Diasporic Asian cinema and cultural expression: A case of the Vancouver Asian Film Festival

In the era of globalization, the diasporas often face the tension migrants experience between multiple cultures. As an immigrant country, Canada is one of the countries with the largest population of Asian immigrants. However, the long-standing negative image of Asians still exists. They are still not viewed as legitimate participants in the country’s cultural and political fields. As a powerful representation of culture, films vividly express views about the phenomenon of the global diaspora. And film festivals work as platform to showcase. With an inherent ethnic focus, Asian film festivals are concerned with the intersection between Asian diaspora and Asian cinema, creating a physical space for sharing of experience through cinema, and providing an ideological space that informs and creates conducive dialogue concerning cultural expression and transnational issues. This paper will take the Vancouver Asian Film Festival in Vancouver, Canada, as a case study to explore the Asian diaspora’s cultural expression through cinema and discuss its significance in postcolonial discourses.