The Yorkton Film Festival has been nominated for a Saskatchewan Arts Award. The local film festival is nominated in the Leadership - Organization category, along with the Globe Theatre in Regina an the Station Arts Centre in Rosthern.
Randy Goulden, executive director of the Yorkton Film Festival, says to be nominated you have to outline how you are leading in your community, provincially and nationally.
“In Yorkton, I think one of the largest things that we do, the biggest thing that has the most impact, is the leadership we provide in our students day that happens before the first day of the festival. We bring in professional filmmakers and they do a full day workshop at Sacred Heart High School, to high school students from across the province. These students are allowed to work with, number one, professional equipment that they would not otherwise see in the high school. They are then learning from award-winning instructors from across Canada. All of this for a very low fee that basically covers the lunch that we provide.”
Provincially and nationally, the festival provides professional development to filmmakers at the festival, Goulden says. Regular screenings of films nationally are another area where the festival provides leadership. A highlight in the past year was the Voices of Courage program, which brought awareness of Canada’s role in the world wars.
It’s an honor to be nominated for the same award as the Globe Theatre and the Station Arts Centre, Goulden says, describing it as humbling and overwhelming to be nominated in that group.
“Here we are, in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. This is our 70th anniversary. We have incredible volunteers in our city and across Canada. We are humbled by the fact that we are nominated with these other organizations, and we’re humbled that for 70 years we have been able to be part of the community in Yorkton.”
