TORONTO – On Tuesday, April 30, more than 2,000 students from across Canada will have a chance to showcase three unique Canadian film festivals featuring programming selected by the students themselves.
The festivals are part of Reel Canada’s eighth annual National Canadian Film Day. Participants include students from Montague High School in Montague, PEI, Evan Hardy Collegiate in Sasktoon, and Vancouver Community College (Vancouver). Through Reel Canada's “Our Films In Our Schools” program students will have the opportunity to experience Canadian films that reflect their curriculum.
Filmmakers Adam Brodie and Dave Derewlany will present a selection of their shorts at Montague High School, followed by an afternoon of 10 different screenings of Canadian films, including The Corporation, ONE WEEK, How She Move and 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould.
At Evan Hardy Collegiate, local producer Anand Ramayya will present the Saskatchewan feature 45 RPM.
More than 700 ESL students at Vancouver Community College will be watching Breakaway. For many of them, this will be their first Canadian film experience.
Created by a committee of passionate filmmakers and dedicated educators in 2005, Reel Canada is designed to foster greater awareness of, and pride in, Canadian films, by bringing the excitement of a film festival experience directly into high schools. It is an immersive, dynamic learning experience that introduces teenage audiences to home-grown films and filmmakers.
Since its inception Reel Canada has presented over 700 screenings of Canadian features, documentaries and animated films to over 120,000 students in seven provinces across Canada and in both official languages.
Created in 2005 by a committee of some of Canada’s best-known film professionals, Reel Canada’s goal is to foster greater awareness of, and pride in, Canadian films, by bringing the excitement of a film festival experience directly into high schools. Its committee members include Denys Arcand, David Cronenberg, Colm Feore, Norman Jewison, Robert Lantos, Bruce McDonald, Don McKellar, and Deepa Mehta, and many other Canadian directors and actors.
Academy Award nominated director and Reel Canada Board member Atom Egoyan is one of the many celebrated filmmakers who have presented their work to students through Reel Canada. “It’s the dream of any filmmaker to engage in a dialogue with an audience. [The teenage] audience is the most difficult to reach, so the experience of such an intimate response is a career highlight for me,” Egoyan said in a release.
According to Reel Canada, the country faces unique challenges in creating and maintaining a viable cultural identity. Movies and television from the U.S. are ubiquitous and overwhelming. By engaging future audiences and inspiring filmmakers at home, Reel Canada helps to foster a sense of pride for Canadian culture among high school students and helps build future audiences for Canadian film.
A recent study by Youthography, a Canadian youth research organization, says that students who have participated in Reel Canada’s festivals are more likely to support Canadian film than non-participating teens.
“The Youthography Report demonstrates dramatically what we’ve been saying all along,” said executive director Jack Blum. “If we give kids an opportunity to see the great films we make in Canada, they absolutely love them. There's nothing like watching the students realize that these great films belong to them.”
