Reel Shorts Film Festival

Last updated
Reel Shorts Film Festival
Location Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
Hosted byReel Shorts Film Society
No. of films80+
LanguageInternational
Website http://reelshorts.ca

The Reel Shorts Film Festival, held annually in Grande Prairie, Alberta since 2007, is recognized as one of North America's best short film festivals. [1] Its programming focus is short-form cinematic storytelling, screening "gems of storytelling brilliance" from around the world, across Canada, and in the Peace Region. [2] [3] The purpose is twofold: to entertain, educate, and engage audiences; and to grow the film-making community in the Peace Region by inspiring, developing, and showcasing its filmmakers. Thousands of submissions are received annually [4] from which 80-105 short films are selected. [5] It is a qualifying festival for the Canadian Screen Awards. [6]

Contents

History

Terry Scerbak founded the festival as a production of the nonprofit Grande Prairie Live Theatre in 2007. [7] In 2016, she was one of the founding members of the Reel Shorts Film Society which took over the production of the festival in 2017 with the full support and cooperation of the GPLT Board of Directors. [8]

The festival's program has grown from 3 days screening 38 films in 2007 [2] to 6–8 days screening 80-105 films since 2014. [5] The 14th edition of the festival, originally scheduled for May 4–11, 2020 but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, takes place April 26 to May 3, 2021. [9]

Awards

Since 2010, audiences have determined the winner(s) of the Audience Choice Awards. Since 2014, the directors of Audience Choice Awards and Jury Awards have received an award designed by Grande Prairie sculptor Grant Berg.

Audience Choice Awards

YearAudience Choice ShortYouth Audience Choice Short
2019 [10] The Blue Door (dir. Paul Taylor, UK)All in Good Time (dir. Bonnie Dempsey, Ireland)
2018 [11] The Ambassador (dir. Shane Atkinson, France)Rag Dolls (dir. Justin and Kristin Schaack, USA)
2017 [12] The Babysitter Murders (dir. Ryan Spindell, USA)Get Up Kinshasa! (dir. Sébastien Maitre, France)
2016 [13] Discipline (dir. Christophe M. Saber, Switzerland)Dji. Death Sails (dir. Dmitri Voloshin, Moldova)
2015 [14] The Gunfighter (dir. Eric Kissack, USA)Foster Dog (dir. Lisa Alonso Vear, USA)
2014 [15] Fool's Day (dir. Cody Blue Snider, USA)
2013 [16] A Senior Moment (dir. Michelle Davidson, USA)
2012 [17] Sugar (Suiker) (dir. Jeroen Annokkée, Netherlands)
2011 [18] The Legend of Beaver Dam (dir. Jerome Sable, Canada)
2010 [17] Multiple Choice (dir. Michael Goode, Australia)

In 2014, the festival became competitive and presented the following awards.

Jury Awards

YearBest Live Action Short Under 15 MinutesBest Live Action Short 15+ MinutesBest Animated ShortBest Documentary Short
2019 [19] The Blue Door (dir. Paul Taylor, UK)Suck It Up (Avaler des couleuvres) (dir. Jan Sitta, France)The Driver is Red (dir. Randall Christopher, USA)The Day Don Died (dir. Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor, Canada)
2018 [20] About the Birds and the Bees (dir. J.J. (Janne) Vanhanen, Finland)The Winkles (Les Bigorneaux) (dir. Alice Vial, France)Two Trams (dir. Svetlana Andrianova, Russian Federation)Fixed! (dir. Cat Mills, Canada)
2017 [21] Camping with Ada (Campingliv) (dir. Ina Lerner Grevstad, Norway) La femme et le TGV (dir. Timo von Gunten, Switzerland) Borrowed Time (dir. Lou Hamou-Lhadj and Andrew Coats, USA)12 Days in Idomeni (dir. Javier Sobremazas, Germany)
YearBest Live Action Short Under 13 MinutesBest Live Action Short 13+ MinutesBest Animated ShortBest Documentary Short
2016 [22] The Jacket (Die Jacke) (dir. Patrick Vollrath, Austria)Wolf Head (Gueule de loup) (dir. Alice Vial, France)The OceanMaker (dir. Lucas Martell, Belize/USA)The House is Innocent (dir. Nicholas Coles, USA)
YearBest Live Action ShortBest Animated ShortBest Documentary Short
2015 [23] The Way of Tea (Les frémissements du thé) (dir. Marc Fouchard, France)Strings (Cuerdas) (dir. Pedro Solis Garcia, Spain) The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom (dir. Lucy Walker, Japan/USA)
2014 [24] Dotty (dir. Mick Andrews and Brett O'Gorman, New Zealand)Oh Sheep! (dir. Gottfried Mentor, Germany)Grandpa and Me and a Helicopter to Heaven (Morfar och Jag och Helikoptern till Himlen) (Åsa Blanck and Johan Palmgren, Sweden)

