Sundar Prize Film Festival spotlights queer pride, April 25

“Egg Yolk Custard Bun”, “Ramen Boys”, “It’s Not You”, and the feature Blood Lines contribute to a diverse and often playful program

The Sundar Prize Film Festival presents Love, Actually: Queer Spotlight at Landmark Cinemas Guildford on April 25 at 6:45 pm

QUEER INTIMACY TAKES the spotlight in the Sundar Prize Film Festival program Love, Actually—with everything from a short featuring a local stage star to a playful entry that promises dim sum and kink. Or, as the Sundar program promises, a grouping of four flicks that “move beyond stereotype to explore desire, vulnerability, survival, and self-definition with wit and heart.”

Among the diverse offerings is the premiere of the experimental short “Egg Yolk Custard Bun”, directed by ecoqueer artist and sex educator Soya Wu. In it, three Asian friends turn a traditional Chinese meal into a food-driven exploration of eroticism and intimacy.

“It’s Not You”, meanwhile, is a sapphic rom-com about a woman attempting to escape Vancouver's bleak dating scene. When she tries to romance her old friend Hotaru, she finds out her main rival is a custom-built AI girlfriend. The film is directed by Tristan Garcia Ramos.

And watch for Vancouver stage name Jason Sakaki’s directorial debut, “Ramen Boys”, about a first kiss, a lifeguard, and a summer romance. It won best LGBTQ+ film at the Itaewon Film Festival. (Sakaki has starred in everything from East Van Panto to the current Arts Club hit Kimberly Akimbo.)

Also on the bill is Gail Maurice’s feature Blood Lines, which focuses on a Métis storyteller and store clerk who’s trying to reconcile with her estranged mother while being drawn into a romance with a newcomer.

Aimed at social change and raising voices from the margins, the Sundar Prize Film Festival runs from April 23 to 26.

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Janet Smith

Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

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Sundar Prize Film Festival spotlights queer pride, April 25

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