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A celebration of the best of Canada's filmmaking from across the country featuring drama, documentary, Indigenous, and French-language productions from some of Canada's top directors, actors, and industry professionals.
Regular Full Festival Pass $90 + Fees (Includes all screenings and events for 3 days)
Single Evening Pass: $45 + Fees (includes all screenings and events for that day)
Friday, January 27
Saturday January 28
Sunday January 29
The violent mob that erupted on June 15, 2011, after the Vancouver Canucks Game 7 Stanley Cup loss caught the world’s attention—partially because it appeared un-Canadian, mostly because it became known as the “first smartphone riot.” Images of looting, vandalism and fighting spread through social networks as quickly as the fires burning around the arena. In the following days, more than a million photos and a thousand hours of video were sent to the police as evidence, leading to hundreds of charges. Following up with a number of individuals whose brief actions were immortalized online and the repercussions they suffered, both legal and social, highlights the perils of a toxic social-media mob mentality that has only grown and that persists to this day.
I’m Just Here for the Riot examines the riot through on-the-ground footage, interviews with many people who were there, including rioters who were outed on social media and the, “lasting, multi-platform impact the riot had across the city." Included in ESPN's 30 for 30.
Directors: Kathleen Jayme & Asia Youngman / Documentary / Runtime: 78 minutes / Language: English / Film Location: Canada
The screening at will be followed by a Q&A with producer, Michael Grand
When her only daughter leaves for college, Suze, a single mom who has lost her purpose, gets stuck taking care of her daughter’s heartbroken ex-boyfriend who she can’t stand. On her journey of self-discovery, Suze discovers what living purposefully really looks like, while making an unlikely bond along the way.
AWARDS: Winner of the Canadian Narrative Film Award at the Calgary International Film Festival
Directors: Dane Clark & Linsey Stewart / Writers: Dane Clark & Linsey Stewart / Starring: Aaron Ashomre, Michaela Watkins, Sara Waisglass / Comedy-Drama / Runtime: 91 minutes / Language: English / Film Location: Canada
India: Smita is an Untouchable. She dreams of seeing her daughter escape their miserable condition and attend school. Italy: Giulia works in her father’s workshop. When he is the victim of an accident, she discovers that the family business is ruined. Canada: renowned lawyer Sarah is on the verge of promotion to head her firm, until she learns of a devastating illness.
Three lives, three women, three continents. Three battles. Separated by great distances and different lives, Smita, Giulia and Sarah are bound unknowingly by something intimate and singular.
Director: Laetitia Colombani / Writers: Laetitia Colombani & Sarah Kaminsky / Starring: Kim Raver, Fotini Peluso, Mia Maelzer / Drama / Runtime: 121 minutes / Language: English, French, and Hindi with English subtitles / Filming Locations: France, Canada, Italy, India
Sasha est une jeune vampire avec un grave problème : elle est trop humaniste pour mordre! Lorsque ses parents, exaspérés, décident de lui couper les vivres, sa survie est menacée. Heureusement pour elle, Sasha fait la rencontre de Paul, un adolescent solitaire aux comportements suicidaires qui consent à lui offrir sa vie. Ce qui devait être un échange de bons procédés se transforme alors en épopée nocturne durant laquelle les deux nouveaux amis chercheront à réaliser les dernières volontés de Paul avant le lever du soleil.
Sasha is a young vampire with a serious problem: she’s too sensitive to kill! When her exasperated parents cut off her blood supply, Sasha’s life is in jeopardy. Luckily, she meets Paul, a lonely teenager with suicidal tendencies who is willing to give his life to save hers. But their friendly agreement soon becomes a nocturnal quest to fulfill Paul’s last wishes before day breaks.
