There were at least two pleasant surprises during Monday's Reel Youth Film Festival showing at Roberts Creek Hall. The first surprise came when one of the young film makers, Chris Tait of Wilson Creek, showed up unexpectedly to talk about his film, Strength and Courage, to about 50 people of all ages in the audience.
Reel Youth is a non-profit organization that seeks to empower young people up to the age of 19 to make and distribute films using video or animation on the issues that concern them most. Black Cat Productions partnered with the festival to bring the youth jury's selection of 17 short films to the Coast.
Tait's five-minute film, that he worked on with a group of Vancouver youth living in care, focused on the discovery that though abuse may take place during foster care, the kids are not helpless. As the kids chanted to the world that they have rights, too, their hope for a better future lit up their faces. The concept was developed through lots of brainstorming and teamwork, said the teen, and was drawn from personal experience since many of the participants have lived in foster care. Their overall goal is to act as advocates for others in care. Chris did much of the camerawork and wrote the music and lyrics. The group received some film mentoring from Mark Vonesch and Erica Kohn, Reel Youth organizers, whose assistance appears in the credits of many of the selected films. For the festival screening, David Barbarash of Black Cat added an excellent short by a local teen, Jonathan Williams, called The Compass that told a magical story with great humour.
The second surprise for the audience was the depth of the themes covered in the films. There was not a skateboard in sight, usually a popular film subject; the film makers dug deeper and the prevailing theme was injustice. A group of Aboriginal teens spoke out clearly against Shell's proposal to develop methane resources in the sacred headwaters of northwest B.C. In a one-minute production from Templeton High School in Vancouver called I Remember, youths were charged with recollecting the low points of our Canadian history in an effort not to repeat mistakes. In Coming Outcast, a teen admits to her good friends she is gay and expects support, only to be shunned by other school mates. Blackspot Culture, a film by a Langley teen, was interesting, but tried to cover too much ground - the stranglehold of the corporation - in just 10 minutes. First sexual encounter is a natural topic of interest for teens and it became the focal point for That's What She Said, an explicit look at guys and their sexual bravado. No Glove, No Love by kids from Bella Bella was a delightful animated look at the need for condoms.
Another surprise came with a film made by youth about the elderly. Halfway There, a 10-minute film from a Vancouver group, Projections and Intersections, captured the poignancy of a widower in a nursing home to whom the simplest tasks are a great challenge. His interaction with one much younger than himself is ultimately a positive experience and it speaks of hope between the generations.
More about the Reel Youth program can be found at: www.reelyouth.ca.
