The Yorkton Film Festival can do more than just showcase the best in short film. It also has the chance to program films that highlight issues that are important, whether in Saskatchewan itself or around the world, and give a voice to people who might not otherwise have one. The film “A Chance to Speak” is a film about giving a voice to vulnerable people in the province.
The film is focused on Saskatoon, interviewing a variety of people living in poverty in the city. Director Vernon Boldick says that there a number of issues that are highlighted by talking to people who are living in poverty.
“We have people talking about being homeless, we have people talking about gang violence, also talking about the exploitation of children sexually.”
The inspiration behind the film was Boldick’s own childhood. He admits that growing up in Duchess, Alberta he had heard stories of poverty from his father, who was homeless in his 20s, but had not witnessed it first hand until moving to Saskatoon for school. Seeing people panhandling in front of Midtown Plaza, Boldick wanted to know more.
“I was wondering, what are their stories? What brings them to such a place in life where you see the only opportunity to get a meal is asking people for it, or asking for money. I started to become very curious.”
The result of that curiosity was Boldick going out to interview people in the city about their situation. The goal was to give them a voice, because he admits that poverty is not something people always pay attention to, and he wants to raise awareness.
“It is easy to ignore poverty, because we become complacent and live our own lives, and there’s nothing wrong with that, we’re just not aware. What I hope with this documentary is to make people aware, this is happening in Saskatoon. Nobody thinks children are being sold in Saskatoon, I talked to social services in the Mayfair and Pleasant Hill areas who told me about children being traded for a box of beer, these kids are 7-10 years old. If that is happening in Saskatoon, who is aware of that? Not that many people.”
While the film focuses on Saskatoon, the problem of poverty is not limited to that city’s borders, and Boldick says that as they screen the film to different audiences they find more people who are connected to the problems of poverty in some way.
“We’re finding out that there are a lot of people who have personal connections to poverty. We have met people who used to be in gangs and managed to get out of the gang, or they themselves were homeless, and these are young people, it’s very interesting to see all the connections that are being made.”
Another goal was to find people who were working on the problems people are facing. Boldick notes that one of their interviews was with a woman who helps children who have been sexually exploited, and it was important to have someone like her in the film so it would show that there are people working on solutions to these problems.
“We wanted to have people from different perspectives, from different walks of life, so then we could have the most amount of knowledge... We do have problems, unfortunately, but we have a lot of great organizations working on them and trying to come up with solutions.”
Putting a spotlight on the problem of poverty, Boldick believes that this is an issue that has become more urgent for people around the world, especially in Canada.
“It’s becoming more and more of a global movement, in the sense that the average person is now aware... I think the average citizen is having a bit of pushback, saying that this shouldn’t be happening, we are all human and we all deserve to live and have a good life.”
Being part of the YFF is an honour for Boldick, and he thanks the festival for screening the film.
“It means somebody somewhere thought this project that me and my friends worked on was good enough to put in a festival where you get films from all over... There are a lot of talented people who will be at this, and the thought that they will watch my film is pretty cool, it’s really exciting to be there.”
“A Chance to Speak” will screen on May 28 at 2:20pm-3:05pm at the BMO Sports Lounge at the Gallagher Centre as part of the Yorkton Film Festival.
