REEL EAST COAST
Season 9 is now streaming on CBC Gem
REEL EAST COAST (REC) is a television series that showcases the highest quality short films from across Atlantic Canada. Every season, over four episodes audiences receive a warm and welcoming East Coast invitation to an incredible range of films and filmmakers. Down-home hospitality combined with dedicated talent, this is what REEL EAST COAST is all about.
Hosted by Atlantic Canadian actor and radio host, Jeff Douglas (CBC’s Mainstreet), the ninth season premiered on CBC TV on Monday, March 4th at 12:00AM. All four episodes are now available to stream on CBC Gem free.
Season 9 Episodes
EPISODE 1
MISS CAMPBELL: INUK TEACHER
RUN TIME: 15:00
DIRECTOR: Heather Campbell
Part oral history and part visual poem, MISS CAMPBELL: INUK TEACHER is the story of Evelyn Campbell, a trailblazer for an Inuit-led educational system in the small community of Rigolet, Labrador.
MICKEY
RUN TIME: 5:18
DIRECTOR: Stevey Hunter
Mickey isn’t one to share their feelings. But after a winter-break fling, everything changes. Will they work up the courage to express how they really feel?
HUM
RUN TIME: 7:10
DIRECTOR: Rebecca Tremblay
When grieving mother Vera takes a walk into the woods, painful memories of her young daughter’s passing begin to surface. As Vera struggles to stay afloat emotionally, an unexpected finding brings her closer to her little girl.
ESCAPE THE USUAL
RUN TIME: 14:10
DIRECTOR: Colby Conrad
ESCAPE THE USUAL follows a day in the life of three teenage boys during the spring of 2002 in a small fishing village along the south shore of Nova Scotia.
EPISODE 2
HEBRON RELOCATION
RUN TIME: 15:00
DIRECTOR: Holly Andersen
In HEBRON RELOCATION, Holly Andersen explores what makes a place a home as she learns more about her community’s connection to generations of displaced northern Labrador Inuit.
WOLF
RUN TIME: 8:37
DIRECTOR: Kathleen Dorian
WOLF is a fragmented depiction of the jagged edges and soft places in new parenthood, motherhood and breastfeeding.
BHA LAD LÀN SGEULACHDAN
RUN TIME: 5:57
DIRECTOR: Todd Fraser
For Willie Francis Fraser, dance is inherited by way of dreams. Shot entirely in Gaelic by his grandson, director Todd Fraser, BHA LAD LÀN SGEULACHDAN is a tender reflection on Gaelic storytelling and dance, the latter of which Willie Francis learns under stance circumstances as a youth in Nova Scotia.
STARRY-EYED
RUN TIME: 2:48
DIRECTOR: Emma MacCabe
What happens to wishes made on stars? Big stars are bogged down with work, and planets can’t grant wishes at all. Maybe dim stars could make a dream come true?
EUA-LANDER
RUN TIME: 8:28
DIRECTOR: Erica Meus-Saunders
19-year-old Tracey is living a charmed life; great adoptive parents, college life and childhood bestie. On the eve of her 20th birthday, she suddenly gets ill and undergoes a transformation, changing into an outer-worldly being. Her life makes a 180 degree flip, one that she slowly adapts to.
EPISODE 3
CITY COOP
RUN TIME: 07:14
DIRECTOR: Claire Fraser
CITY COOP is a short documentary film showcasing backyard chicken keepers in the Halifax and Dartmouth region. Through sharing knowledge and experience around chicken keeping, more city dwellers may see the many benefits that come with having a backyard coop.
THE HEALING JAR
RUN TIME: 7:04
DIRECTOR: Andrea Cass
THE HEALING JAR is a short meditative documentary which uses ASMR techniques and poetic imagery designed to relax the audience. It creates a space for the audience to reflect on their own healing.
ENTRÉE
RUN TIME: 6:50
DIRECTOR: Akshay Shirke
During the chaotic lead up to a Thanksgiving dinner in Halifax, two Indian immigrants find themselves at odds about how to find their place in a new culture.
MOTHER’S SKIN
RUN TIME: 20:00
DIRECTOR: Leah Johnston
A neglected six-year-old girl struggles to cope with her mother’s depression, uncovering a secret from her mother’s past.
EPISODE 4
THE GAZE
RUN TIME: 8:48
DIRECTOR: Stacy Gardner
SYNOPSIS: Through the eyes of a South Korean artist living in Newfoundland, Ginok Song, takes us on a journey through her paintings, and the wisdom gained through the female gaze.
KEEPER
RUN TIME: 13:27
DIRECTOR: Tori Martin Fleming
SYNOPSIS: Nicole is a housekeeper at a chain hotel, desperate to leave but unsure of where to go. While cleaning the rooms of people with more exciting lives than her, she tries on new identities by snooping through her eccentric group of guest’s belongings.
SLAY
RUN TIME: 9:52
DIRECTOR: Kevin Hartford
SYNOPSIS: Faced with the impending departure of his BFF, Glen makes an effort to rekindle old friendships...to varying degrees of success.
THE YEAR OF THE LONG BOULDER
RUN TIME: 9:33
DIRECTOR: Brielle LeBlanc
SYNOPSIS: Crushed by a messy unrequited love, a young queer poet—through the confidence of their best friend and the truth of their art—finally reckons with their own emotional baggage (or ‘boulder’).