These are twenty short films you shouldn’t miss at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival which will take place from November 2 – 12, 2023 in Vancouver, Canada.

A Roadside Banquet by Peiqi Peng – USA | 2023 – 16 minutes
One day in mid-2010s China after the abolishment of the One Child Policy, 11-year-old Mai attends her baby brother’s very first birthday party and learns a crushing truth: her parents never really wanted a girl. What”s worse — soon after learning the news, Mai starts turning into a feather duster. (VAFF 2023)

Trailer:

Asking for Anne by Ayana Madi – Canada | 2023 – 9 minutes
Jo is a lonely soul not by choice, but by chance. She is struggling to accept her life and the problems that it brings. Through her inner monologue, Jo tries to cope and eventually overcome the longing feeling of living a different life. (VAFF 2023)

Boarding Institute by Park Yongjae – Korea | 2022 – 29 minutes
Minyeong is teaching at an illegal boarding institute when one of her students passes out. Minyeong begins to suspect that the student passed out not because of fatigue but because she has been using drugs, and finds herself conflicted. (VAFF 2023)

Boat People by Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma – Canada | 2023 – 10 minutes
As a child in Vietnam, Thao’s mother often rescued ants from bowls of sugar water. Years later they would return the favour. Boat People is an animated documentary that uses a striking metaphor to trace one family’s flight across the turbulent waters of history. (VAFF 2023)

Trailer:

Elephant In the Dark by Kim Nam-seok – Korea | 2022 – 21 minutes
Someone broke the camera during a film shoot. Woohyeon, who is visually impaired, sets out with her hearing-impaired friend Ha-yan to find the culprit. This short film was produced in the ”Barrier-Free” format to help disabled viewers access visual content and raise awareness of their human rights. (VAFF 2023)

English Tutor by Jaho Koo – Korea | 2023 – 10 minutes
A Korean university student takes on an unusual tutoring job and encounters a young child who refuses to write in English. As the tutor attempts to get to the root of the child’s reluctance, she uncovers a shocking revelation about the child and her mother. (VAFF 2023)

Trailer:

Happy Ending by Elodie Yung – USA | 2023 – 17 minutes
Like thousands of Asian women seeking a better life for their family, Chenda leaves Cambodia to work in a massage parlor in America. Isolated and without resources, she learns the hard way that her paycheck implies more than a simple massage. (VAFF 2023)

I Hurt Myself by Quan Luong – Canada | 2023 – 4 minutes
Young photographer Carmen Acuna tells the story behind her scars and how she got over her addiction to self harm through her art. (VAFF 2023)

Maria by Arthur Rodger “Harley” Maranan – Canada | 2022 – 22 minutes
An overseas Filipino worker struggles to provide for her son by catering to the whims of an abusive immigrant family. (VAFF 2023)

Maya by Samyuktha Movva – Canada | 2022 – 7 minutes
A South Asian woman in her 60s prepares to celebrate her wedding anniversary, where she confronts her long-held identity as a “wife”. A phone call between mother and daughter unravels the present, revealing her entrapment in an illusion more inviting than the truth of her reality. (VAFF 2023)

For more information, please visit: https://2023festival.vaff.org/