YORKTON - The story of a man and his Spitfire fighter plane is among the finalists for this year’s Ruth Shaw Award for Best Saskatchewan film at the upcoming Yorkton Film Festival.
“As a young child of the 1920’s, Len sustained serious injuries from a dynamite blast cap. As a young adult, despite his disability, he enlisted in the fight against the Germans in World War II. Adventures and near deaths ensue, after he finds himself in the cockpit of a Spitfire,” explains an online synopsis to the film.
“As a young child of the 1920’s, Len sustained serious injuries from a dynamite blast cap. As a young adult, despite losing his fingers from the blast, he enlisted with his fellow Canadians in the fight against the Germans in World War II. Although he was initially turned away due to his disability, his persistence and persuasive charm finally led to his acceptance into the Royal Canadian Airforce. After receiving his pilot wings, he joined the fight overseas and thus began Len’s adventures as a Spitfire Pilot.”
For filmmaker Noelle Duddridge Len and His Spitfire was a very monumental story to my childhood,” noted a section on the inspiration behind the film. “My Grandfather, Leonard John Duddridge, passed away from a heart attack when I was three years old.
Not having many memories to hold onto of my grandfather, I took to idolizing him through his wartime photo albums and the stories that accompanied them by my father.
As a child I would imagine my Grandpa Len as a fearless pilot, soaring through the foreign skies of Egypt, Malta, and Italy, protecting his homeland of Hanley, Saskatchewan.
“The inspiration for the aesthetic of Len and His Spitfire comes from a past project that I completed in University, in which I received a chance to digitally restore and colourize one of his photographs.”
Certainly Len & His Spitfire is a film created in a rather different format.
“Len & His Spitfire is a prairie history film based on my grandpa Len’s time as a WWII Spitfire pilot, where I turned his wartime photography into paper puppets to tell his story,” explained Duddridge. “... Through photographs that Len took during the war, I was able to create paper puppets and bring his story to life in Len & His Spitfire.”
The Ruth Shaw Award for Duddridge is not her first at Yorkton’s long-running festival.
“When I first graduated from the University of Regina Film program, I created a student documentary, Coming Out MY YEAR TIME LIMIT, that was nominated for the YFF Best Student film,” she told Yorkton This Week.
“My paper puppet film, Len & His Spitfire, is the first time since then that one of my films has been nominated for a Golden Sheaf award.”
The latest nomination is one Duddridge is very pleased to have received.
“I was absolutely excited and humbled to hear of my nomination,” she said. “I really wanted to tell my grandfather’s story with respect and also a bit of humour, because that’s who my grandpa Len was, a humorous charming prairie boy. So to hear that people have enjoyed it, is a real treat as an independent filmmaker.”
Such a nomination certainly adds validation to the filmmaker’s effort.
“It’s really special that Len & His Spitfire’s is a little piece of Saskatchewan history, so for it to be nominated for the Best of Saskatchewan award, is just really something special,” said Duddridge. “I think that the nomination should help the film reach a larger audience, which is so important to the independent film industry.”
When you look at the film now as a YFF nominee has your own view of it changed?
“When you make a piece of art and put it out there for the world to see, you never know what kind of reception it will get. The Best of Saskatchewan nomination has been amazing, in that I feel that I’ve done my grandfather’s story justice, and I think he’d be proud,” said Duddridge.
So, in more general terms what does YFF mean in particular to those involved in the industry in the province?
“The last time I attended YFF was over a decade ago, and it was an absolute blast -- or Lobster Blast I should say -- and I’m excited for the opportunity to attend once again,” offered Duddridge.
“It’s just such a sense of community, with amazing networking opportunities; I’m still friends with filmmakers I met while shooting shotguns and eating lobster over 10 years ago now.
“The YFF is really a big film festival with the chic small town intimate vibes. It gives you way more opportunity to make those important connections that are going to help you with your next big project. And it is in our own backyard, which gives a
Saskatchewanians like myself a sense of provincial pride. We’ve got great stories here that don’t always get the national spotlight, so I’m grateful for the local opportunity that the YFF presents.”
Len & His Spitfire will be available for viewing on-demand in the festival’s mini-cinema during the YFF.
