Backstory
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
Recent Episodes
RA26 Film BIG FIGHT IN LITTLE CHINATOWN director Karen Cho sits down with RA programmer Vidhya Elango and Friends of Chinatown TO member Alex Hong to discuss the film's sprawling but intimate look at Chinatowns across North America. Karen, Alex, and Vidhya expand on joy and struggle and how these Chinatowns hold a special place in our cities and communities.
In the second half, Karen, Alex, and Vidhya collaborate to scarf down some cheung fun/rice rolls in our "Come Eat With Me" segment.
For more information about Friends of Chinatown Toronto and the Toronto Chinatown Land Trust go to https://www.instagram.com/friendsofchinatownto/ and https://bit.ly/TCLTLaunch
This episode uses or mentions the following multimedia samples and sources:
- “Mulholland”, King Canyon
- "Keep On Movin'", King Canyon
Edited by Aram Collier
Recorded and live mixed by Joseph Chung
Backstory returns after a post-festival hiatus to usher in the launch of the fourth edition of TACLA’s Youth Critics Initiative (YCI), an annual incubator that guides emerging writers over the course of six months to produce critical works in a variety of formats in conversation with Reel Asian’s festival programming. Recorded in October during preparation for the 26th edition of the festival and fourth edition of YCI, co-editor Jasmine Gui joins Kelly and Aram to chew on all things critical and reflect on the program’s evolution over the years.
On the menu: hamster facts, authorizing oneself and the process of scrutiny, what to do with absence and erasure, the origins of haterism, and why you should be on Team Rice.
Links:
“Critique as Care” by Mayanthi Fernando, discussed at 9:50: https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-times/article/2/1/13/139235/Critique-as-Care
YCI IV Editors’ Letter by Jasmine Gui and Grayson Lee: https://medium.com/taclanese/yci-iv-letter-from-the-editors-6dc06ff5e15a
Find all the YCI pieces in Taclanese: https://medium.com/taclanese
For more on TACLA: https://tacla.ca/
For more on Reel Asian’s special projects: https://rarara.ca
Anthologies mentioned: “(re)Rites of Passages: Asian Canada in Motion”— https://www.reelasian.com/store/rites-of-passage-asian-canada-in-motion-anthology/ and “Reel Asian: Asian Canada on Screen”—https://www.reelasian.com/store/reel-asian-asian-canada-on-screen/
For more on Reel Asian’s special projects: https://rarara.ca
This episode uses the following samples and sources:
“Lost the way”, Horthy Kristóf
“Say Good Night”, Joakim Karud
“Morpho Diana”, Rachel Collier