The eyes of Canadian film turn to Yorkton this week as the annual Short Film Festival honours the best of short film in this country.
The Festival is the longest-running festival of its kind in North America, and this year it marks the 65th anniversary.
In a world of high definition television and hundreds of channels on cable, it's hard to envision the earliest days of film, but imagine back 65 years.
But think back to the late 1940s. It was a world of black and white film, and most of Saskatchewan would not have had television.
If there was TV it was likely there was only one channel, which was the case for much of rural Saskatchewan well into the 1960s.
It's not that long ago, but increasingly it's a forgotten era in TV.
While it's difficult to imagine that world in terms of watching TV at home, imagine the pure audacity of people in Yorkton thinking they could host a film festival.
At the time the vision was truly grand, with the earliest years of the festival having categories open to international film.
It is quite amazing to think of filmmakers in Europe, India, the United States packaging a film reel -- this was decades before VHS tapes, or DVDs -- and mailing it to a town in a province they probably could not even pronounce. Yet that is what they did, and the Yorkton Festival was born.
Over the years our local Festival has evolved, and changed, becoming today focused on Canadian film.
The Yorkton Festival has also been a major promoter of Saskatchewan film with the Ruth Shaw Award for Best of Saskatchewan (see related story Page A3 this issue).
Saskatchewan film in some respects has grown with the Yorkton Festival. In 2010 Silent Bombs: All for the Motherland by Saskatchewan-based 4 Square Entertainment won Best of Saskatchewan, and also took Best of Festival, the first time in the long history of the event a Saskatchewan film has earned the Festival's highest prize.
The Yorkton Festival has also focused on student film, helping young filmmakers learn secrets which can help establish them in the industry.
A cloud now hangs over the Saskatchewan film industry as the government axed the Film Employment Tax Credit in the 2012 budget, a funding source finalists in this year's Best of Saskatchewan category said was often critical in helping to get cameras rolling.
The government has offered up an alternative program, but the industry is not clamouring to endorse it.
The government's decision could dramatically cut film creation in the province, and that will impact the Yorkton Festival too. There will be less interest among young people in terms of student films, and less films to enter for the Ruth Shaw Award.
But the Yorkton Film Festival has made it to the 65th anniversary, and will likely persevere in spite of the government's willingness to sacrifice an industry to save a few million in grants.
