The Yorkton Film Festival has come and gone, and as always it was a notable event for the community.
As successful as the latest edition of the Festival was, what is most intriguing is the history of the event.
It was 70-years ago that the Yorkton Film Council was formed. Its mandate was to act as a volunteer distribution agency for the National Film Board (NFB). Jim Lysyshyn, field man for the NFB, suggested a film festival. When the Council rejected his proposal, he came forward with a more audacious proposal – an international festival. The Council accepted the new idea and organized the first festival in the fall of 1950.
In Canada we are in the midst of the 150th anniversary of our nation, and when you pause to consider the local festival has been around for nearly half our country’s history, the foresight of the original film council is quite extraordinary.
One can only imagine the discussions around the table in 1947. The Second World War was just over, and the world must have looked wide open to ideas and a bright future.
But for a small community in Saskatchewan there had to be a level of outright audacity at the table to put forth the idea of hosting an international film festival.
But the idea became reality and throughout the 1950s, the festival was a huge success with as many as 4000 people at the screenings. That was at a time when the population of Yorkton was only 8000.
The festival has undergone many changes, dropping its international focus to become a showcase of Canadian film being perhaps the most notable.
But somehow in this small city, still a long way from being at the heart of filmmaking in Canada, the festival has persevered.
The reason the festival has endured is simple, the dedication of what is now generation after generation of volunteers.
Through the years there have been suggestions the festival should move to bigger cities, and funding is always an issue, but each year local people have kept the film festival going.
So, 70-years after that first meeting of the old Council, the Yorkton Film Festival remains. It now holds the label of the longest running film festival in North America because of its longevity. That is something that always needs to sink in a bit. The vision of the 1947 meeting was ground breaking, and is now record-setting.
We must now look forward to the future and the next 70 years of the Yorkton Film Festival.
