Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF) launches #ELIMIN8HATE
VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (VAFF) LAUNCHES ‘ELIMIN8HATE’, A MULTI-MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO DOCUMENT AND TRANSFORM RACIST ATTACKS AGAINST ASIAN CANADIANS INTO POSITIVE PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS BY FILMMAKERS
#ELIMIN8HATE features Ludi Lin star of upcoming MORTAL KOMBAT (2021), New York Minute (2019), AQUAMAN (2018) and POWER RANGERS (2017) as he joins VAFF’s call to action to counteract the rise of anti-Asian racism
The Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF) denounces discrimination and xenophobia in response to COVID-19. We are deeply concerned with the Vancouver Police Department’s April 22nd report indicating a significant increase in hate crimes targeted against Asian Canadians in Vancouver. In the last month over 1500 similar hate crimes against Asians have occurred throughout US (AP3Con.org). The Asian Canadian community is greatly concerned that racially motivated attacks will spread and escalate once self-isolation orders are lifted.
Racist language used by some world and other leaders has normalized racist attitudes toward those of Asian heritage. That Asian Canadian elders are being advised not to leave their homes to stay safe is disconcerting and a direct reflection of the severity of the current state of affairs.
VAFF encourages the general public to stand up against HATE whenever it is safe to do so, as doing nothing condones these actions. VAFF’s call to action is for filmmakers and the public to transform these negative racist attacks into positive 60 second Public Service Announcement messages that are shared online and supports #Elimin8hate.
“The racist attacks on Asians in Canada is unacceptable and MUST STOP. We all need to unite and speak out against these attacks motivated by hatred and misinformation. Canadians inspire the world by reaching out in friendship and acceptance in spite of hard times and more than ever we must embrace that core value. An attack on any race is an attack on the Human Race,” stated Ludi Lin.
“Watching the police footage of that elderly Asian man with dementia get verbally and physically abused is heartbreaking and disturbing and shows that more must be done to counter racism,” said Barbara Lee, Founder of VAFF. “Significant investments in public education and government efforts should be a priority to combat this growing sentiment.”
VAFF’s ‘ELIMIN8HATE’ campaign encourages Asian Canadians to report and document their experiences of racial profiling and any attacks (verbal, physical or online). In addition to providing an anonymous, safe and secure platform to report incidents, VAFF has posted accessible public resources for victims.
The reports collected will be shared as anonymous stories and, in the aggregate, corresponding data will be visualized to encourage other victims of hate to report incidents and to spearhead a call to action for change to reduce acts of racism and increase unity among all Canadians.
VAFF is the longest running Asian Film Festival in Canada and will be celebrating 25 years in 2021. The core belief of VAFF is that the most powerful tool to counteract racism and encourage the appreciation and cohesion of all cultures is through the act of sharing stories of experience. UNITE to create the change. We need actionable change.
Go to elimin8hate.org to report racist incidents and share #ELIMIN8HATE
Empower victims of hate to act by adding their voices to the collective movement.
VAFF encourages other community groups and organizations to join this campaign and share on their social media channels.
IG handle: elimin8hate
Twitter: elimin8_hate
Hashtags: #elimin8hate #elimin8hatenow
-30-
info@vaff.org | www.vaff.org