REEL CANADA Blog : Tags : Patricia Aquino

 Guest filmmaker and Eco-warrior Emily Hunter.

One of the interesting ways in which REEL CANADA introduces itself to a school board is by offering a board-wide event to which every school in a community can come, on a field trip. Usually these are held at theatres – and most frequently theatres provided by our Premiere Corporate Sponsor, Cineplex Entertainment.

In the Peel District, we’ve been putting on “Cineplex Days”, as we call them, for three years. In 2010, the inaugural Peel Cineplex day drew hundreds of high school students to the SilverCity in Mississauga. Last year, an equally large number of middle school kids attended a similar event. This year, we’re back to the high school group, this time at the SilverCity in Brampton (giving another community in the Peel District a chance to host).

Nadia Litz, a longtime supporter of our program, came out as a guest for the short film EVELYN: THE CUTEST EVIL DEAD GIRL, and Nadia was surprised when students mobbed her for her autograph. Nadia’s officially the latest inductee in the REEL CANADA heartthrobs hall of fame!

Nadia wasn’t the only short film guest that wowed the group from Peel. Comedians Adam and Dave, regulars on the “REEL CANADA circuit”, showed some of the short films from their Unreel Sports Series and took questions from a very excited crowd. REEL CANADA veterans Emily Hunter and Dan Diamond rounded out the day, talking to students about SHARKWATER and THE ROCKET, respectively. Both Emily and Dan have shown real dedication to the REEL CANADA cause this year, coming out to an incredible number of events in person and via Skype.

Because of a generous sponsorship from Pizza Pizza, we were able to provide a free pizza lunch to all participating students – something which they definitely appreciated (some came back not just for seconds, but even thirds). There’s no happier sight than a bunch of smiling, well fed kids, and the afternoon screenings were packed and animated. Students had lots of questions for PROM NIGHT IN MISSISSIPPI producer Patricia Aquino, who said afterwards that it was one of the most engaged groups she’s ever spoken with, in dozens of screenings of the film to thousands of students.

On April 18th we did it all again at the Cineplex Sheppard Grande for a group of nearly 1,000 students from the Toronto District School Board. This event kicked off the Ontario portion of our National Tour.

Our third annual Cineplex day with the Peel District School Board will be taking place on today at the SilverCity Brampton. Over 650 secondary school students from across the Peel DSB will participate, selecting from three feature film screenings in the morning and three in the afternoon. AM films include THE ROCKET (with NHL publisher and hockey mega-expert Dan Diamond in attendance), ONE WEEK, preceded by some comedy shorts by Adam Brodie and Dave Derewlany (with the always hilarious Adam & Dave in attendance) and SHARKWATER (with eco-warrior and filmmaker Emily Hunter in attendance, who's been setting students on fire with her enthusiasm and passion throughout REEL CANADA's seventh season, making stops on our national tour in Montague PEI, Montreal QC, and soon, Winnipeg MB).

In the afternoon, students will watch the zombie comedy FIDO, preceded by the short film EVELYN: THE CUTEST EVIL DEAD GIRL (with star Nadia Litz in attendance), the documentary PROM NIGHT IN MISSISSIPPI (with producer Patricia Aquino in attendance), and IRON ROAD. 

This event kicks off the "Ontario leg" of our national tour, which will include one more large Cineplex Day in Toronto on the 18th, and six other Do-It-Yourself festivals between now and mid-May.