Anonymous (Anónimos)

Audition (Auditie)

Cataplexy

Clear Blue

Daisy Cutter

dik

Fresh Skweezed

I Love Luci

Luminaris

Noreen

Of Boogers and Men

Paths of Hate

Rumbleseat

The Boy in the Bubble

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

The Gruffalo’s Child

The Interview

Get a great rate at the festival’s Recommended Hotel – the Stanford Inn at 11401 – 100 Avenue. Quote “Reel Shorts” when booking to receive a standard room for $89/night plus applicable taxes (free upgrade to a kitchen unit subject to availability). It is pet friendly and has complimentary airport shuttle. The ride from the airport takes less than 10 minutes. Phone 1-800-661-8160 or (780) 539-5678 to book and ask for Laurie.

The Clubbing Inspiration workshop was developed as a stepping stone for artists who want to try coming up with a screenplay idea, aspiring writers who have a kernel of an idea that needs to be fleshed out, and writers with a draft who want to bring their script to the next level, this workshop will cover finding the themes that speak to you, the components of a strong premise, developing interesting and compelling characters, and using your characters’ wants and needs to establish your dramatic structure. Come ready to discover new ideas or work on ideas you already have during class discussion and in-class assignments. No screenwriting experience necessary.

Making a short film can be a great way to showcase your writing, directing, or acting skills, transform a sketch or one-act play into a permanent piece of art, or create a touchstone to build support for a feature film, but where many short films fail is in the original concept. The Writing Your Short Film workshop will cover what makes a great short film script great, focusing on character point of view, theme, the importance of twists or reveals, and writing a satisfying ending. Examples of concepts will be taken from the films in the Love Notes film package which can be seen at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, May 2nd or at 10:30 am on Saturday, May 5th. No filmmaking experience necessary.

Michelle Steffes was Director of Development at Universal’s Larger than Life Productions, the production company of Gary Ross, where she worked on the development of several films, including Seabiscuit and The Tale of Despereaux. After leaving the company to pursue her writing and directing goals, she was selected to participate in AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, where she wrote and directed the short film Driftwood. Since then, short films she directed or produced have won awards at festivals such as Sundance, Seattle, Savannah, Rhode Island, Vail, and LA Comedy Shorts. She has served as a screenwriting mentor for non-profits such as Cinestory, Act One, and WriteGirl, and works as a freelance consultant for screenwriters undergoing the Writers Guild’s credits determination procedure.

Michelle was shortlisted for the 2009 Academy Awards for producing the short film Short Term 12 which was an Official Selection of the 2010 Reel Shorts Film Festival, and her short film The Interview won the Grand Prize for Best Fiction at USA Film Festival, qualifying it for 2011 Academy Award consideration. It screened as part of the Reel Shorts Sneak Preview on Oct 1, 2011 and is an Official Selection of the 2012 Reel Shorts Film Festival. Michelle will participate in Q&As after the screenings of The Interview at 12:30 pm on Wed, May 2 and at 8:00 pm on Sat, May 5. As well as teaching screenwriting workshops, she will also visit junior high and high school classrooms where she’ll screen The Interview and participate in a Q&A session with the class about her experiences making the film and as a filmmaker in Los Angeles.

Monsieur Lazhar is the story of an Algerian immigrant who is hired to replace a Montreal elementary school teacher who died tragically.  As he helps the children cope with their shock and grief, he must come to terms with his own tragic past.

Brought to Grande Prairie in partnership with Film Circuit, a division of the Toronto International Film Festival, Monsieur Lazhar won Best Canadian Feature Film at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival as well as the UPC Audience Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival to name just a few of the awards it has received.

At the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Writer/Director Philippe Falardeau was interviewed before the screening of the film. I found the 22-minute interview to be very entertaining while providing great insight into the kind of man he is and what drew him to adapt this play into a film. But the set design? Interesting to say the least.  Skip past the introduction and the the trailer to get to the interview which is in English.

The film has also been a hit with reviewers.  In his review in the Montreal Gazette on January 17, Brendan Kelly noted that Writer/Director Philippe Falardeau’s “adaptation of Evelyne de la Chenelière’s play avoids the maudlin at all costs, keeps things refreshingly understated and manages to deliver charming comic moments in the telling of what could have been a grim story.”

In a Postmedia News review in which she gave the film 4 stars, Katherine Monk wrote that “Monsieur Lazhar proves you can bring an audience to tears with the gentlest caress and the simplest of stories, as long as you’re sincere.”

Tickets are $10 (students $5) at the door or purchase advance tickets at the GPLT Box Office at 10130 – 98 Avenue (phone 538-1616).

Alice (Sophie Nélisse) and Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag)

Simon (Émilien Néron)

Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag)

It was posted on our Facebook page on Monday, and had its first public unveiling at the Mighty Peace Teachers Convention on Thursday.  With 1800 teachers in attendance, I had lots of opportunity to talk about everything we offer in our school program – 5 film packages with one each for Grades 2-3, 4-6, junior high, high school English/French, and high school Social Studies, 3 Youth Filmmaking Challenge workshops (we have some openings in Alpha), and class visits by Scott Belyea, Scooter Corkle, Michelle Steffes, and others yet to be confirmed.

