Albert’s film Welcome to the World will stream the week of November 8-15, 2021, as part of PrideArts Film Fest in Chicago, featuring fresh stories that reflect on all the many complexities of the queer communities. The film screens in the package PrideArts Fall Film Fest Week 2 – International Shorts, and tickets can be purchased here.
PrideArts is a non-profit theater company founded in 2010 to change lives by improving the quality of LGBT theater and film, utilizing stories with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender characters or themes.
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. The film stars Albert and is directed by Albert and Anthony Grasso.
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.”