Calgary’s FascinAsian Film Festival is set to return for a fourth year on May 1, continuing to put a spotlight on Asian artists and filmmakers as part of Asian Heritage Month.

New for 2025 is an increased emphasis on providing industry resources for Asian Canadians looking to enter into filmmaking, with a one-day resource fair as part of the festival programming.

That resource fair, said FascinAsian Festival Director Judy Eng-Hum, would complement the panel discussions and Q&As that the festival has held previously about the business of filmmaking.

“We want to have a great opportunity for them to network at the festival, meet other people, and just see what’s happening in the industry for these Asian creatives because sometimes you don’t know who’s out there. So it’s a great chance to sort of mix and mingle and learn more about the industry and who’s in it as well,” Eng-Hum said.

She said that the decision to be more proactive for creators fits into the festival’s Year of the Snake theme of being bold.

“It’s the year of being bold. Being bold in terms of the choices for the films that we’re doing, the activities that we’re doing, and just to think outside of the box in terms of your comfort level,” Eng Hum said.

The festival’s opening night film is locally produced Lucky Star from Calgary-based director Gillian McKercher, which won an audience award after it had its world premiere at the Calgary International Film Festival in 2024.

Eng-Hum said that it was great to have the film at the festival to put more profile on the local creatives doing work in Calgary.

“It’s surprising that there are quite a few filmmakers here in the prairies that don’t get the profile that they have in Toronto or Vancouver, and so it’s nice to have this platform here in Calgary to showcase these people,” she said.

Calgary content featured heavily at 2025 FascinAsian Film Festival

McKercher said that it was a real honour to have Lucky Star selected as the opening film for the FascinAsian film festival in Calgary.

“I kind of feel like there’s a real prestigious output of Asian films right now, and to be included among them just feels really great. It feels cool to see that the Asian American canon is expanding beyond just one film about one subject,” she said.

“We can have a diverse approach for film that handles things like gambling, which my film talks about. It can be one of among many in the canon. So just feels really good, and to be the opening film just feels good.”

Lucky Star tells the story of a suburban Calgarian who falls into gambling after losing money to a tax scam, and how that affects his family.

It stars Albertans Terry Chen and Olivia Cheng, both originally from Edmonton.

“I’m just really thankful to the FascinAsian programming team for including me, even though we have played Calgary before. I think what they recognize is that people want to see good films, and it’s OK if those films have played in the city before,” McKercher said.

“I know the program is also showing 7 Beats per Minute by Yuqi Kang, and I think that film’s amazing. I’m really happy that film’s programmed as well. I think the talent in Canada, and specifically from Calgary, is deep, and it’s nice that it’s being represented.”

She said that with times being crazy, it’s good to be able to show a film that is instantly relatable to Calgary audiences which was made by an artistic team from Calgary.

“It’s going to bring you together with people who you didn’t even know you connected with. And I wanted to tell a story that didn’t have to take place here, but also could only take place here,” McKercher said.

That Calgary connection is also set to be strong throughout numerous films at the 2025 festival.

Eng-Hum said that there was a lot of local Calgary representation this year in the festival’s short film documentary showings, including those from Catherine McDonald-Vo and Paolo Oliveros.

She said that this year’s festival is also offering free programming on May 1, with a showing of Ne Zha, which is the world’s highest-grossing non-American animated film. Its sequel, released in China this year, became the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

For full programming details and tickets, see fascinasian.ca/calgary-2025.