SASKATOON — Organizers of the inaugural Saskatchewan International Film Festival is looking forward for a bigger event next year with the hope of having movie fans finally enjoying the participating films inside on the cinema's big screens.
SIFF president Joyce Malayba said they were overwhelmed on the support by the community during last Saturday’s opening gala at the Broadway Theatre with Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark, Regina Mayor Sandra Masters, and Humboldt Mayor Michael Behiel also in attendance.
“Our hearts are full because we felt the support of the community… We hope to see more participation from the community because as early as now, quite a few community associations have already reached out and offered to participate [next year],” said Malayba.
“Pending public health guidelines, we would very much want to make next year’s film festival an in-person event to boost tourism and gain a bit of recognition for our province. We will see, because after the Awards Night, the group will come together to assess and draw out the lessons from our first year.”
The awards night is a red-carpet event on Dec. 11 at TCU Place where the film fest winners will be known. The awards up for grabs are Best Picture, Best Actors (male and female), Best Supporting Actors (male and female), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Musical Score, and Audience Choice.
The judges — chaired by Recording Arts Institute Saskatoon head instructor Shayne Metcalfe — are almost done in rating all the 21 official film entries and have to further screen some movies to break ties in several award categories. Viewers, meanwhile, have the chance to pick the winner of the People’s Choice Award by rating all the film entries.
Multi-award-winning, Toronto-based filmmaker Patrick Alcedo, Mukesh Gnanesh, and Arnolfo Enriquez were the other jurors.
The 21 films selected as official entries are from Canada, with three made by filmmakers in the province, Greenland, India, Iran, Nigeria, the Philippines, Turkey and the United States.
Malayba added representatives from the Korean, Indian, Sri Lankan and Filipino associations, and the actors and production team of two of the official entries to the film fest were also present during the opening gala.
The Sri Lanka Association of Saskatoon and Global Korean Culture Club performed for the event, with the latter forming a K-Pop dance group called the YXE Charmers specifically for the event.
“We were also touched by the gesture of the SK Korean Language School owner Jeeyu Birch who, despite not being able to attend the event because of a prior commitment, sent Dalgona cookies (popularized by the Netflix series "Squid Game") for the guests to enjoy,” said Malayba.
“We already expected that the attendees of our Opening Gala are not reflective of the number of people who purchased the in-person tickets because our Opening Gala coincided with a fundraising event. Since our ticket covers both the Opening Gala and the Awards Night, many chose to attend the fundraiser on Dec 4, then come to our Awards Night on Dec 11."
FilmFreeway and Filmocracy are SIFF’s industry partners with the former helping in accepting the official entries, the judges rating the films, and the selling of the tickets. The films can be watched online through Filmocracy.
“Filmocracy built the virtual film festival experience for us, by creating a ‘city’ where people can watch the films as well as network in real-time with the filmmakers, the organizers, and fellow moviegoers. So, with the two platforms working together, we are able to monitor the ticket sales,” said Malayba.
“To clarify, however, the $20 ticket covers the screening of all 21 films. The screenings are likewise on-demand. The films are not assigned a specific screening time. Thus, we can't monitor for which specific movie the buyers purchased a ticket.”
