Another Yorkton Film Festival is in the books and filmmakers from across the country are on their way home, some sporting new hardware in the form of a golden sheaf for their mantelpieces.
Best of Festival went to Saskatoon producer and director Marites Carino, who now calls Montreal home, For her film Vanishing Points.
“Winning this award in my home province in Saskatchewan is just really amazing because to date this film has won quite a few awards and I’ve never ever been to any of these festivals, so to actually be here and win two awards for this film is a really amazing feeling and my parents were here tonight so it’s really special,” she said.
The film is a conceptual piece featuring the choreography of Tentacle Tribe a Montreal dance troupe. The choreography was actually done backwards, then Carino reversed the video which results in a surreal quality. It also won in the Performing Arts and Entertainment category, but the producer was visibly surprised to take home the festival’s top prize.
“The film is very non-conventional I would say because it’s an experimental hip hop dance film,” Carino said. “To be chosen out of all these different genres is amazing. it’s great that the festival gives the opportunity for films from a different point of view or even a different genre, I feel honoured and shocked.”
She also felt the result might have been much different if not for a disruption in the shooting schedule. Her original intent had been to shoot in the summer of 2014, but she found out at the end of October 2013 that her perfect location, the building she planned to use, a unique, triangular corner edifice, was slated for demolition before the new year.
She made the decision to start filming as soon as possible and an unexpected happenstance turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
“The day before there was a freak snow storm and it was minus 24 with the wind chill outside and because it was so cold and there was snow and all the leaves had fallen, I think it just gave the film a different look that we wouldn’t have been able to achieve if we had shot in the summer,” she said adding the making of the film was not without its challenges.
“It was a really mentally exhausting process, but I’m really glad that I did it because I like experimenting with things in my films so this is the component I wanted to play with,” she said.
A total of 24 trophies were handed out Saturday night at the Awards Gala.
“We were very pleased with the selection of films submitted to this year’s festival,” said Randy Goulden, YFF executive director. “We not only had a great bunch of winning films, but also some wonderfully imaginative and impressive nominees.”
The National Film Board (NFB), which has been one of the biggest supporters of the festival since its inception 68 years ago won four awards including the prestigious Founder’s Award for its film 54 Hours, a harrowing animated account of a 1914 tragedy off the coast of Newfoundland when 132 sealers were caught out on the ice and 78 men died over two days.
The Ruth Shaw best of Saskatchewan Award went to Isolated Gestures, an experimental film by Regina artist Kent Tate that explores the theme of unexpected moments and unforeseen discoveries.
Other major awards included Director - Fiction to Neil Christopher for The Orphan and the Polar Bear; Director - Non- Fiction to Jordan Paterson for Tricks on the Dead: The Chinese Labour Corps in WWI; and Emerging Filmmaker to Kurt Spenrath for The Match.
