Skip to content

Some videos to watch at this year’s YFF

Randy’s Picks at the Yorkton Film Festival Come to the Yorkton Film Festival. Meet the filmmakers, ask questions and discuss ideas. This is what makes the Yorkton Film Festival so special. This is a list of my favourites for the 2016 festival.

Randy’s Picks at the Yorkton Film Festival

Come to the Yorkton Film Festival. Meet the filmmakers, ask questions and discuss ideas.  This is what makes the Yorkton Film Festival so special.  

This is a list of my favourites for the 2016 festival. Join us Friday, May 27 and Saturday, May 28 for screenings or for mini-cinema. The times listed below are subject to change so we suggest you check on the YFF website. http://yorktonfilm.com/

Randy Goulden, Executive-Director, YFF
 

7 Minutes
Friday, May 27 at 4:00 by Marilyn Poitras and Tasha Hubbard

The film tells the story of a talented and beautiful aboriginal woman attending the University of Saskatchewan. She is the target for unwanted attention and propositioning as if, because she is aboriginal, she must then be a prostitute. This theme is one that is sure to come out at the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women. The filmmakers, Marilyn Poitras and Tasha Hubbard (an English professor at the U of S) will be at the screening. I hope you can be there to participate in the discussion. This is an issue sure to be in the news over the upcoming months.

Carface by Claude Cloutier
Friday, May 27 at 4:50


This is a cartoon with a serious message. Claude Cloutier has created a satire against “big oil” and our society’s dependence on the automobile. The film sends a biting message despite the fact that the cast members are singing and dancing cars.   

For those familiar with OPEN CINEMA, the YFF film series we sponsor at the Yorkton Public Library, Claude Cloutier is the talented animator who created the anti-war film, The Trenches. Carface is another of his stunning films.

Sex Spirit Strength by Courtney Montour
Saturday, May 28 at 1:00


Meet two extraordinary young men and the filmmaker Courtney Montour, who tells their incredible stories. This screening is a wonderful opportunity to look at issues facing two individuals: one a young man with HIV and the second a transgendered youth.  More than the issues, however, this film shows how both are making positive differences in their communities.  

The Foreigner by Maya Annik Bedward
Friday, May 27 at 4:00


This is a film of only ten minutes but it packs a suitcase full of questions in that short period of time: questions like - who is the foreigner and what does it mean to be accepted? Come and meet the filmmaker. Visit with her and discuss the vision she had in making this film.  

Driving with Selvi by Elisa Paloschi
Friday, May 27 at 1:55


So often, films dealing with women’s rights tend to be “downers”. This is just the opposite. The filmmaker introduces us to a woman we’d all like to meet. Selvi, like so many girls living in India, grows up struggling with violence and poverty. One day in deep despair, she decides to escape, and goes on to become South India’s first female taxi driver. We first meet Selvi at a girls’ shelter in 2004 – timid, soft-spoken, a fresh runaway from a difficult life. Over a ten-year journey, we see a remarkable transformation as Selvi defies all expectations – learning to drive, starting her own taxi company and leading educational seminars. She is strong, courageous and determined.  
I left the viewing of this film with hope for humanity.  

A Chance to Speak by Vernon Boldick and Lisa Harder
Saturday, May 28 at 2:20


A Chance to Speak allows individuals who live in poverty in Saskatoon to tell their stories and experiences – from homelessness, to gang violence and the sexual exploitation of children in the city of Saskatoon.

Sticks and Stones: The Battle for the Soul of Curling by Christopher Triffo
Friday, May 27 at 2:30


Sticks and Stones: The Battle for the Soul of Curling explores the controversies and personalities behind the transformation of curling from a weekend pastime into an Olympic Medal Sport. Featuring appearances by Russ Howard, Jennifer Jones, Ed Werenich and Warren Hansen, Sticks and Stones explores this colourful battle for the soul of curling. A battle that’s still going on today.

When I saw the submission of Sticks and Stones, I was delighted.  The Yorkton area is great curling country so no film could be a better fit for our festival.  

