The Yorkton Film Festival wasn鈥檛 going to let a pandemic get in the way of their celebration of the best short film in Canada. The festival went online, streaming the Golden Sheaf Awards ceremony on June 18, with 29 awards being given out to a wide range of film productions.
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Randy Goulden, executive director of the Yorkton Film Festival said that it was a big undertaking, especially as it was the first time they had done a completely online Golden Sheaf Awards ceremony. There were 29 presenters across Canada giving out the awards, and Goulden said that their hard work paid off.
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鈥淚鈥檓 hearing from filmmakers, sponsors and partners from right across our country, and they鈥檙e very pleased that in these times that we鈥檙e living in, we proceeded with this type of an awards ceremony, and it worked very well.鈥�
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The presentations were a mix of local people who could do it in person at the film festival's broadcaster Access Communications studios in Yorkton and those sending in self-filmed introductions. Java Post Productions, who put the whole show together, had previously done the show reels for the Festival, but this was a much larger project than usual. The hosts were filmed, safely distant from each other, in Regina.
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The work that goes into the Golden Sheaf Awards happens long before the ceremony itself, and that meant that the judging was complete before mid-March, making it a matter of figuring out how to hold a ceremony without being able to gather together. Goulden said that through the process they found an incredible list of films.
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鈥淚t was an incredible set of winners that we had. Twenty-nine categories, we had 92 films that were nominated out of the over 300 submitted this year. They were adjudicated by 20 different juries across the country鈥� All of that went on before COVID struck, we always acknowledge the festival as the most rigorously adjudicated in North America, where each category is adjudicated by film professionals who sit down and watch together and score and adjudicate the categories.鈥�
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Goulden said that now, more than ever, it was important to have the chance to recognize Canadian film.
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鈥淲e felt that after 73 years we couldn鈥檛 stop, and not have a year of recognizing Canadian film.鈥�
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There are a mix of repeat nominees and young, emerging filmmakers. Goulden said it鈥檚 a case of people wanting to come to Yorkton and get together, and that鈥檚 why you get acclaimed filmmakers like Theodore Ushev, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Blind Vaysha in 2017, making it a priority to submit to Yorkton - this year for The Physics of Sorrow.
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There鈥檚 also a chance to watch Canadian film this week, as the nominees and winners are hosted at . Goulden said it was a difficult process to ensure they had the rights to screen all the films, but they wanted to make sure the work of the filmmakers could be watched.
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鈥淭hey鈥檙e really films from right across the format of what you can be watching, from experimental, to this year we had the very first category we had for mental health, and what a year we had to bring that forward. There were 26 entries in the mental health category, and we awarded Mum鈥檚 The Word.鈥�
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The Golden Sheaf Award for Best of Festival went to Mr. Berry, from young filmmaker Daniel Stark of Prince George, B.C. Goulden said it鈥檚 a wonderful film and recommends people take the time to watch it this weekend. Goulden said that Stark was at the Festival last year, and she said that it showed how the festival supports young talent.
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鈥淗e kept thinking to himself, those are just incredible films, I鈥檒l never get there. Then, he wins, so quite frankly anything is possible here.鈥�
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The Ruth Shaw Award went to Humboldt: The New Season, which looks at the aftermath of the Humboldt Broncos crash and how families and a community had to recover, and is another one Goulden recommends people seek out.
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A third recommendation from Goulden is the Seals of Sable, coming from returning YFF filmmakers Kent Nason and Theresa MacInnes. They won Best in Festival for Norm several years ago, and returned to the festival with the new film.
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Goulden said that watching the films is vital to honoring the work that goes into each one, and she鈥檚 proud of the work that the Yorkton Film Festival celebrates each year.
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鈥淭he creative minds that go into this process, that come up with the film themes and work it right through. Myself, I鈥檓 not creative at all and when I sit down and watch the films it just constantly amazes me the creativity that we have here in this country.鈥�
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Work has already begun for the 2021 Yorkton Film Festival, Goulden said.
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Watch yorktonthisweek.com for interviews with the filmmakers who won the Ruth Shaw Award for Best in Saskatchewan and the Best In Festival award.
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Click for the full list of winners.
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