On Sat., March 3, the Reel Youth Film Festival, in partnership with the Cumberland Community School Society (CCSS) will provide a stage for young filmmakers to showcase their work.
The event takes place at 7 p.m., at Cumberland Community School, Beaufort Gym and is a fundraiser for the CCSS Youth Centre.
The Reel Youth Film Festival pulls together an insightful, diverse, compelling and humorous collection of short films from across the globe – all made by youth. Chosen by a youth selection panel from more than 1,500 submissions and almost 100 countries around the world, this collection will show you the world through the eyes of an incredibly gifted emerging group of filmmakers.
Whether it’s an immigrant’s story of building a home in a new country, Iranian children finding love at a busy intersection, or fruits and vegetables enduring the hardships of kitchen-prison, laughter and learning are guaranteed at the Reel Youth Film Festival.
Included in these films will be five films from local Comox Valley Youth: Tao Werner has entered a film each year to the Reel Youth Film Festival. He has consistently won the Audience Choice award and in his first year in the festival his film entry was selected by the youth council to be included in the travelling festival.This year he has created a music video for the song Murder of Crows by Corwin Fox.
As a 15-year-old filmmaker from Campbell River, Riley Teramura is the youngest filmmaker in the group.
“I got into filmmaking last year when I took the video production course at my school. I love being a director, actor and editor, but my favorite role is writing because I can come up the stories we film,” he noted. Teramura’s film explores the inner conflict between darkness and the light.
The impacts of sexual assault and the support victims need is told in Justina Scott’s film, It Can Happen to Anyone. Annelies Henckel is a 16-year-old student from Courtenay. Her film illustrates the struggle with depression and how it changes how we view ourselves.
Frank Goudie’s film The Aurum of a Hero showcases a girl’s inner conflict about her superpowers.
The Reel Youth Film Festival empowers young artists to express their creativity, entertain audiences, and share their visions for a more just and sustainable world. The festival is a model for community engagement, a celebration of youth culture, and a showcase for the richness and diversity of a new generation of filmmakers.
Tickets for the Festival are $7 for adults and $5 for youth. Tickets can be purchased at the door, or online at cumberlandcommunityschools.com This event would not be possible without the generous support from our local sponsors: First Credit Union and The Update Company. Major sponsors of the festival include Tides Canada Initiatives.
For more information, please contact Kate Ashton, CCSS Program Coordinator at ccss.youthcoordinator@gmail.com