East Vancouver’s queer Asian love story “Golden Delicious” gets national release

by V. S. Wells on August 30th, 2023 at 1:10 PM

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Golden Delicious, a queer Asian love story about coming of age and societal expectations, is set to get its cinematic release this fall.

The film, which premiered at the 2022 Vancouver International Film Festival, releases at theatres nationwide on September 15—including a run of showings at the VIFF Centre.

Golden Delicious follows Asian-Canadian teen Jake as he finds himself falling for basketball-loving Aleks, the literal boy next door, and navigating those challenges over social media. It’s the debut feature-length film for the Vancouver-based creative team of director Jason Karman and writer Gorman Lee.

In a statement, Karman says the movie deals with the notion of “saving face” that he often sees young people in immigrant and diaspora families grappling with. (Interestingly, Saving Face is also the name of a 2004 Chinese-American lesbian romance movie, one of the first queer Asian-American films.)

“‘Saving face’ is a strategy to avoid humiliation or embarrassment as a method of survival and a core social value in Asian culture; sexuality is often hidden to ‘save face.’ This film continues my exploration of how social media perspectives can connect us but also amplify emotions and alienate us,” Karman says. “Many youths face a modern challenge to find themselves amidst a sea of likes, endless chats, YouTube-like videos, and Instagram-like stories. Golden Delicious shows that kids of immigrant families can manage this and, in the end, become stronger.”

Starring a cast full of local up-and-coming actors including Cardi Wong (Are You Afraid of the Dark?), Chris Carson (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) and Parmiss Sehat (A Very Merry Bridesmaid), the movie is set and shot in East Vancouver, making it perfect for “hey-I-know-that-place!” watching.

Check out the trailer for the film below.