30 Years of VAFF: B.C. Features and Shorts to Watch at the 2026 Festival

Since 1997, the Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF) has championed Asian Canadian storytelling, creating space for filmmakers to share authentic, complex, and deeply personal stories with audiences across Canada. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, VAFF continues its legacy as Canada’s longest-running Asian film festival and Western Canada’s largest racialized film festival, showcasing work that reflects the richness and diversity of the Asian diaspora while helping shape a more inclusive screen industry.

This year’s festival brings together feature films, documentaries, animations, and shorts from across Canada and around the world, highlighting stories of identity, family, migration, resilience, love, and belonging. Beyond the screen, VAFF remains committed to nurturing the next generation of storytellers through its year-round initiatives, including the Mighty Asian Moviemaking Marathon (MAMM), industry programming, filmmaker mentorship opportunities, and community-building events that support creators at every stage of their careers.

British Columbia has long been home to vibrant Asian Canadian communities, and local filmmakers are once again strongly represented throughout the festival lineup. From historical dramas exploring overlooked chapters of Canadian history to contemporary stories of immigration, intergenerational connection, and cultural identity, B.C.-connected films can be found across nearly every section of the festival. Together, they showcase the extraordinary breadth of talent working in the province and the power of storytelling to bridge cultures, preserve memory, and foster understanding.

Read on to discover the B.C.-connected films screening at VAFF 2026:

Feature Films

THE BRYCE LEE STORY (dir. Arnold Lim)
Blue Lake, B.C. 1999. 13 year old Bryce Lee is the only Asian kid in school from Hong Kong whose only passion in life is make Kung Fu movies. He had no friends until he lied about being the grand nephew of Bruce Lee.

SING MY SONG (dir. Barbara Lee)
SING MY SONG documents Kayee Lee’s journey to find a singer for her songs. Her quest begins with attempts to meet Kelly Clarkson to sing her songs, but she must confront her own internalized racism ingrained from the lack of Asian rock stars while growing up in the West. Kayee pursues this recurring dream and meets Asian American and Asian Canadian singer/songwriters along the way, all trying to “break” into the evolving music industry, now that the gatekeepers are losing their stranglehold on who gets to be heard and who doesn’t.

FIRST COMES LOVE: NAKABINGWIT (dir. Joella Cabalu)
From whirlwind romance to raising mixed-race children, for three Filipina–white couples, love unfolds alongside harder conversations about race, belonging and what it takes to stay.

Short Films

Program #4: West Coast Tales – Shorts

CHAPPAL (dir. Yash Ahuja)
When Max responds rudely after being asked to do the household chores, his mother unleashes the Chappal, sparking an action-packed pursuit through the house.

ROOTS (dir. Jasleen Kaur)
In 1940s Vancouver, Gurdeep, a South Asian widow, risks public hostility to secure a home for her young son in a white neighbourhood, drawing strength from the memory of her late husband, a Sikh soldier who died serving Canada, when her right to buy is challenged.

PRISONER (dir. Rame Ibrahim)
Through the eyes of 12-year-old Adam, a refugee child confronting his father Saeed’s history as a political prisoner, the film explores the intergenerational effects of trauma and displacement.

SOON (dir. Jonah Lee-McNamee)
After visiting her mother in the hospital, Soojin is tasked with recreating her late grandmother’s sundubu-jjigae, embarking on a heartfelt journey to prepare the beloved dish with no recipe and little culinary skill.

PARDESI (dir. Mannat Dhillon)
Kirpa comes to Canada from India to pursue her dream of becoming a dancer, but after facing rejection, language barriers, and financial hardship, she takes an unexpected truck-driving job while refusing to give up on her passion.

MY FAT CAME ALIVE (dir. Jaymee Mak, Kevin Ang)
After a woman is fat-shamed in front of her crush, she tears the fat off her body… but the fat comes alive and tries to reunite with her body at all costs.

NO BARRIERS (dir. Anh (Autumn) Pham)
A Deaf woman searching for connection in a world that often fails to accommodate her discovers what she has been longing for when she enrolls in her first sign language class as an adult.

Program #5: Animations Block 1

THE WINDY DAY (dir. Zong-Yi Xie, Shih-Chien Hsu)
Through childhood, friendship, and loss, four children find their lives intertwined by a single kite string as they learn what it means to let go.

