The 4th annual Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, running Nov. 23-26, boasts nine Canadian shorts and one feature, with two world premieres: So-Called Friends from Taiwanese directors Tai Tai-Ling and Lien Chin-hua, and Wide-Eyed from Toronto’s Jane Kim.

The event, the largest of its kind in Canada according to festival director Caroline Sin, promotes the diversity of Asian cinematic culture.

This year’s highlights include the opening night film, Post Concussion from Toronto director Daniel Loon, and a spotlight on independent Canadian filmmaker Ann Marie Flemming.

Post Concussion is a semi-autobiographical story about a cutthroat management consultant who receives a severe head injury and while recovering teaches himself to make films. It has received awards and critical acclaim at festivals around the world and sees its Toronto premiere Nov. 23, with a national release planned for December.

The closing night features Vile Bodies, a program of shorts by Toronto filmmakers Jane Kim (Wide-Eyed), Richard Fung (Sea in the Blood), Siu Tu (Urge, making its Toronto premiere), Gloria Kim (A Solitary Silence) and Helen Lee (Subrosa). The program explores the relationships between biology and psychology, bodies and antibodies, and politics and desire.

The festival screens at the Royal and Innis Town Hall Theatres. *

-www.reelasian.com