turns out to be the long-lost son he didn’t know existed.
The Mother and the Bear
(Directed by Johnny Ma)
When Sumi (Leere Park) is hospitalized after a fall, her anxious mother Sara (Kim Ho-jung) flies over from Seoul to be with her. There, Sara learns that she doesn’t know Sumi at all—and despairs over her singleness. To try to help, she starts catfishing Min (Jonathan Kim) to be her boyfriend and soon finds herself involved with Min’s estranged father Sam (Won-Jae Lee), who she connects with. And a chance encounter with one of Sumi’s co-workers leads her to learn more about the life her daughter is excluding her from.
Paying For It
(Directed by Sook-Yin Lee)
This movie is an adaptation of cartoonist Chester Brown’s autobiographical graphic novel about becoming a john after his breakup from his long-term partner Sook-Yin Lee—directed years later by said ex-partner. Paying For It is a project that explores labour, sex work and queer culture, and reunites iconic Canadian artists and musicians.
Santosh
(Directed by Sandhya Suri)
This film follows a young housewife (Shahana Goswami) in rural northern India who is widowed after her police officer husband is killed on the job. She then is trained to take his place at an overwhelmingly male police station.
The Seed of a Sacred Fig
(Directed by Mohammad Rosoulof)
This Farsi-language movie follows Iman (Misagh Zare), a state investigator, as the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement explodes following the death of Mahsa Amini. As Iman begins to understand that he must approve death-penalty judgements on activists without due process, he grows increasingly at odds with his wife (actor and activist Soheila Golestani) and daughters.
Shook
(Directed by Amar Wala)
After a decade of directing documentaries, Canadian filmmaker Amar Wala’s first narrative film Shook follows Ashish (Saamar Usamni) who is struggling to sell his novel and reeling from his parents’ divorce when he learns of his estranged father’s (Bernard White) Parkinson’s diagnosis.
Viet and Nam
(Directed by Trương Minh Quý)
This searing love story between two miners Viêt and Nam set during a healing time in the aughts was banned by Vietnam’s Cinema Department for its “gloomy, deadlocked and negative view” of the country. Deep under the earth, in the darkness Viêt and Nam are able to be their true selves and express their romantic feelings for each other — until the young men must separate.
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