Reel Shorts Film Festival

Reel Shorts Film Festival

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Reel Shorts Film Festival centres on short films from around the world, Canada and the Peace Region of northwest Alberta and northeast British Columbia. Its programme combines themed screenings, including Psycho Shorts for horror audiences, with age-appropriate school packages and filmmaking workshops. The festival dates back to March 2007 in Grande Prairie and is run by the Reel Shorts Film Society.

The last confirmed edition dates are April 26–May 1, 2022, for screenings at Grande Prairie Live Theatre, followed by an online programme. The organizer reports no screenings or festivals since 2022, primarily because of a shortage of volunteers. The festival remains listed among the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television’s eligible Canadian festivals for the 2026 Canadian Screen Awards.

Country

Canada

Focus

Animation, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Horror

Categories

Animation, Documentary, Short

Awards and prizes

The 2022 awards include Best Canadian Short, Best Documentary Short, Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short Under 15 Minutes and Best Live Action Short 15+ Minutes, with honorable mentions. Audience awards cover general, youth and children’s audiences. The separate Frantic Film Challenge presents Best Film and Audience Choice awards. The festival’s trophy is a locally made swan-inspired design by Grande Prairie sculptor Grant Berg. These are the last confirmed edition’s awards, rather than an announcement of a new competition.

Festival rules

The organizer reports no screenings or festivals since 2022. The published submission rules concern the 2022 edition; they do not announce a new call for entries. For 2022, entries are 2–31 minutes including credits, completed after January 1, 2020, with English subtitles where needed and all rights cleared. Drama, comedy, documentary and animation are accepted. Previous submissions, non-narrative experimental films, dance or promotional music videos, web-series episodes, YouTube films and prior public Grande Prairie screenings are excluded. Entries use FilmFreeway uploads or Vimeo links. There is no entry fee for the 2022 call. The general deadline is November 7, 2021, with an extended January 31, 2022 deadline for Peace Region filmmakers. Peace Region premiere exceptions and exhibition specifications appear in the archived official rules. Filmmaker and eligibility inquiries go to terry@reelshorts.ca. A future edition requires a new announcement from the organizer.

Contacts

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