AWARDS: Winner of 14 Awards including Audience Choice at Thessaloniki, Calgary, & Vancouver International Film Festivals, 4 Awards from the Venice Film Festival, and the DGC Discovery Award, plus 8 nominations SEE LIST
Director: Ariane Louis-Seize & Christine Doyon / Writer: Ariane Louis-Seize / Starring: Sara Montpetit, Félix-Antoine Bénard, Steve Laplante / Drama/Horror / Runtime: 92 minutes / Language: French with English Subtitles / Filming Location: Montreal, Canada
Ariane (Ariane Castellanos), une jeune Latino-Québécoise au bord de la faillite, déniche un poste d’interprète français-espagnol dans une manufacture employant des ouvriers guatémaltèques. Déterminée à faire un coup d’argent, elle se montre d’abord obéissante aux patrons de l’entreprise. Elle découvre toutefois une situation d’exploitation sournoise, les travailleurs migrants se soumettant à des tâches excessives en craignant les représailles de Stéphane (Marc-André Grondin), le directeur de l’usine. Refusant peu à peu de prendre part à ce système, Ariane se lie d’amitié avec les Guatémaltèques et entreprend avec eux une résistance quotidienne pour contrer les directives illégitimes de leur supérieur.
Trying to get her life back on track after a breakup, Ariane moves back to her hometown by the Richelieu river in southern Quebec. To save her sinking finances, she takes a job at the local food transformation plant as a French-to-Spanish interpreter for the seasonal migrant workers employed there. She befriends Manuel, an illiterate, naive young man who has left his small children behind in Guatemala to earn as much as he can in Canada. Although she is supposed to remain impartial, when she repeatedly witnesses the migrant workers’ mistreatment, she cannot remain silent. She may possibly be the only person who sees them as more than wage laborers – for they are above all human beings.
AWARDS: 10 Wins including the Audience Award at the Fantasia & Athens International Film Festival, Best Lead Performance from the Calgary International Film Festival, 2 Director Awards & 2 Grand Prix awards, plus & 3 Nominations SEE LIST
Director: Pier-Philippe Chevigny / Writer: Pier-Philippe Chevigny / Starring: Ariane Castellanos, Marc-André Grondin, Nelson Coronado / Social Drama / Runtime: 89 minutes / Language: French & Spanish with English Subtitles
Aitamaako'Tamisskapi Natosi: Before The Sun
A thrilling portrait of a young Siksika woman and the deep bonds between her father and family in the golden plains of Blackfoot Territory as she prepares for one of the most dangerous horse races in the world… on bareback. A sport for the truly brave, Logan Red Crow is an Indian Relay rider who vaults from horse to horse in short, exhilarating races. She is a champion in the making -besides her skill and sheer grit, Logan has a loving family, an elite group of horses, and a home on her ancestral lands. Those are invaluable, but this rider will need more for victory. With the dual pleasures of serenity and suspense: lyrical immersion in rural life alternates with thrilling race footage. As she pushes toward her goal, the connections between animal and human, family and community, ancestral tradition and contemporary life are profound and lasting.
AWARDS: 16 Wins Including Best Cinematography, Sound, Picture Editing, and Screenwriting (in a Feature Length Documentary) from the Leo Awards, the Festival Award from the San Diego International Film Festival, and 3 Indigenous Awards from Cinefest Sudbury, American Indian Film Festival, and Gimli Film Festival, plus 1 Nomination SEE LIST
Director: Banchi Hanuse / Writers: Banchi Hanuse & Tanya Maryniak / Starring: Logan Red Crow Allison Red Crow, Racey Big Snake / Documentary / Runtime: 88 minutes / Language: English, Blackfoot / Film Location: Siksika Nation, Tsuut’ina, Îyâxe Nakoda, Blackfoot Territory, Enoch Cree Nation Maskêkosihk, Casper, Wyoming.
The festival features evening gala celebrations, Q&A sessions and screenings of full-length feature films plus shorts and special presentations over three days featuring a wide variety of genres and storylines. Come and see what makes Canadian Cinema so great!
The Reel Canadian Film Festival is an independent program of the Reel Canadian Film Society. All screenings and events are held at the Vogue Theatre, except where otherwise noted.
