The Reel Shorts Film Festival, held annually in

Grande Prairie 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 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

since 2007, is recognized as one of North America's best short film festivals. Its programming focus is short-form cinematic storytelling, screening "gems of storytelling brilliance" from around the world, across Canada, and in the Peace Region."About Reel Shorts", Reel Shorts Film Festival, retrieved Jan 6, 2013 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 from which 80-105 short films are selected. It is a qualifying festival for the

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

History

Terry Scerbak founded the festival as a production of the nonprofi
Grande Prairie Live Theatre
in 2007. 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. The festival's program has grown from 3 days screening 38 films in 2007 to 6–8 days screening 80-105 films since 2014.Mari Sasano
"Reeling In Alberta"

Alberta Views ''Alberta Views'' (also ''AlbertaViews'') is a Calgary, Alberta regional magazine, established in 1997, that covers political, social and cultural issues in the province of Alberta. It is published 10 times annually and its monthly print run ...

, Oct 2014 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.

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

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

Jury Awards

Film Productions

In the summer of 2012, the festival produced a short film as part of Shoot for Reel, a two-week internship training program for 12 interns which was a collaboration between the festival,

Grande Prairie Regional College Northwestern Polytechnic (NWP), formerly known as Grande Prairie Regional College (GPRC) is a community college in northwestern Alberta, Canada. The college's main campus is located in Grande Prairie, with a secondary campus in Fairview, and ma ...

, 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, premiered at the 7th Reel Shorts Film Festival in 2013. The school program of screenings, training, and filmmaker class visits is a big component of the film festival. In 2013, the festival produced ''HB'', an 8-minute film directed by Nathan Fast, as part of the Youth Film Mentorship Project. On Sep 29, 2013, it won the Best Overall Youth Short Film Award at the Calgary International Film Festival and a month later won the Young Filmmakers Program Competition Grand Prize at the 2013 Austin Film Festival. In the summer of 2018, the festival helped fund the production of the short film ''Aeternitas'' as part of the 2018 Shoot for Reel, 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. ''Aeternitas'' was nominated for six

Rosie Awards 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 ...

in 2019 for Drama Under 30 Minutes and won two of them: Gordie Haakstad for Best Director and Chris Beauchamp for Best Cinematographer.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Reel Shorts Film Festival
Film festivals in Alberta Short film festivals in Canada Film festivals established in 2007 Grande Prairie