About Us

About REEL CANADA

Executive Director, Jack Blum
Artistic Director, Sharon Corder

Administrative Director, Deanna Wong
Festivals Manager, Katarina Gligorijevic
Senior Production Coordinator, Mark Meeks
Production Coordinator, Ravi Srinivasan

Office Administrator, Alison Zemell

 

Programmer, Stacey Donen
Production
BaAM Productions
Videoscope
Rocky Mountain Sound

Publisher, BlueAppleWorks
Teacher Resource Development, Dan Dumsha

Fundraising Consiltants, Sheila O'Gorman & Tamar Huberman

 

REEL CANADA Board member Atom Egoyan with guests Jerry Ciccoritti and Nicholas Campbell at Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School.

 

REEL CANADA is an initiative of members of our national film and television industry, designed to bring Canadian films into Canadian classrooms. It is endorsed and supported by our National Honourary Patron, the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, a Board of Directors and an Advisory Committee that includes some of our most prominent filmmakers and producers - Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Norman Jewison, Robert Lantos, Don McKellar, Sarah Polley, Jean-Marc Vallée and many others have all put their personal endorsement on this vital project.

 

Essentially, REEL CANADA is a day-long traveling film festival that moves from one school to another.

 

Each event includes films chosen by the students themselves from a curated program of features, documentaries, animated programs and shorts. Special guest speakers such as actors, directors and other prominent personalities present the films and take part in Q&A’s with the students.

 

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Our Mission and Values

Mission -

Our mission is to expose Canadian high school students to Canadian film in a dynamic and participatory way in order to nurture a sense of Canadian identity through culture and build a larger domestic audience for Canadian film.

 

Values -

REEL CANADA is committed in its work to being:

 

INSPIRATIONAL: will inspire pride in the achievements of Canadian filmmakers and in our national culture, among young people, educators, the filmmaking community, and all who come into contact with the program.

 

COLLABORATIVE: REEL CANADA will work with educators to tailor the program to specific community needs and sensibilities, and will partner with as broad a range of industry stakeholders as possible.

 

INNOVATIVE: REEL CANADA shall continue to develop new and innovative ways to bring transformative and dynamic experiences with Canadian film into our education system.

 

DIVERSE: REEL CANADA’s programs shall provide opportunities for all young people across Canada to participate in a cultural dialogue that reflects the diversity of Canadian life.

 

ACCESSIBLE: REEL CANADA’s programs shall be equally accessible to students throughout Canada.

 

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How REEL CANADA Works

REEL CANADA Advisory Board member Colm Feore with some volunteers at Parkdale Collegiate Institute.

 

REEL CANADA delivers programming through three different models. These models have evolved in response to the needs of educators and in an effort to reach out to new communities. Our delivery models allow schools to get involved with REEL CANADA regardless of location and available resources. At one end of the spectrum, a teacher may be able to rally the entire school and teaching body for a full service festival, while another teacher may wish to screen a single Canadian film in the classroom and incorporate our corresponding education unit.

 

Model A: Full Service Festival

 

Our Full Service Festival is our original, full day festival mounted at individual schools. These festivals replicate the excitement of a film festival by transforming school spaces into high quality screening venues.

 

A version of this Full Service Festival is what we will present in Pemberton in December 2010. With technical support provided by Rocky Mountain Sound, we will transform the school gym into a movie theatre, screening one film in the morning and one in the afternoon.

 

For a community and a school the size of Pemberton, a single-venue event is adequate to create a large amount of excitement and buzz.

 

Model B: Out of the Classroom and into the Theatre or “Cineplex Days”

 

With the assistance of the Whistler Film Festival in securing the Maurice Young Millennium Place, REEL CANADA is hosting a festival day in December where multiple participating schools can send students on a field trip basis.

 

As schools can opt to bring individual classes without necessarily involving the whole school, this model offers great flexibility and is popular with teachers.

 

This model also allows us to reach a wide audience, introducing our festival to a broader group of schools than we would be able to reach through one Full Service Festival.

 

As participating theatres are fully equipped to screen DVDs, REEL CANADA doesn’t incur additional equipment costs. This makes it a cost effective model, as expenses are lowered without compromising the quality of the screenings.

 

Model C: Do-It-Yourself Festival

 

With Do-It Yourself (DIY) Festivals, REEL CANADA encourages schools to come up with their own concept of what their school’s festival might look like. This allows schools to adapt the program to fit their needs and resources and allows students to take more ownership over planning and executing the event.

 

A version of this model is what REEL CANADA facilitated in Squamish in December 2009 and Kimberley in May 2010. The school’s own equipment is used to screen the films, with REEL CANADA providing access to our catalogue and DVDs of the films, as well as facilitators to introduce the screenings and lead discussion with students. In the 2010/2011 season, REEL CANADA is facilitating DIY festivals in Squamish, Kimberley and Surrey.

 

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Why REEL CANADA Matters

Brian Henry and the stars of Allan Kings EMPz 4 Life at Jarvis Collegiate Institute

 

With this initiative we are addressing a very serious crisis in our cultural life in Canada. 

 

Canada faces unique challenges in creating and maintaining a viable cultural identity.  Movies and television from foreign countries, the U.S. in particular, are ubiquitous and overwhelming.   The stories that we consume are increasingly stories told by, and about, others.  At a time when screen-based media is at its peak of influence, Canadians are threatened by the prospect of invisibility.

