The Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF) is attempting to tackle racism and abuse that the Asian society has faced since the start of the pandemic. According to Vancouver Police data, they’ve seen a 138 per cent increase in what they define as anti-Asian hate crimes.
In response to the rise in hate crimes, earlier this year the VAFF took a stand and launched the #Elimin8hate campaign, asking celebrities, filmmakers and the public to share videos, either reaching out or telling personal experiences around racism.
VAFF aims to provide a safe platform for Canadians of Asian ancestry experiencing anti-Asian attacks to share their experiences and to consolidate public resources in an accessible format to victims.
According to Clement Lau, member of the board of directors at the VAFF, the response to the calls have been received well.
“It was because that’s pretty much in our wheelhouse,” Lau told News 1130
“That’s why we chose this platform. We enlisted some of our film industry people to help organize to recruit members to help film the PSA’s that we’ve done so far, and also enlisted some of the actors to do their own personal PSA’s to post on the website.”
Actors like Ludi Lin, from the 2017 Power Rangers and upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot, shared videos.
End the prejudice and racist rhetoric. Communicate and #Elimin8hate #washthehate @elimin8hate3 @VAFFvancouver pic.twitter.com/GxagLxDPIi
— LudiLin (@ludi_lin) May 1, 2020
“The more we get the message out and give the information that people need, I think the more understanding people become,” Lau added.
“I think we all play a part in our society and especially with immigrants — I think Canada is largely based on the immigration population — and we all contribute to the society.”