Film Productions

In the summer of 2012, the festival produced a short film as part of Shoot for Reel, [25] a two-week internship training program for 12 interns which was a collaboration between the festival, Grande Prairie Regional College, and Ricebrain Media, a Vancouver film company whose president (Scott Belyea) grew up in Grande Prairie. The Horizon Project, the short film that Belyea directed during the 11 days of Shoot for Reel, [26] premiered at the 7th Reel Shorts Film Festival in 2013. [27]

The school program of screenings, training, [28] [29] and filmmaker class visits is a big component of the film festival. [30] In 2013, the festival produced HB, an 8-minute film directed by Nathan Fast, as part of the Youth Film Mentorship Project. [31] On Sep 29, 2013, it won the Best Overall Youth Short Film Award at the Calgary International Film Festival [32] and a month later won the Young Filmmakers Program Competition Grand Prize at the 2013 Austin Film Festival. [33]

In the summer of 2018, the festival helped fund the production of the short film Aeternitas as part of the 2018 Shoot for Reel, [34] a five-day internship training program for 12 interns led by Writer/Director Gordie Haakstad and Cinematographer Chris Beauchamp, owners of The Distillery Film Company and producers of the film. [35] Aeternitas was nominated for six Rosie Awards in 2019 for Drama Under 30 Minutes [36] and won two of them: Gordie Haakstad for Best Director and Chris Beauchamp for Best Cinematographer. [37]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto International Film Festival</span> Annual film festival held in Toronto, Canada

The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, founded in 1976 and taking place each September. It is also a permanent destination for film culture operating out of the TIFF Lightbox cultural centre, located in Downtown Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grande Prairie</span> City in Alberta, Canada

Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 and Highway 40, approximately 456 km (283 mi) northwest of Edmonton. The city is surrounded by the County of Grande Prairie No. 1.

The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Festival in 1932, Cannes Film Festival in 1939 and Berlin Film Festival in 1951.

The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) is an association of professional film critics, who work in print, broadcast and online media, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The organization was founded in 1990 by film critics Sharon LeMaire and Sue Kiner, following the success of the first Chicago Film Critics Awards given out in 1988. The association comprises 60 members.

The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It is produced by Cinequest, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is also responsible for Picture The Possibilities and the distribution label Cinequest Mavericks Studio LLC. Cinequest awards the annual Maverick Spirit Awards. In addition to over 130 world or U.S. premieres from over 30 countries, the festival hosts writer's events including screenwriting competitions, a shorts program, technology and artistic forums and workshops, student programs, and a silent film accompanied on the theatre organ. Founded in 1990 as the Cinequest Film Festival, the festival was rebranded in 2017 as the Cinequest Film & VR Festival and expanded beyond downtown San Jose to Redwood City. It took its present name in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fantasia International Film Festival</span> Canadian film festival

Fantasia International Film Festival is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on niche, low budget movies in various genres, from horror to sci-fi. Regularly held in July/August, by 2016 its annual audience had already surpassed 100,000 viewers and outgrown even the Montreal World Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alberta Highway 43</span> Highway in Alberta

Alberta Provincial Highway No. 43, commonly referred to as Highway 43, is a major highway in northern and central Alberta, Canada that connects Edmonton to the British Columbia border via the Peace Country, forming the northernmost portion of the CANAMEX Corridor in Alberta. It stretches approximately 495 km (308 mi) from Highway 16 near Manly Corner west of Edmonton to the British Columbia border west of Demmitt. It is designated as a core route in Canada's National Highway System, comprising a portion of a key international corridor that stretches from Alaska into Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fantastic Fest</span> Annual film festival held in Austin, Texas, US

Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of The Iron Giant and Secondhand Lions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival</span> Horror films festival in South Korea

The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, or BiFan, formerly known as Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival or PiFan, is an international film festival held annually in July in Bucheon, South Korea. Inaugurated in 1997, the festival focuses on South Korean and international horror, thriller, mystery and fantasy films, with particular attention to Asian cinema from East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is a non-competitive international film festival, with partial competition, awarding a number of awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Cuffley</span> Canadian film director and screenwriter

Robert Cuffley is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. He began with music videos, directing over 40 in all, before moving into short films, and later, drama.

Jeth Weinrich is a Canadian documentary filmmaker and music video and commercial director.

<i>Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement</i> 2009 American documentary film

Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement is a 2009 American documentary film directed and produced by Susan Muska and Gréta Ólafsdóttir for their company Bless Bless Productions, in association with Sundance Channel. The film tells the story of the long-term lesbian relationship between Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer, including their respective childhoods, their meeting in 1963, their lives and careers in New York City, Thea's diagnosis with multiple sclerosis and Edie's care for her partner, and their wedding in Toronto, Canada, in May 2007, because gay marriage was not then legal in their home state of New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevor Anderson (artist)</span> Canadian filmmaker and musician

Trevor Anderson is a Canadian filmmaker and musician. His films have screened at the Sundance Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamar Ahmad Simon</span>

Kamar Ahmad Simon is a Bangladeshi filmmaker. He was featured as red carpet director in Piazza Grande at Locarno and has won various awards including the prestigious Harrell Award at CIFF (Camden), Grand Prix at Cinéma du Réel (Paris), Open Doors Award and Arte International Prix at Locarno, Golden Conch at MIFF (Mumbai), grants from Sundance, IDFA-Bertha and WCF/ Berlinale. He has been a jury member of the Sydney International Film Festival for the Australian segment, La Bibliothèque publique d’information (BPI) France, Johns Hopkins University USA has acquired his film and Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) have exhibited his work.