Motus by Mike Maekelburger
Saturday, May 28 at 4:50


Motus is a visual exploration of the landscape and unique identity of southern Saskatchewan. For anyone who has been to the area, this film is a memory trip of a vacation already taken. For those still looking for a Saskatchewan holiday, it is an invitation to visit.

Conquering Beauty: The Life and Music of Malcolm Forsyth
Saturday, May 28 at 11:00


Composer Malcolm Forsyth came to Canada from South Africa in 1968 and rose to become one of Canada’s leading classical music composers. ‘A Ballad of Canada’, premiered just weeks before he died, is a Canadian masterpiece. This documentary explores his life, his struggles with his relationship with his daughter, and his tremendous impact on Canadian music.

Benjamin by Sherren Lee and Courtenay Bainbridge
Friday, May 27 at 4:10


You really have to see this short film to learn how the new reproductive technologies can draw individuals and society into an irresolvable dilemma.  
 

Colder than Mars by Jeff Newman
Saturday, May 28 at 9:50


This short documentary is a window into an average day in the lives of Winnipeggers contending with winter’s icy grip. Some choose to embrace the season and find the joy of sport and play, turn a profit, or even uncover art in the surrounding ice and snow. Others simply confront the cold as a fact of life and do their part to move past it.

This setting for this film may be Winnipeg but winter is a theme we all know. The film brings laughter. What else can do in a country of wind and cold?  

Loss of Contact by B.J. Verot and Brad Crawford
Friday, May 27 at 4:00


The Olympics are coming and with the Games, a number of sports we don’t normally watch. In this film, that sport is race walking. We’ve all seen it and marvelled at the peculiarity of an event not seen in the Yorkton area. It is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. This is assessed by race judges, making race walking the most subjective of all the track events.  

This film tells the story of what happens when the champion leaves the event due to injury. The other competitors – well, their reactions bring a smile and a laugh.  A great film to see pre-Olympics.

Never Steady, Never Still by Kathleen Hepburn
Friday, May 27 at 4:00


This is a touching story of a young oil worker who finds solace in the strength of his recently widowed mother. Somehow, a film from Alberta’s oil sands feels appropriate during the tragic wild fires of Fort McMurray.  

Note: language warning

Escape or Die! by Scott R. Leary, John Barnard and Markus Henkel
Friday, May 27 at 3:30


Dean Gunnarson is hailed as the world’s greatest escape artist, entertaining global audiences with remarkable stunts that cheat death. Escape or Die! is a show that takes viewers behind the bright lights of the main stage and the roaring crowds and into Dean’s unique life as he prepares nail-biting escapes that threaten his life every time.

Wounded Healer – The Roland Vandal Story by Jim Agapito
Saturday, May 28 at 11:00


This is a film about a man who made good. It tells the story of a man who made a remarkable transformation from struggling drug addict to one of Manitoba’s top community leaders.  

The Oka Legacy by Sonia Bonspille-Boileau
Saturday, May 28 at 3:05


The Oka Crisis Legacy explores how the Oka Crisis has transformed contemporary Indigenous identity in Canada. I was amazed that so many women were involved as leaders during the crisis and in the time since.  

Brown Town Muddy Water by Jesse Green  
Saturday, May 28 at 12:00


Brown Town Muddy Water’ honours the ancient relationship between Indigenous people and the meeting place known as The Forks. This television special chronicles musicians who shaped Winnipeg’s main street in the 1960’s like the late Percy Tuesday, Errol Ranville and Billy Joe Green. For the emerging urban Aboriginal community, echoes of home sounded through music, dance, story and gatherings. Peoples lived experiences of emergence, segregation, racism, camaraderie and resistance are as resilient as the downtown streets of Winnipeg. The professional musicians that grew up on this notorious strip paved the road to success for forthcoming generations of Aboriginal artists. Join us as local music and memory reverberate throughout the decades.

IT TAKES GUTS by Leora Eisen
Friday, May 27 at 1:00


Eat less, exercise more. That’s the simple solution to losing weight – or so we’ve been told.

IT TAKES GUTS is a revealing look at the brand new science of the “gut microbiome”, as researchers discover the fascinating relationship between diet, weight and the trillions of secret agents who are at war inside our bodies.

This film, in the science category, takes a look at the latest research and its possible impact on our daily life.