Randy’s Picks for the 2015 Yorkton Film Festival
If you’re looking for variety, the Yorkton Film Festival is the place to be. We have stories of espionage, horror, comedy and more. Come to the Gallagher Centre May 22 and 23 and see what we have to offer.
Each year, Randy Goulden, executive-director of the YFF, recommends films to see. These are the choices for this week.
All the Time in the World — Saturday, May 23 at 10:45
Once again, Nature Saskatchewan and the Yellowhead Flyway Birding Trail Association are sponsoring the screening of films at the Yorkton Film Festival. The first, All the Time in the World, is an inviting tale of two parents and their three young children who escape the too busy world of city life for a log cabin in the Yukon woods. The family spends nine months without electricity, running water and the internet. Come and view what family life is like in an isolated area. Talk to Suzanne Crocker, a filmmaker and mother who dared the challenges of a world far from the urban hurry.
Trevor Herriott: The Road is How — Saturday, May 23 at 12:10
The second film, Trevor Herriott: The Road is How, is an interview with the well-known Saskatchewan writer and naturalist about the wonders found along a prairie road.
Camp X: Secret Agent School — Saturday, May 23 at 9:00
This film tells the compelling tale of an espionage training facility set up outside Toronto in 1941. There, secret agents were taught how to kill, build bombs, create cover identities and crack codes. The Allies called the facility Camp X.
I was amazed to learn that two of the spies “in training” were Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond series of books. The film also dropped the name Kilm Philby. A google search told me he was a British spy, a man revealed after World War Two as a double agent for the Soviet Union.
Camp X: Secret Agent School is based on recently released archival material including the camp’s training manual, a guidebook that laid the foundations for espionage in North American and the formation of the Central Intelligence Agency in the United States. More interesting to Canadians, this film is based in the same research as the recent CBC series, X Company.
If you like action, if you like a war story, this is just the film for you. I can certainly recommend it.
Treading Water — Friday, May 22 at 1:00
I still remember that Manitoba flood, the one that happened in 2011. The worst part of the disaster was that more than 2000 First Nations people were forced from their homes when, in order to save the city of Winnipeg and other urban centres, the Government of Manitoba diverted the floodwater. The result was the inundation of reserve communities.
Today, evacuees are still stranded in Winnipeg hotels. While governments at the federal and provincial level and other organizations quarrel, they bear the brunt of the resulting problems — homelessness, frustration and a rise in substance abuse and suicide rates. The future is uncertain and in some cases, even desperate.
The way I see it is that one of the particular advantages of film is that it illustrates truth through image. This documentary, Treading Water, shows the reality of some of our fellow Canadians whose lives have been destroyed by forces outside their control. It is a prompt to remember a devastation that didn’t end with the flood. It is a prompt to recall the on-going consequences for the people most affected. Some would even say it is a call to action.
Fred Heads — Saturday, May 23 at 10:25
Over the past year, Fred Penner has toured his repertoire of music to university pubs and downtown bars. His most popular tune is, of course, “The Cat Came Back”. Adults join in, adding their meows and singing along to the chorus. Like Fred Heads, the performance is a trip to a time of childhood music and joy.
Join our screening audience to see this delightful film and while you’re at it, bring along your guitar and kazoo. You just might want to sing along, too.
Common Thread — Friday, May 22 at 1:55
When I heard this was a film about fashion, I wondered about our audience. Who, I asked, would be interested in high fashion and the prices that go along with it? Then, I had a look at this amazing film and the story it tells. It all began one day when Barbara Turnbull phoned Izzy Camilleri, asking that the designer make her a shearling cape. When she arrived for a consultation, Turnbull was in a wheel chair. Camilleri accepted the challenge of designing clothes for Barbara, a move that led to new focus on that line of clothing for people with mobility issues.