The Rosie Awards is the name given to the Alberta Film and Television Awards, presented annually by Alberta Media Production Industries Association (AMPIA). AMPIA is non-profit professional association that supports its members by encouraging the development of the film industry in the province of Alberta. There are 23 Class awards and 33 Craft categories. The first awards show was held in 1974.

The Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Short Film, formerly also known as the NFB John Spotton Award, is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to a film judged to be the best Canadian short film of the festival. As of 2017, the award is sponsored by International Watch Company and known as the "IWC Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Short Film".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron E. Scott</span> Filmmaker (b. 1967)

Ron E. Scott is a Canadian-Metis showrunner and director. He is the founder of Prairie Dog Film + Television, an independent production company involved in creating scripted series. Company projects have been nominated for over 140 awards, including Best Dramatic Series and Best Dramatic Writing at the Canadian Screen Awards.

Jasmin Mozaffari is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Director at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019 for her debut feature film Firecrackers.

<i>This Is Not a Movie</i> (2019 film) 2019 Canadian film

This Is Not a Movie is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Yung Chang and released in 2019. The film profiles the career of Robert Fisk, the influential British war correspondent.

References

  1. ↑ "North America's Best Short Film Festivals". AudNews. 2014-07-31. Retrieved 2017-09-10.
  2. 1 2 "About Reel Shorts", Reel Shorts Film Festival, retrieved Jan 6, 2013
  3. ↑ Turner, Jocelyn (March 26, 2015). "Reel Shorts shattering records". Daily Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2018-01-01.
  4. ↑ Gann, Jon (2015). So, You Want to Start a Film Festival: Conversations With Top Festival Creators. Washington, DC: ReelPlan Press. pp. 150–151. ISBN   9781519166654.
  5. 1 2 Mari Sasano, "Reeling In Alberta" Alberta Views, Oct 2014
  6. ↑ Goruk, Kirsten (August 29, 2013). "Reel Shorts Film Festival receives ACCT accreditation". Daily Herald Tribune. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Magazine | Art of the Peace". Art of the Peace (Spring/Summer 2007 ed.). Retrieved 2017-09-10.
  8. ↑ Rinne, Diana (January 5, 2017). "Reel Shorts brings award-winning zombie movie to GP". Daily Herald Tribune.
  9. ↑ Watson, John (April 23, 2020). "Reel Shorts Film Festival postponed to 2021". Daily Herald-Tribune.
  10. ↑ "2019 Award Winners". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  11. ↑ "2018 Award Winners". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  12. ↑ "2017 Award Winners". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  13. ↑ "2016 Award Winners". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  14. ↑ "2015 Award Winners". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  15. ↑ "Award Winners". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  16. ↑ "Winner of 2013 Audience Choice Award". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  17. 1 2 "About Reel Shorts". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  18. ↑ "Winner of Audience Choice Award". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  19. ↑ "2019 Award Winners". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  20. ↑ "2018 Award Winners". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  21. ↑ "2017 Award Winners". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  22. ↑ "2016 Award Winners". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  23. ↑ "2015 Award Winners". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  24. ↑ "Award Winners". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  25. ↑ Kirsten Goruk, "Video internship program launched" Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune, May 31, 2012
  26. ↑ Kirsten Goruk, "Grande Prairie becomes Hollywood North" Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune, July 11, 2012
  27. ↑ Kirsten Goruk, "Work continues on film shot in GP" Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune, December 20, 2012
  28. ↑ Eileen Coristine, "Lights, Action, Revenge" Art of the Peace, Issue #16, Spring 2011
  29. ↑ Kirsten Goruk, "Young filmmakers get hands-on training with workshop" Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune, April 24, 2012
  30. ↑ "About Reel Shorts", Reel Shorts Film Festival, retrieved Feb 28, 2015
  31. ↑ "Winners of Youth Film Mentorship Project", Reel Shorts Film Festival, retrieved Feb 28, 2015
  32. ↑ Kirsten Goruk, "Local short film earns award in Calgary" Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune, Sep 26, 2013
  33. ↑ THR Staff, "Austin Film Festival Announces 2013 Winners" The Hollywood Reporter, Oct 28, 2013
  34. ↑ "2018 Shoot for Reel". Reel Shorts Film Festival. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  35. ↑ "About Us". The Distillery Film Company. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  36. ↑ "The 2019 Alberta Film and Television Awards Finalists" (PDF). AMPIA. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  37. ↑ "The 2019 Alberta Film and Television Awards Winners" (PDF). AMPIA. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.