At the Canadian Sport Film Festival (CSFF) we pride ourselves on living up to our mission of “Provoking dialogue on the power of sport to inspire social change.” The 9th annual 2017 CSFF is set for June 9-11 at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto.
With your help, CSFF will support young Indigenous athletes coming to Toronto, connect them with local community groups, provide access to film screenings for Toronto youth, and continue to offer free youth workshops and a free screening for high-school students.
A central feature of CSFF has been – and always will be – reaching out to young people: encouraging them to be active, providing them with opportunities to be creative, and creating spaces where important conversations can be had that break-down boundaries, and forge community.
We do this by offering a variety of FREE activities for young people within the cinema and by reaching out to them. Young people attend the festival, watch relatable content, and meet filmmakers and storytellers – making connections that would otherwise be unavailable to them.
This year’s program highlights the resilience of Indigenous youth through sport. CSFF 2017 opens with the Toronto premiere of Keepers of the Game and the efforts of Mohawk young women to start a girls’ lacrosse team at their high school. Our consistently sold-out Family Screening, features Salluit Run Club and a group of young runners, led by award-winning teacher, Maggie Macdonnell, striving to run the Hawaii Marathon. We want to have athletes from both groups attend CSFF and interact with local youth.
CSFF prides itself on bringing powerful stories and amazing films to Canadian audiences. But we do much more than show films in cinemas. An important component of what we do is getting young people active while also engaging their creative minds.
Our youth outreach activities target underserved communities and with the help of your generous support we are able to reduce barriers to participation by offering many of these opportunities FREE of charge to participants and families.
This commitment to youth outreach allowed young people at CSFF 2016 to
Sport and film are powerful tools to start conversations. Together, our workshops and discussion help facilitate a space for young people to:
Create and build stronger communities
Encourage people to invest their energies into healthy activities that contribute to holistic wellness.
It’s a special privilege to be able to connect people like Nassra Mohammed with young people in Toronto. Since our inception, CSFF has been programming with young people in mind. This began with our Youth Workshop, which was larger than ever in 2016. The feedback that we received is that 90% of participants “agree” or “strongly agree” with the statement that “I (child) learned/gained something from attending this event.”
Here is some of the other feedback that we get from parents/guardians and youth …
The Canadian Sport Film Festival is a not-for-profit corporation; our mission is one of outreach and artistic engagement by sharing films that use sport to speak to larger issues. Our Youth Workshop continues to grow (nearly doubling the number of participants in 2016) and our commitment to connecting local youth with newsmakers and storytellers remains as firm as ever.
Your support of $3,000 will enable us to:
In 2008, we launched the Canadian Sport Film Festival to share human stories from around the world that are told through sport and film. Since then, we have connected with thousands of filmgoers and screened more than 200 films — many of them world, North American, and Canadian premieres — from more than 35 countries. In addition to our youth programming and outreach, we host filmmakers and film stars.
Our 2017 festival showcases a program that deals with issues as diverse as our own city. The 23 films – 22 of which are premiering at CSFF – focus on challenges related to women’s rights, mental health, youth and children, substance use, addiction and resilience, and the importance of community.
We truly appreciate your support as we look to provide these opportunities to young people in Toronto and we look forward to welcoming you at the 9th annual Canadian Sport Film Festival on June 9-11 at TIFF Bell Lightbox.