REEL CANADA's PEI Adventure
Students at Colonel Gray High School
Canadian film spread across PEI last week as REEL CANADA visited two schools and screened more than 20 feature films. After showing three of their comedy shorts, filmmaker duo Adam and Dave led laughter-filled Q&A sessions with three different groups of students. They shared how they got involved in filmmaking, how they balance between scripted and improv filmmaking, and their advice for young film makers: just never stop making films. Students also heard from filmmaker Pat Smith about his own experiences in the Canadian film industry, and the importance of supporting our local cultural products. Imagine how awful it would be if the only hockey games that were ever televised were those of American teams...
Filmmakers Adam and Dave at Colonal Gray High School
Thankfully, the students of Montague and Colonel Gray High Schools got to watch the Canadian film ONE WEEK, and travel on a motorcycle trip across the country with its main character, Ben. At Colonel Gray, we also watched BREAKAWAY, and six lucky students won DVDs of Canadian films for their trivia wizardry. When the theatres let out, students at both schools watched films with their classes for the rest of the week, showing REEL CANADA favourites like THE GREY FOX, THE CORPORATION, THE ROCKET, and MIGHTY JEROME. Several Colonel Gray students were interviewed about their film festival experience for the CBC radio program Main Street, and for all you islanders, keep an eye out for REEL CANADA’s appearance in the local paper, The Guardian, as well. Thank you to PEI for such a warm welcome!