Our festival has been recognized as an ACCT (Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television) approved festival which means that Canadian filmmakers whose films were accepted into our 2013 festival can use that acceptance towards their application requirements for the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards (submission deadline Oct 18, 2013).
Kirsten Goruk of the Daily Herald-Tribune wrote a lovely article about the recognition: Reel Shorts Film Festival receives ACCT accreditation. Our festival becomes the 5th festival in Alberta on the eligible list of festivals in addition to two in Edmonton (Edmonton International Film Festival and Global Visions Film Festival), one in Calgary (Calgary International Film Festival), and one in Banff (Banff World Media Festival which used to be called the Banff World Television Festival).
This is an honour for our festival but, more importantly, it is a benefit to the region’s filmmakers as well as to other Canadian filmmakers whose films we screen in the fest.
Of the 102 films from 22 countries that we screened at our 2013 fest in May, six were Peace Region (northwest Alberta and northeast BC) films. Four of them have been accepted into the upcoming Edmonton International Film Festival:
- Sophia written, produced, and directed by Rory Mells
- The Trap written, produced, and directed by Rio Fitch
- both festival-produced films:
- The Horizon Project directed by Scott Belyea which was shot in July 2012 as part of the 2-week internship program called Shoot for Reel
- HB directed by Nathan Fast, which was accepted into EIFF’s high school category, was shot in April 2013 as part of the 7-week Youth Film Mentorship Project
Screening at one more eligible film festival is the next step to qualifying these films for submission to the ACCT for Canadian Screen Award consideration.
Other Canadian films in our 2013 festival which may benefit from our addition to ACCT’s list of eligible festivals include:
- the following NFB (National Film Board) films:
- 55 Socks directed by Co Hoedeman
- A Sea Turtle Story directed by Kathy Shultz
- Big Mouth written, directed, and animated by Andrea Dorfman
- The Basketball Game written, directed, and edited by Hart Snider
- A Royal Commission produced and directed by Ninon Larochelle
- Adjust Tracking written and directed by Matt O’Mahoney
- Attack of the Brainsucker co-written and directed by Sid Zanforlin
- Bow Tied (Noeud papillon) written and directed by Fernand-Philippe Morin-Vargas
- Game written and directed by Josh MacDonald
- Granny Baby written, produced, and directed by Eva Colmers
- Snack Attack written and directed by Andrew Cadelago
- The Fiddler’s Reel (Ruidhle an Fhidhleir) written and directed by Marc Almon
- The Man Who Didn’t Know (L’homme qui ne savait pas) produced and directed by Berge Kasparian and Martin Tremblay
- The Money Pet written and directed by Gary Hawes
Wouldn’t it be great to see one of them accept an award for Best Short Documentary, Best Live Action Short Drama, or Best Animated Short when the Canadian Screen Awards air on CBC on March 9, 2014?!