Welcome to the World will have its Ontario premiere at the Reelout Queer Film + Video Festival at noon on February 10, 2018, at The Screening Room in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The film plays in the session Queerly Canadian Shorts Program, a collection of experimental and traditional narrative and documentaries that explore queer identities across Canada. Co-director, writer, and actor Albert M. Chan is a native of Ontario, Canada.

Starring Albert and directed by Albert and Anthony Grasso, Welcome to the World is a daring film about a troubled man who records a video message for his pregnant sister. Drawing its power and immediacy from its first-person, confessional style, the film presents, in one continuous shot, the journey of one man’s awakening from isolation back to humanity.

Richard Propes (The Independent Critic) gives it four stars and writes, “RIVETING… CHAN’S PERFORMANCE IS DEEPLY MOVING… LINGERS IN YOUR BRAIN LONG AFTER THE CLOSING CREDITS”. Kirk Fernwood (One Film Fan) praises the film as “INTELLIGENT, INVENTIVE, AND INSPIRED… CHAN DOES A FANTASTIC JOB… DRAWING YOU IN WITH EVERY WORD… THE FINALE IS A STROKE OF CREATIVE BRILLIANCE AND ARTISTRY”. Max White (OC Movie Reviews) raves, “CHAN GIVES A GRIPPING, HEARTFELT AND SINCERE PERFORMANCE WHICH PLUNGES YOU INTO THE MURKY WATERS OF MODERN HUMANITY AND MASCULINITY… SQUEEZES SO MUCH RAW EMOTION INTO A SINGLE SHOT”. And Rachel Pullen (UK Film Review) writes, “LEADING MAN ALBERT M. CHAN… PLAYS AN EMOTIONALLY RAW MAN WITH A GRACE AND EASE THAT IS OFTEN ONLY SEEN WITHIN SOME OF THE MOST HIGH END ACTORS… PACKS A HUGE PUNCH… TO CREATE SUCH AN IMPACT ON A VIEWER IN ONLY SEVEN MINUTES WITH JUST ONE MAN, A SCRIPT AND A CAMERA CERTAINLY SPEAKS VOLUMES OF THE SKILLS THAT CHAN HAS AS A DIRECTOR, WRITER AND PERFORMER”.

Founded in 1999 by Marney McDiarmid, Reelout Queer Film + Video Festival is now in its 18th year. In 2006, the festival was honoured with the Queen’s University Human Rights Initiative Award for their contribution to the community. In 2007, the Reelout Arts Project Inc. became a registered charitable organization and a member of Volunteer Canada and in 2008 established the Reelout in Schools Project specializing in diversity and gender diversity education.