Award-winning animation and thought-provoking shorts as Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth announces 25th anniversary program

Ice Merchants, Sedna: Empress of the Sea, workshops for kids, and more, from March 28 to April 6

Opening film *Sedna: Empress of the Sea*

REEL 2 REAL INTERNATIONAL Film Festival for Youth has announced its 25th anniversary program for March 28 to April 6, with in-person screenings at the Vancity Theatre and the Roundhouse Arts & Community Centre, as well as streaming options across the province.

Overall, the fest is showing 10 feature films and 40 shorts, from over 20 countries and Indigenous nations, including 15 films from Canada. Eight of the feature films will compete for the prestigious Edith Lando Peace Prize. The Sunday Fun Day is also back on April 2, with a pancake breakfast and drop-in workshops on short films and animation during the day. Reel 2 Real also hosts its annual Youth Media Conference for high-schoolers.

Things kick off with an opening night screening and party, March 28 at VIFF Centre, with the filmmakers on hand for the Canadian premiere of Sedna: Empress of the Sea. The animated film is inspired by the Indigenous legends that writer-director-producer Jerry Thevenet’s grandmother told him as a young boy. The titular story follows a courageous young Inuit girl, Sedna, who is kidnapped by a duplicitous raven and later magically transforms into a mermaid-like goddess.

Standouts on R2R’s public program include two Oscar nominated shorts: João Gonzalez’s award-winning, vividly animated look at climate change, Ice Merchants, (Portugal, France, United Kingdom); and Australia’s An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It, Lachlan Pendragon’s mind-bending work in which a call centre employee uncovers the flaws in his stop-motion universe, with the help the titular bird.

Elsewhere, watch for award-winning shorts Luce and the Rock (Belgium), Simo (Canada), and Carol Nguyen’s Nanitic (Canada).

From right here at home, Vancouver filmmakers Sophie Jarvis and Alicia Eisen have created the NFB-produced, stop-motion treat Zeb’s Spider, about a cagey woman facing her fears, while Aisa Yongman’s N'xaxaitkw tells the legend of the lake monster better known as Ogopogo.

You can find the full schedule and more information here.

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Janet Smith

Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is a Webster Award–winning arts journalist who has spent more than three decades immersed in Vancouver’s performing arts, film, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

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