Yorkton's 66th annual Film Festival went off without a hitch, culminating in another successful Golden Sheaf Awards event where the top short films of the year were announced.
Hosted by well known Saskatchewan, (former) CBC news anchor, Costas Maragos, the evening attracted film buffs from near and far for a day of celebration.
From a total of 118 quality nominees, 27 winners were selected with one walking away with the most coveted title - "Best Of the Festival."
"We're pleased to have been able to highlight some of the great work being done in Canadian short cinema," says YFF Executive Director Randy Goulden. "As North America's longest running film festival, it's a great honor to be able to continue the tradition that was set down by our founders who wanted to bring filmmaking culture to this part of Canada. And the work being done by these filmmakers truly allows us to continue to carry out this vision and tradition."
Taking home the Ruth Shaw Best of Saskatchewan Award was a Hulo Films Inc. production called "The First Days."
The First Days is an honest and moving account of an immigrant's first days in a new country. Written by Regina's Mauricio Carvajal, the movie is based on his own travels from Bogota, Colombia to Regina when he was 17 and didn't speak a word of English
"The First Days is a twelve-minute short film that places live action actors inside an animated world. The story is told from an immigrant's point-of-view (Issac) as he arrives in an unnamed host nation via a perilous journey on the open seas. Unable to speak the local dialect, he enters the shabby cardboard city with his cat Vladamir and a suitcase full of dreams. Soon after, his hope turns to isolation and loneliness as his inability to communicate allows others to take advantage of him, which eventually ends in tragedy."
As both an immigrant and now permanent resident of Canada Carvajal says he has been able to observe, script and portray an immigrant's first days from a unique perspective.
Just seven months after relocating to Regina he was speaking English and enrolled in the University of Regina film program. Passionate about film, he is now enrolled in a Masters of Fine Arts with a specialization in Immigration and Film.
Carvajal recently returned from New York City, where he received awards for best script writing and 3rd place for his film in the 24HR Film Race. This year more than 750 films were submitted from 24 countries.
The First Days was produced by Stephen Huszar whose parents came to Canada in 1956 as refugees, escaping the Hungarian Revolution. Growing up in Saskatoon, he started out in management consulting and financial analysis before getting into producing and acting. Splitting his time between Vancouver and Saskatoon, he has appeared in numerous feature films and TV shows, including Northern Lights (LeAnn Rimes), Corner Gas and Smallville.
Co-producer Ryan Lockwood is a digital media, documentary and dramatic filmmaker with broadcast credits as TransMedia Producer, Producer, Writer, Researcher, and Showrunner. In August 2006, Lockwood started Hulo Films with his business partner Huszar. Previous to working in film, he was a marketing professional working in the field of technology commercialization and business development. Ryan grew up in smalltown Saskatchewan. In University, he got involved in AIESEC and spent a summer in Colombia and a year in Brazil, experiences that drew him to Carvajal's script.
"I was delighted with the win and a little surprised," says Lockwood who attended the Golden Sheaf ceremony and accepted the Best of Saskatchewan award. "It was a long journey to finish this film - three years really and at times I was wondering if we really would finish it."
Early on in the game Lockwood says the crew ran out of budget but giving credit to Carvajal, he says everything came together.
"This was our very first festival submission so you know, you work on it in the edit suite and you don't really know how people are going to respond to it but it's great to hear the jury liked it."
Lockwood says he believes it was the combination of the story and the technical flare of the film that won it its award. "It's a very personal story... it's a tragedy, it's got a tough ending to it but I think a lot of people can relate to it... it happens around us everyday. We see a lot of people in Saskatchewan who are well educated professionals from all over the world... driving our taxi cabs, cleaning our offices, knowing they should be doing better in life..."
Best of the Festival
"Let the Daylight into the Swam" was named Best of the Festival this year. A National Film Board production, the film was directed by Jeffery St. Jules and produced by Anita Lee.
"In Let the Daylight into the Swamp, filmmaker St. Jules reconstructs the story of his grandparents and their rugged frontier existence in the logging towns of Northern Ontario. St. Jules' tale unfolds on the bumpy back roads of life, where ultimately his family was dislodged. Blending fiction and documentary, myth and fact, comedy and tragedy, all rendered in 3D, St. Jules stitches together a fractured family history. Yet the joie de vivre of Franco-Ontarian life tempers the hardship and regret, infusing this visually inventive film with both joy and heartbreak."
On hand to accept the Best of the Festival Award for Director Jeffery St. Jules was Brendon Sawatzky.
"I think he would be thrilled. Jeff's films are experimental. They really push innovation. They're very, very dynamic and I think for him to be recognized like this is just an amazing honor. I'm sure he'd be extremely happy."
As to what made the film a success, Sawatzky says he believes it is because there were a lot of risks taken and also because of the fact it is based on a very personal story.
"I think he (St. Jules) has a natural talent and that always rises to the top."
Speaking on behalf of the National Film Board Sawatzky says receiving such an award is a big honor. "It's very important to us to reach into what might be perceived as a smaller community. We are the National Film Board so it's important for us to take our films across the country, to show Canadians wherever they may live...
"The Yorkton festival has been around for so long and it's such a well known festival - this is really just huge for us."
For a complete list of award winners and more details visit: www.goldensheafawards.com.