ROCKETSHIP MAI (dir. Arlyn Nertomb, Nattasha Shrestha, Airin Budiman, Crystal Woo, Katie Winchester, Bec Cranswick, and Anastasia Walker)
A fearless six-year-old girl races across the galaxy with her anxious copilot Bunny to spend more time with her ailing father, discovering that while time can’t be stopped, being present is its own gift.

ECHOES OF THE TIDE (dir. Craig Madokoro)
After wartime internment uproots a Japanese Canadian shipbuilder and his family, a handmade wooden boat becomes a symbol of survival—echoing decades later as a son returns to honour his father’s legacy.

Program #6: Documentary Shorts – West Coast Tales

FRAGILE FLOW (dir. Bill Jones, Jordan River Watershed Awareness, Jillian Wilkes)
Told through the waters of diitiida/the Jordan River, this documentary traces the river’s journey from abundance to degradation and renewal, exploring the interconnected themes of life, balance, transformation, and environmental stewardship.

LIGHT THROUGH THE BLINDFOLD (dir. Alireza Kazemipour)
Maryam Salehizadeh, a nearly blind Iranian-Canadian goalball player, considers a sight-restoring surgery, stirring memories and questions about identity and what it truly means to see.

1910: THE UNCOVERING (dir. Chad Townsend)
Two unlikely friends retrace the story of the deadly 1910 Rogers Pass avalanche, uncovering new perspectives on one of the most tragic events in Canadian railway history.

Program #8: Indo-Canadian Spotlight

CROWNED ATHLETES (dir. Prabhjit Singh Sabharwal)
Through the stories of four accomplished Sikh athletes, this documentary explores the challenges and triumphs of balancing elite competition with a commitment to faith and identity.

Program #12: International + Canada Shorts

WHAT ARE YOU, CHICKEN? (dir. Kevin Cho)
Thirty, dirty, and never taken seriously, Park Doo-man seizes a reckless opportunity to reinvent himself when a dangerous gangster challenges him, only to discover that appearances can be deceiving.

Program #13: Westcoast Tales + Shorts 1

11’15 (dir. James Cho)
When a North Korean nuclear missile leaves Seoul with eleven minutes until impact, a man trapped at work, with no way out, makes a desperate attempt to reach his wife and daughter through a city spiraling into chaos, forced to decide what it truly means to be a father.

INFINITE MIRROR (dir. Amir Arab)
When the heroine of her screenplay appears at her door pleading for a different ending, struggling screenwriter Gabby finds the boundary between fiction and reality beginning to collapse.

NIKKEI HEIST (dir. Michael Hitoshi Maddeaux)
After learning that his grandfather was a victim of the Japanese Canadian Internment during WWII, Richard recruits his cousin to help him reclaim what he believes is rightfully theirs through a daring plan to rob a post office.

CROOKED WINGS (dir. Sonia Chou)
As an exhibition approaches, perfectionist art teacher Mel grapples with the realization that she is repeating her mother’s strict expectations after a clash with a student over an imperfect paper crane.

ON GORDON ALLEY (dir. Kendra Eyles)
A driven youth counsellor is pushed beyond her therapeutic comfort zone when her younger brother disappears with her car, forcing the estranged siblings to confront old wounds and shifting cultural ties over one life-changing night.

STRANDED (dir. Raina Liwen Yang)
A Chinese marine biologist travels to Newfoundland to study a repeatedly stranded humpback whale, where tensions between scientific judgment and local knowledge awaken memories of her father and the coastal hometown she left behind.

KAIPPAKKA (dir. G Amarnath Sankar)
A young immigrant in Canada navigates grief and memory through the preparation of bitter gourd, reflecting on his relationship with his mother and how loss can transform meaning.

Program #9: Westcoast Tales + Shorts 2

THE GREAT WALL (dir. Soo Min Park)
A Filipino fugitive poses as a Chinese restaurant chef for a manager eager to make his restaurant more “authentic,” only to find himself facing questions of identity, belonging, and deception when real customers arrive.

NO IDEA – THE MUSICAL (dir. Kel Kitagawa)
As she navigates the ups and downs of middle school, Katie and her two best friends uncover surprising truths about themselves, their differences, and the bonds they share.

