21st Sommets du Cinéma D’Animation – International Film Festival of Montréal – Asian Presence 2023

By Asian Film Festival on May 7, 2023 • ( Leave a comment )

We take a look at the Asian films that will be screened at the Sommets du Cinéma D’Animation – International Film Festival of Montréal which will take place from May 9 – 14, 2023 in Montréal, Canada.

*Note: The list includes films made by filmmakers with Asian ancestry or films that were produced in Asia.

– Feature Films –

**No 7 Cherry Lane** by Yonfan – Hong Kong | 2019 – 125 minutes

During the rise of the materialistic comfort of life in the 1960s, there emerges an undercurrent of danger in Hong Kong. No.7 Cherry Lane tells the tale of Ziming, a Hong Kong University undergraduate, entangled between his amorous feelings for a self-exiled mother Mrs Yu from Taiwan in the White Terror period, and her beautiful daughter Meiling. He takes them to different movies and through a series of magical moments on the big screen, forbidden passions are revealed. And the era coincides with Hong Kong’s turbulent times of 1967.

Trailer:

– Short Films –

**Anxious Body** by Yoriko MIZUSHIRI – France, Japan | 2021 – 6 minutes

Hand-drawn animation uses geometrical shapes and lines in order to present a film that explores the concept of touch, with scenes such as the clicking of a pen and a finger touching tape, morphing from one form to the next in such a way that it’s impossible to tear your eyes away.

Trailer:

**Boat People** by Kjell Boersma, Thao Lam – 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.

**Mileage** by Jennifer Wu, Kym Santiana, Ruyee Lu, Nicole Taylor-Topacio, Joy Zhou, Ruby Saysanasy, Miranda Li, Saul Benavides, Christopher Hsueh – Canada | 2022 – 8 minutes*

A story of a taxi that transfers the youth of the passenger to the driver.

Trailer:

**Mort** by Weiwei Wu – Canada | 2022 – 5 minutes

A moss covered lint creature escapes from the familiar space of a dingy abandoned laundry room into the foreign outside, looking for a safe home.

Trailer:

**Persona** by Sujin Moon – Korea | 2022 – 7 minutes

What happens when you take on a different persona to fit into certain standards set by society? This short explores the story of a young woman who creates an alternate public-facing version for herself… But in the process, she ends up overwhelmed by this false persona and starts to lose who she truly is.

Trailer: