Vancouver Asian Film Festival marks 30 years with 1997 film Shopping for Fangs as opener

The Story

The Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF) is marking its 30th anniversary by programming Shopping for Fangs—the independent dark comedy that opened the inaugural edition—as this year’s opening film. The festival runs Nov. 5-15.

Shopping for Fangs will open VAFF on Nov. 5 and begin an 11-day celebration of Asian Canadian and global Asian diaspora cinema. The film is co-directed by Quentin Lee and Justin Lin, and it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 1997 before travelling to VAFF.

The return to VAFF is a “full circle” for co-director Quentin Lee, who said the screening will let him see the film again “with a renewed look,” adding that he felt like it was a homecoming. Lee also said that if Justin Lin attends, Lin can be “the king” while he can be “the queen.”

Lee described Shopping for Fangs as following several Asian American characters in Los Angeles whose intersecting identity crises take on strange, transformative forms. He said the film’s genre play and themes pushed beyond the kinds of stories about Asian North American life that were then landing on mainstream screens.

The festival’s programming reflects its longer arc, including the role of VAFF founder Barbara Lee, who recognized the “nerve” of Shopping for Fangs when she first programmed it three decades ago. Barbara Lee said the film was “unapologetically Asian and unapologetically different.”

Barbara Lee’s efforts to create VAFF began after she brought her own short film to the Seattle Asian American International Film Festival because Vancouver lacked a similar event. She cited seeing Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid—adapted from Vancouver author Evelyn Lau’s memoir—as a moment when she felt she finally “really saw” herself “on a big screen in a contemporary story.”

Over three decades, VAFF has expanded through screenings, filmmaker programs and community initiatives, including Elimin8Hate, an anti-Asian racism platform launched in 2020. The festival’s Mighty Asian Moviemaking Marathon has also supported emerging filmmakers with calling-card shorts and filmographies, and this year’s edition is the largest in VAFF history.

Under the theme “Our Legacy. Our Future,” the 30th festival presents more than 100 films through Vancouver theatre screenings and virtual programming across Canada. The lineup includes more than 50 Canadian titles, 40 international films, 18 animated works and 78 premieres.

In addition to the opening film, special presentations this year include the Western Canadian premiere of Thomas Percy Kim’s Isle Child, described as about a Korean American adoptee drawn back toward unresolved family history. VAFF also includes the Canadian premiere of Jun Robles Lana’s Sisa, a historical drama set in the Philippines during the Philippine–American War, along with WestCoast Tales, which continues a focus on local independent Asian Canadian filmmakers.

Barbara Lee also has a feature included in this year’s festival. The 88-minute Sing My Song, described as taking 13 years to bring to fruition, follows artists and the perseverance required to bring a vision into the world. Barbara Lee said the inclusion feels “kind of full circle.”