PATANG (dir. Hasnain Czar)
A 17-year-old boy’s chance to speak at Youth Parliament sparks a conflict with his devout family, leading him to question faith, tradition, and the possibility of coexistence between belief and reason.

RED LIGHT REBEL (dir. Hannah Yang)
As he waits at a red light on a cold night, a Korean-Canadian pastor reflects on his past and comes to realize that his greatest barrier to freedom may be himself.

QUEEN MOTHER (INANG REYNA) (dir. King Louie Palomo)
An evening between a mother and son reveals long-buried truths, as they navigate the sacrifices, silence, and secrets that have defined their bond.

ANOTHER CHRISTMAS STORY (dir. Andrea Bang, Diana Bang)
Two young Korean-Canadian sisters navigate the holidays in the 90s, in an immigrant household.

Program #15: Stories That Connect

NOW IS THE TIME (dir. Christopher Auchter)
A documentary that looks back on the raising of the first new totem pole on Haida Gwaii in almost a century, an event that helped spark the resurgence of Haida art, culture, and identity.

HOLY ANGELS (dir. Jay Cardinal Villeneuve)
Through the memories of a woman taken from her family and sent to residential school, a poignant documentary examines the harms of Canada’s colonial past and the possibility of healing.

INKWO FOR WHEN THE STARVING RETURN (dir. Amanda Strong)
Set in a future where the world hangs in the balance, a young warrior’s journey to embrace their Inkwo (medicine) becomes a powerful call to protect the Earth from destructive forces of greed.

Program #18: Westcoast Tales + South East Asia Spotlight

THE CHICKEN & THE EGG (dir. Louriza Tronco, Kevin Ang)
A podcast host invites a self-help author to discuss mental health, and what starts out as innocent small talk slowly spirals into a series of cringey comments, social faux pas, and self-destructive behaviour.

Program #20: Westcoast Tales + Shorts

SUMMER FLING (dir. Krit Komkrichwarakool)
At their favourite spot, where they’ve met once a year, Milo and Helio spend the end of summer together as Milo wrestles with the limits of their connection.

SHATTERED SILENCE (dir. Amir Arab)
A pregnant woman held captive by her obsessive husband must endure his manipulation and abuse while searching for a way to escape.

TINTO (dir. Tanya Jade)
After losing her beloved, Leah turns to alcohol to numb her pain. But the bottle of wine she opens brings an unexpected twist to her grief.

LOCALLY SOURCED (dir. Zaarin Bushra)
When Ben surprises Gwen with a fresh, live human instead of their usual packaged blood, dinner spirals into a tense and bizarre discussion about unity, civility, and their place in a divided society.

REVENGE BODY (dir. Polly Pierce)
Heartbroken after her relationship ends suddenly, Pearl turns to Latin DanceFit classes in pursuit of a “revenge body” and a second chance with her ex, only to be drawn toward a new future.

SORRY SORRY SORRY (dir. ShinHea Kim)
After five years of caring alone for her husband with Parkinson’s disease, a 70-year-old woman flees their home on Christmas Eve and enters a confessional, where she reveals a shocking sin.

TETRACHROMACY (dir. Ericsson San Pablo Chu)
When a head injury turns his world black and white, photojournalist Nathan is drawn into a mystery after meeting Claire, the only person he can see in colour.

Program #21: West Coast Tales + Spotlight

500 WORDS FOR YEOREUM (dir. Marc Yungco)
Jay-R, a Filipino aspiring photographer, throws himself into learning Korean one word at a time after becoming infatuated with Yeoreum, a fellow photographer whose impending departure from Canada threatens their quietly growing connection.

KYOKO-CHAN (dir. Kohei Masumori)
When Takumi, a Japanese-Canadian high school student, learns that his crush Kyoko is moving back to Japan, he must confront his true feelings and find the courage to make one final attempt to confess his love.

LOVE LANGUAGE (dir. Jeziah Salvar)
After years without speaking Tagalog, Agapito begins learning the language for Maria, but soon realizes that reconnecting with his roots means more than impressing his first love.

 

VAFF takes place November 5-15, 2026, in theatres and virtually. Discover the full program and purchase tickets on their website.

Cover image: INKWO FOR WHEN THE STARVING RETURN (dir. Amanda Strong)