As part of Hollywood North News’ coverage of the 25th Annual Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival here is our review of short A Hundred Joys.
Synopsis
Highlighting the rich tenacity of Toronto’s East Chinatown community, this film explores the area’s people, sidewalks, and businesses, giving voice to their experiences of community, identity, anxieties, and hopes for the future.
Amanda Ann-Min Wong (she/they) is a Toronto-based film director, writer, sound artist, and musician exploring themes of loss, nostalgia, and memory, as well as finding purpose and community through the arts.
Our Thoughts
I have always been interested in larger Chinatown areas in North America. My only experience with them is through TV and that is not always a kind lens. Usually the story involves a crime that happens in or around a Chinatown area and the procedural lead goes in to a wall of silence from the community.
There has been a change for the better over the years and we do see more characters of Asian descent front and centre in film and TV. More but not enough in my view still that is getting away from the topic of this documentary.
A lot of the voices we here talk about the change that has come to the area. What lies under the surface though is anxiety. Businesses over the years and decades will change but what gets lost in that process? There is worry about what is still to come.
It is not all bad though there is still a vibrant community here. One I wish that we could have spent more time with. It left me wanting to know more and maybe looking up prices for flights to Toronto. Documentaries like this and Try Harder! make the viewer want to learn more, getting them excited about something they hadn’t thought much about previously.
Directors website HERE
Watch A Hundred Joys HERE provided by LibraryLab
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