With a record number of submissions this year (250 from 34 countries) and about 600 films we’ve considered from other sources (film festivals, distributors, reviews, etc), our program of films will jump from 62 last year to close to 100 this year.  It’ll be a great line-up of films!

I had planned on bringing in Pink Ribbons, Inc as part of our GPLT Movie Series, but was thrilled to hear that Landmark Cinemas was bringing it to the Jan Cinema. We could have only given it one screening whereas playing at the Jan gives people a lot more opportunities to see it. And Toonie Tuesday is an unbeatable deal!

In his article, ‘Pink Ribbons’ exposes hypocrisy posted on Feb 3rd, Bruce Kirkland writes, “Pink Ribbons, Inc. is guaranteed to shock anyone who thinks that pink ribbon fund-raising is innocent – or even useful in either preventing or curing breast cancer.

Jay Stone of Postmedia News gave the film 4 stars out of 5 in his review and concludes that “it’s not a conspiracy, because that would be easy to expose.  It’s just business as usual.”

According to the Tomorrow Project, Alberta’s biggest-ever cancer study that is currently recruiting thousands of test subjects, 1 in 2 Albertans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 4 will die from it.  Since half of us are female, and the biggest single risk factor for breast cancer is being a woman, this documentary addresses a subject that touches almost everyone in some way.  It’s powerful and definitely worth seeing!

Le Havre has won 13 awards including the Gold Hugo for Best Feature at the 2011 Chicago International Film Festival.

Writer/Director Aki Kaurismäki of Finland notes on the film’s website that “The European cinema has not much addressed the continuously worsening financial, political, and above all, moral crisis that has led to the ever-unsolved question of refugees; refugees trying to find their way into the EU from abroad, and their irregular, often substandard treatment.  I have no answer to this problem, but I still wanted to deal with this matter in this anyhow unrealistic film.”

When asked in an interview by Christine Masson about casting a singer (Little Bob) to play Roberto Piazza, Kaurismäki responds that the character is the Elvis of this Kingdom.  In a Bomblog interview with Craig Hubert, he adds that, “For me a movie without at least one live music performance is like a Pope without artificial teeth.”

In his November 2nd review, Robert Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 4 stars and commented that “There is nothing cynical or cheap about it, it tells a good story with clear eyes and a level gaze, and it just plain makes you feel good.”

In her November 4th review, Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave it an “A” and called it “a perfect, deadpan, impishly optimistic fairy tale.”

In her December 9th review, Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post gave it 4 stars and called it “one of the finest films of the year, a comedy of unusual compassion and generosity that can get away with its most fanciful contrivances because its style is so simple and its tone so gentle and forgiving.”

Tickets are $10 (students $5) at the door or avoid the line-up with advance tickets at the GPLT Box Office at 10130 – 98 Avenue (phone 538-1616).

Marcel Marx (André Wilms) and Monet (Jean-Pierre Darroussin)

Idrissa (Blondin Miguel)

Marcel Marx (André Wilms) and Idrissa (Blondin Miguel)

Laika and Idrissa (Blondin Miguel)

Marcel Marx (André Wilms) and Arletty (Kati Outinen)

Peter and the Wolf, the music, was composed in 1936 in the USSR by Sergei Prokofiev and Peter & the Wolf, the animated film, was directed by Suzie Templeton in 2006.  The music doesn’t start until almost 6 minutes into the film.  Not many short films are available on DVD but this one is – see Peter and the Wolf.  I’d recommend buying A Collection of 2007 Academy Award: Nominated Short Films instead since, at the time I write this, it’s the same price and it has 7 other films including my all-time favorite Tanghi Argentini which you can watch in an earlier blog – Favorite Festival Film.

Another great film for classical music lovers and skateboarders to enjoy is Formic from our 2011 festival.  The music is the rousing first movement from Beethoven Symphony No. 5.  This 2009 film from Germany zooms in with 3D animation on the ant whose life is disturbed by a skateboarder (Dennis Gläser).

Each night has a different line-up of films and it’s a closely guarded secret as to which ones have been selected.  The only way to find out is to come to the screenings.  As in previous years, the Sunday night package has already sold out, but there are still tickets available for Monday night:  $20 if bought at the store or $25 at the door (phone 780.539.0336 for more info).

To see descriptions and trailers of all the films that could be in the line-up, check out the World Tour Films.

Although stunning cinematography is commonplace with these adventure or mountain culture films, one of my favorites from past World Tours is a simple Lego animation called The Best of Jo which was in the 2007 program. Produced and directed by young Logan Carlstrom, this 4-minute stop-action animation is about a coffee-addicted guy named Jo who is eager to try mountain sports.