Testimonials

This was our second year at ReelHeART, and there is nothing we have found comparable to it. Phenomenal!

What Shannonn (the ReelHeART Director) is doing is great. ReelHeART is a great fest that I recommend to all filmmaker friends. You all are doing a great job!

We were welcomed and supported by Shannon and her volunteers. The minute she met us I knew she had actually watched our film and I felt like she respected us! The events were well attended, the filmmaker community was great and we some great people there. It is a well run and quality event.

ReelHeART was wonderful. Shannonn did a bang-up job for the festival & it was a huge success. We had never been to Toronto before & absolutely loved it, especially the big brewery there that gives out free samples. Wonderful gift bag, great parties & dinners, & of course the best is always meeting the fascinating folk that make movies. Congratulations, Shannonn, and thanks to all of you!

Just wanted to extend a word of thanks to ReelHeART for honoring Masika’s story with the First Prize (in the Feature Screenplay Competition). The live read was enlightening and gave me many important insights into how I can strengthen this story going forward. I’m grateful to all of the organisers and the wonderful talent that took on all of the roles! The horror ongoing in Congo is of course all that more motivating to really get this important story out there. Thanks – Lena

You and your team went out of your way to make ReelHeART an excellent festival. Congratulations to all. Thank you for including Impoverished Places. All the best.

ReelHeART was such a positive experience. The panels, seminars, readings, gathering etc. created a great sense of community. Shannon brought great people together and provided us with the opportunity to speak about our films, our works in progress our next projects. We were able to develop relationships that are still in tact today. And Shannon’s organizational skills are wonderful – I never doubted that what she said was going to happen, would actually happen. The festival also has a very very cool vibe because the locations are cool and hip. It is a great great fest. She also has really good taste in films, we saw films there that had done well internationally and it was good to see them embraced up north as well.

I have very fond memories of the ReelHeART Film Festival. My feature film, “Underdogs”, went to quite a few festivals and ReelHeART was one that really stood out for me. There was a personal touch, they kept everyone well informed by e mail on what was going on and when AND they had medals even for those of us who were just honourably mentioned. I like having that medal as a souvenir. Thank you ReelHeART- I really enjoyed the process! Silvana Jakich

What can I say? To me you become real when you take one of my films into your festival and even more so when you give me a prize which turns out to be so real that it arrives in a parcel on real mail… Other than that which is totally great. Even the name of the festival is a bit mysterious for a French person. Reel but not Real and that big H in the middle before the reassuring ART … My feeling is : please stay just the way you are … To me you are perfect. “ReelHeART” because that is what you are to me… RealGreat. Bonne année! – Liliane

We were very proud and happy to be a part of the 8th Annual ReelHeART Film Festival (as well as little sister fest, Toronto Beaches Film Festival)! Shannonn and her team really put together an eclectic group of films that didn’t follow the normal film festival structure, which I found really refreshing!  Thank you again for all of your hard work and love of the indie filmmakers! Best, Brittany

Last June (of 2011) two of our feature-length screenplays were selected as top-three winners of RHIFF’s Screenplay Writing Competition. My writing partner and I were thrilled. One of the benefits of winning was that all three winning scripts were given live, rehearsed readings by professional Toronto actors. At the opening night party, actors were introducing themselves using their screenplay character’s name. What a trip to meet our fictional characters in the flesh! The readings were superb. Canada’s top literary agent at The Characters Agency, Carl Liberman attended the reading of one of our scripts. He offered to show it to a director client. In the meantime, back in New York, we met a producer from Paramount. We told him about our wins at RHIFF. He asked what year they won. When we told him June of 2011, he asked we send the scripts immediately. Within one week from sending them, PARAMOUNT OPTIONED THE FAMILY FILM SCREENPLAY. We must thank and credit Shannonn and all the ReelHeART people (and actors!) for getting the ball rolling!

My partner and I whole-HeARTedly agree with every positive post here. The ReelHeART International Film Festival has gleaned all the best elements of the “Film Festival Experience” and rolled it into one. Shannonn, the festival’s director, has learned the ropes from attending and working with dozens and dozens of film festivals and she found all the ingredients and has developed a recipe for an unforgettable experience! She is the “Iron Chef” of the Film Festival circuit, lovingly and expertly serving up a week of delights which satisfy the eyes, ears, brains, hearts AND stomachs of all who participate. Her personal involvement and attention to each and every one of her “guests” is unsurpassed. Additionally, Shannonn’s connections to those working in the biz in Toronto are excellent. Through her Screenwriting Competition Series, winning scripts are rehearsed and read by some of Toronto’s most talented actors. My partner and I made a solid connection for representation at this event. ReelHeART has given us the break we were looking for. Thank you ReelHeART, Shannonn, actors, and over 90 volunteers who make this all possible!

Just been to the ReelHeART International Film Festival 2011. This was my first film festival and Shannonn and her amazing team has really set the bar very high as far as I’m concerned. All the film makers and screen writers were looked after right from the very second that we arrived in Toronto. One pass and we get film screenings that we wanted to attend and to dinner every night and any parties that we wanted to go to as well. Just the best attention to detail that you could want from a film festival. I also met a wide variety of film makers from all over the world and Shannonn made sure that we had time to spend with each other throughout the week. My script, ‘Overwhelming Darkness’ won first place in the screen writing contest and the table read by professional actors was the highlight of the festival for me. There were another two table reads for the other winners and these were absolutely fantastic as well, a great experience and just brilliant to see. This has been a really positive, fun and exciting experience for me and I can’t recommend this film festival highly enough. If you’ve got a spec screenplay, a short film, documentary, or feature then make sure that you submit it to the ReelHeART International Film Festival 2012, you won’t be disappointed.