Curated by director Laurence Ly, the Festival is launching its first short film competition!
For its first competition of Asiate en court, Festival Accès Asie awards up to $2,000 in prizes to the winning film thanks to Main Film, L’INIS and Cinéma Moderne.
In the early 20th century, Chinatowns began to appear in North American cities. Often bordered by affluent neighbourhoods, they are threatened by developers keen to exploit the land for its real estate value. Big Fight in Little Chinatown exposes attempted evictions and highlights the fighting spirit of communities defending their heritage. In today’s context, where anti-Chinese racism has been exacerbated by the pandemic, this intelligent film, brimming with emotion and levity, sets the record straight. (RIDM)
Country: Canada | Language: Mandarin, French, English | Subtitles: French
We are therefore very happy to introduce you to Nayla Naoufal, who will have the heavy task of succeeding Khosro Berahmandi as artistic director of Festival Accès Asie. Nayla has already taken office this week and is operating a slow handover with Khosro ahead of his official departure in February.
Welcome home Nayla!
Born in Beirut, Nayla has worked as a journalist, art critic, cultural worker, administrator, researcher and teacher. She is particularly interested in justice, antiracism and decolonization in the arts sector. Nayla holds a PhD in environmental science (UQAM, 2012) and has collaborated with Indigenous and racialized artists in Canada, Lebanon, Norway, and other parts of the world, and artists and collectives working with environmental concepts-practices. Among others, Nayla was a program officer at the Canada Council for the Arts and, before that, in charge of artist support programs at the MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels). She has published articles in diverse newspapers and magazines such as esse, Mouvement, Le Devoir, revue de théâtre Jeu, Black Box Teater publication (in Norway), Theater der Zeit (in Germany), and more.) She has collaborated with a diversity of organisations in the arts (FTA, Onishka productions, International theater festival in Oslo, Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault, Gallery Leonard Bina Ellen, Espace Go, etc.)