Yorkton Film Festival

Yorkton Film Festival
Yorkton Film Festival Logo
LocationYorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada
Founded-1947 as Yorkton International Film Festival
−1981 renamed as Yorkton International Short Film and Video Festival
−1983 renamed as Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival
Film titlesShort films
Hosted byYorkton International Film Festival Society
Festival dateHeld annually in May
Websitewww.yorktonfilm.com

Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) is an annual film festival held in late May in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.

In 1947, the Yorkton Film Council (YFC) was founded[1]: 6  and in 1950 the first international documentary film festival officially opened in western Canada[1]: 6  on 11 October.[2][3] The festival originally was named Yorkton International Documentary Film Festival[4] and latter become known as Yorkton International Film Festival.[1]: 6 

In 1969, the Yorkton Film Council disbanded and the Yorkton International Film Festival Society was formed. The film festival went through several name changes and currently operates as Yorkton Film Festival.[4] It is known as the longest running film festival held in North America.[4][5][6]

The festival is open to Canadian productions, or international productions directed by Canadians, and focuses on films that are under 60 minutes in length.[7] It is a qualifying festival for the Canadian Screen Awards.

The Yorkton Film Festival includes awards in 29 categories: 18 main categories, 6 accompanying categories, 3 craft categories and 2 special categories as of 2019. In 2020 the festival will include a new category for Mental Health, sponsored by the Mental Health Drop-in Centre for three years. The festival will be the first in Canada to Include an award for this category.[8]

  1. ^ a b c Morrel, Kathy (Fall 2011). "The little engine that could: Nettie Kryski and the Yorton Film Festival" (PDF). Saskatchewan History Magazine. 63 (2): 6–12. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  2. ^ "Film festival for Yorkton". Regina Leader-Post. 1 June 1950. p. 2. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  3. ^ "Documentary film festival turns spotlight on Yorkton". Regina Leader-Post. 21 October 1954. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Andre Paquet; Wyndham Wise (17 October 2014). "Film Festivals". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 6 September 2019.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Marr, Tonaya (24 May 2012). "Film fest is just part of what makes Yorkton unique". Regina Leader-Post. p. 62. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  6. ^ "Film festival". Regina Leader-Post. 29 August 1971. p. 34. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  7. ^ "Festival's name changed again". Regina Leader-Post. 28 January 1983. p. 8. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  8. ^ Wilger, Devin (23 October 2019). "Yorkton Film Festival to feature new award". Yorkton, Canada: Yorkton This Week. Retrieved 12 November 2019.