The Southeast Asian programme this year has been warmly received, and this is partly due to the enthusiastic response from the local communities here in Toronto for films such as the Philippines' IF I KNEW WHAT YOU SAID and Vietnam's ADRIFT. The local media has also been graciously covering the films. Thank you everyone for coming out and helping to make the screenings a success so far!

Some new articles on the crowdpleasing IF I KNEW WHAT YOU SAID, which has its final TIFF screening tomorrow at 11AM (tickets are still available!). The director and lead actors will be attending:

1. Stars drop in to school for special screening

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/tiff/article/697497

2. Toronto hit

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/entertainment/entertainment/view/20090917-225680/Oprah-on-Charices-success-Whitneys-return

Articles on ADRIFT (Choi Voi), which is screening tomorrow at 10:15AM (tickets are still available!)

1. Indochina movie star: I’m so proud of beautiful Choi Voi

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2009/09/869314/

2. Choi Voi moves from Venice to Toronto

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2009/09/869111/

A special thanks to Mr. Ruben Nepales and Mr. Viet Tien Nguyen for their wonderful coverage and support of the Filipino and Vietnamese titles.

Two-time TIFF Best Canadian Short Film winner Chris Chong Chan Fui returned to his native Malaysia and directed his first feature KARAOKE, which went straight to Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. He returns to Toronto with the North American premiere screening of the film – a homecoming, if you will. And his return is greeted by a great 4-star review of his film in EYE Weekly! http://www.eyeweekly.com/article/70367

Catch the trailer of this poetic, intelligent directorial debut here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeDlkR5wKd0

If there is one bright spot to come out of the senseless deaths of Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc, it would be the outpouring of love and sympathy for them from all around the world.  News have been steadily trickling in from Canadian media after it was revealed that Alexis is actually Canadian - his family lives in Vancouver. Here is an article from CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2009/09/04/tiff-dedicates-film.html. Trade magazines such as Screen International, Hollywood Reporter and Variety also covered the story extensively. In Manila, his students at the University of Asia and the Pacific where he was teaching have flooded the blogs and his Facebook with messages. Filmmakers have also made their tributes. Acclaimed Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul made a touching video dedication here: www.kickthemachine.com. Respected American critics such as Jonathan Rosenbaum also chimed in with their thoughts (here is Rosenbaum's: http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?p=16665). It is a small world indeed, but it is a world that was touched by Alexis' and Nika's friendship, kindness and passion for cinema.

Some have said that film criticism is a dying profession, but just looking at the impact these two people have had on hundreds (most likely thousands) of people shows that this is far from the truth. Even people who have never met either Alexis or Nika have been touched by their story. Movie City News' Kim Voynar wrote a personal piece about her own reflections on love, life and cinema (as seen here: http://www.moviecitynews.com/columnists/voynar/2009/090902.html) as a response to Alexis' wonderful article in Rogue Magazine. Another critic, Keith Uhlich, admitted that he did know know the couple, yet he still felt compelled to write about them: http://www.thehousenextdooronline.com/2009/09/alexis-tioseco-19812009-and-nika-bohinc.html. And in the Philippines, readers have expressed their sadness and anger at their loss, even though these people were not even into cinema at all. All of this is proof-positive of the good that the two have done in their careers. And I hope that their legacy will continue to inspire people for years to come.

Thank you to Jason Sanders (hhtp://www.filmmakermagazine.com/blog/2009/09/time-to-love-alexis-tioseco-nika-bohinc.php) and Gabe Klinger (http://www.theauteurs.com/notebook/posts/966) for your incredibly touching remembrances. And a very special thank you to Khavn de la Cruz and Arleen Cuevas. My thoughts are with you today at the funeral mass.

Please visit Criticine (www.criticine.com) Alexis Tioseco's website, where he put much of his writings and thoughts on cinema.

The Vietnamese film "Adrift" is also showing at the Venice Film Festival. Here's an article from Agence-France Press on it.

By Aude Genet (AFP) – 15 hours ago

HANOI — A Vietnamese story of tangled love, which explores changing social values in the traditional communist nation, will be screened at the Venice Film Festival in a rare mark of recognition for the country's film industry.

"Choi Voi" ("Adrift") sketches a modern Vietnam where ancestral Confucian values, centred around the family, are increasingly replaced by individualism. More...

Hola everyone! This is my first-ever blog post anywhere, so please do bear with me. I'm the Southeast Asia programmer here at TIFF, and this year I'm incredibly excited about the lineup from my region, which I believe is the strongest in years. Representing five different territories, they consist of whited-knuckled crime thrillers (Soi Cheang's breathtaking ACCIDENT), sensuous tales of love and infidelity (Bui Thac Chuyen's ADRIFT and Pen-ek Ratanaruang's NYMPH), energetic, heart-tugging teen romance (Mike Sandejas' IF I KNEW WHAT YOU SAID), raucously entertaining omnibus (SAWASDEE BANGKOK), coming-of-age crime noir (Ho Yuhang's AT THE END OF DAYBREAK) and beautiful formalist films (Raya Martin's INDEPENDENCIA and Chris Chong's KARAOKE).

Here are the talents who are slated to attend this year:

ACCIDENT (Hong Kong) - Soi Cheang (director)

ADRIFT (Vietnam) - Bui Thac Chuyen (director), Do Thi Hai Yen (actress from THE QUIET AMERICAN), Pham Linh Dan (actress from MR. NOBODY, THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED, INDOCHINE), Dang Tat Binh (producer)

AT THE END OF DAYBREAK (Malaysia) - Ho Yuhang (director), Lorna Tee (producer) 

NYMPH (Thailand) - Pen-ek Ratanaruang (director)

IF I KNEW WHAT YOU SAID (The Philippines) - Mike Sandejas (director), Romalito Mallari (actor), Zoe Sandejas (actress) 

INDEPENDENCIA (The Philippines) - Raya Martin (director) 

KARAOKE (Malaysia) - Chris Chong (director) 

SAWASDEE BANGKOK (Thailand) - Kongdej Jaturanrasamee (director), Pen-ek Ratanaruang (director)

I'll be talking about each film in more detail in the future. Stay tuned, and hope to see you at the screenings!

Cheers, Raymond