R2R International Film Festival 2023 focuses on peace, justice, and pure magic
From thrilling anime to Oscar-nominated shorts, the fest for youth is celebrating 25 years
Goodbye, Don Glees!
Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth 2023 runs from March 28 to April 6 at VIFF Centre’s Vancity Theatre and Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre and online
WHEN VENAY FELTON launched the Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth in the late ’90s, Canadians were faced with constant discussion surrounding the harmful effects of television for children. Campaigns urging viewers to seek non-violent screening options were a dime a dozen, with a system for classifying the level of violence on TV programs rolled out in 1997 by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
But Felton’s background in media education for children had her questioning the growing skepticism of the screen at the time. Artistically innovative films help cultivate ideas, says Felton—and might even inspire kids to create their own movies one day.
“There are so many great films for children that I didn’t see the harm being done. I think that children are very critical and astute viewers,” Felton shares over a phone call with Stir after a rainy morning bike ride with her dog. “I also think that it’s an opportunity for many cultures to be represented on the screen, and not just stereotypical characters. It exposes children to other ways of life.”
Still carrying its founding principles of helping kids learn media-literacy skills, R2R is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Its annual Edith Lando Peace Prize is awarded to a work that uses cinema to advance the goals of peace and justice.
Those themes can be found throughout the 2023 festival, including in the opening night film, Sedna, Empress of the Sea. An Indigenous-made animated work, the tale is told through the oral history of writer-director-producer Jerry Thevenet’s grandmother, who is a residential-school survivor. The film was selected to kick off the festival by programmer T Bannister, who has been producing and coordinating R2R since 2009.
“I think the filmmakers have taken quite a lot of care to consider how they can introduce this conversation of residential schools and inequity for Indigenous folks in Canada to a younger audience, which is obviously a delicate thing to do,” Bannister says of Sedna, Empress of the Sea. “And I think they’ve achieved it with this very lively musical rendition of an Inuit legend.”
Bannister was the first employee that Felton hired to help run R2R. Before then, Felton was organizing the whole operation on her own. Now there’s a whole team behind the event, including Jessica Bradford, who has led R2R’s youth jury program for several years; programming coordinator Will Ross; a board of directors, screening committees, education advisors, workshop mentors; and more.
“Sometimes, you know, it seems like it was just yesterday that we were starting,” Felton says. “And each year is unique, both in terms of the filmmaking and the artists that teach during the festival. That’s always been a highlight of putting this together.”
A variety of stunningly made features are on R2R’s 2023 lineup, including three anime works on the night of April 1: The House of the Lost on the Cape; Goodbye, Don Glees!; and New Gods: Yang Jian.
The annual Sunday Fun Day pancake breakfast on April 2 will feature four short-film programs that focus on animation. Standouts include two Oscar-nominated shorts: Australian stop-motion filmmaker Lachlan Pendragon’s mind-bending An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It, and Portuguese director-animator João Gonzalez’s visually mesmerizing climate tale Ice Merchants.
The festival also offers elementary- and high-school programs available online and in-person, fun and informative workshops, and more. French director Pierre Core’s Belle and Sebastian: Next Generation (Belle et Sebastien – Nouvelle Génération) brings R2R to a close, in its Canadian premiere. The film centres on the relatinship between a 10-year-old and a huge mountain dog, with themes of animal rights, family, friendship, self-reliance, and learning to trust intuition.
Takeaways for R2R 2023 are aplenty. While media literacy is an ever-important factor of the festival for both Felton and Bannister, the value of quality animation is another aspect that Bannister hopes will stick with audiences this year.
“Animation kind of reminds us of our childhood—and for children, it really defines the childhood,” Bannister says. “Immersing ourselves in magical settings helps us remember what it’s like to be a child, and gives us permission to embrace that beautiful spirit.”
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