The Yorkton Public Library and the Yorkton Film Festival will host an evening in celebration of Nettie Kryski. The event will be held Tuesday, November 15 at 7:30 at the Godfrey Dean Cultural Centre. Kathy Morrell will read from "The little engine that could: Nettie Kryski and the Yorkton Film Festival". The article is published in the latest edition of Saskatchewan History, a magazine of the Saskatchewan Archives.
Kryski was the secretary-treasurer of the Yorkton Film Council and then the Yorkton International Film Festival for more than thirty years. She was there when the Council was formed in 1947. She was there when James Lysyshyn, the field man for the National Film Board, proposed an international film festival. She was there for every meeting, taking notes, ensuring a meticulous correctness. She was there working behind the scenes at every festival.
Nettie Kryski carried the administrative load in the organization of the festival. She contacted local service groups begging for donations for equipment. She contacted the embassies in Ottawa begging for film entries. She arranged for training sessions for projectionists.
She booked the venues for the films and the closing banquet. She kept the books. Under her watch, not a nickel was spent that could not be justified and accounted for.
She was, as Elwyn Vermette, long-time board member and oft-time president, has said "the glue that held the festival together."
In 1979, the Yorkton International Film Festival awarded Nettie Kryski a Golden Sheaf to honour her work and commitment. She died just two years later, but her work lives on. In 2012 the Yorkton Film Festival will celebrate its 65th anniversary, a significant milestone, an achievement Yorkton can celebrate in large part thanks to the dedication of Nettie Kryski.
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