 

Most dangerously, the points of Canadian identification for young people are becoming fewer and fewer.  Without an awareness of Canada as a distinct and sovereign nation, succeeding generations may find it more and more difficult to defend our unique social and political values.

 

REEL CANADA is an attempt to counteract these trends by creating future audiences and instilling in young people a sense of pride in Canadian cinema, as well as some understanding of Canada’s place in the world with regards to what is, in the 21st Century, the dominant cultural medium.

As our program grows into new communities across the country in future years, we believe we can not only increase audiences for our films and help move our education system forward into the modern currency of screen based media, but also, most crucially, nurture a sense of cultural identification among young Canadians.

 

By telling Canadian audiences Canadian stories - we can build a stronger and prouder Canada.

 

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REEL CANADA Board of Directors

Reg Bronskill, President

Curtis Barlow

Atom Egoyan
Veronica Tennant

Denise Bolduc

Liz Shorten

 

 

 

 

 

National Honourary Patron
Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson

 

Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson with Harbord C.I. Vice Principal Susana Arnott and a student volunteer.

 

 

Founding Patron David Miller, 63rd Mayor of Toronto, with a student from RH King Academy

 

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REEL CANADA Advisory Committee 2010-2011

Hussain Amarshi

Denys Arcand

David Booth
Gary Burns
Jerry Ciccoritti
David Cronenberg

Colm Feore
Niv Fichman
Bryan Gliserman
Paul Gross
Norman Jewison
Robert Lantos
Bruce McDonald
Don McKellar
Deepa Mehta
Charlotte Mickie
Geoff Pevere
Marguerite Pigott
Gordon Pinsent
Sarah Polley
Peter Raymont
Patricia Rozema
Mina Shum
Tara Spencer-Nairn
Jean-Marc Vallée
Clement Virgo

 

Ann Marie Fleming
Prem Gill
Nicholas Kendall
Ron Lea
Charles Martin Smith
Ben Ratner
Mina Shum
Scott Smith
Lynne Stopkewich
Carol Whiteman
Elizabeth Yake

 

Advisory board member Deepa Mehta with students at Mississauga's Woodlands School

 

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Participating Guests

We’d like to thank the following people for giving their time, sharing their knowledge, insights and stories with our students, and truly making our last five seasons an unforgettable experience.

 

Our guests and facilitators:

Jim Allodi

Andrés Aquino

Patricia Aquino
Tré Armstrong
Sylvain Arseneault
Harvey Atkin
Joel Bakan

Liane Balaban

Hugh Beard
Clé Bennett

Sonja Bennett
Devon Bostick
Pierre-Luc Brillant

Brittany Bristow
Adam Brodie

Lara Brady
Gary Burns
Dave Calder
Nicholas Campbell
Caroline Christie
Jerry Ciccoritti
Kevin Courrier

Wendy Crewson
Richard Crouse
Andrew Currie
Michael D’Ascenzo
Norma Dell'Agnese
Robert Deleskie
Lee Demarbre
Dave Derewlany
Dan Diamond

Neil Diamond
Joe Dinicol

Kevin Duhaney

Hon. Ken Dryden
Atom Egoyan
Erin Faith-Young
Avi Federgreen
Colm Feore
Niv Fichman

Jay Field
Gerry Flahive
Jill Frappier
Colin Geddes
James Genn
Rob Gray
Paul Gross
Dennis Heaton
Lisa Houle
Emily Hunter
David Hyde
Jennifer Jonas
Leo Kabilisa
Marvin Karon
Dev Khanna
Allan King
Luke Kirby
Greg Klymkiw
Andrew Lamb
Ron Lea

Mehernaz Lentin
David Lewis

Jeanette Loakman
Keith Lock

Nadia Litz

Peter Lynch

Michael Mabbott

Allie MacDonald
Rishma Malik
Bruce McDonald
Michael McGowan
Stephen McHattie
Don McKellar
Jesse McKeown
Tom McSorley
Deepa Mehta
Greg Middleton
Mayor David Miller
Michael Miller
Jay Molloy

Aaron Moore
Annmarie Morais
Daniel Keith Morrison
Dwain Murphy

Hal Niedzviecki
Peter O’Brien
Charles Officer
David Ostry
John Paizs
Geoff Pevere

Gordon Pinsent
Sarah Polley
Paul Quarrington
Josh Raskin
Lisa Ray

Peter Raymont

Patrick Reid
Brent Robinson
Ronika Sajnani
Devyani Saltzman
Paul Salztman
Paul Scherzer

Kevin Schjerning
Patrick Sharangabo

Emil Sher
Mina Shum
Kathleen Smith
Sonja Smits
Tara Spencer-Nairn
Rob Stewart
Kevin Tierney
Jean-Marc Vallée
Jivon Walker
Myrocia Watamaniuk
David Weaver
Robert Wertheimer
Claire Wihogora
George Willis
Janelle Wookey
Hon. Kathleen Wynne
Katie Yu

 

Guests Patrick Sharangabo, Ron Lea and Luke Kirby with REEL CANADA Artistic Director Sharon Corder and Executive Director Jack Blum (far right) at Emery C.I.

 

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Corporate Stuff

REEL CANADA is a registered charity. For all donations over $10 a charitable tax receipt will be issued.

 

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