Siksika, Alberta filmmaker wins ‘best feature’ in Yorkton at Canada’s oldest film festival

Filmmakers were recognized in Yorkton over the weekend at one of the oldest film festivals in North America.

Canadian filmmakers were recognized at the Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) over the weekend, including one filmmaker from Siksika Nation who won the Best of Festival Golden Sheaf award.

Filmmaker Sinakson Trevor Solway took home one of the festival’s highest awards, in addition to the Best Feature Documentary Golden Sheaf, for his film Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man.

The film captures the lives of men balancing the weight of kinship with the evolving expectations of manhood in the Prairies, in addition to reshaping the narrative of Indigenous identity.

“Siksikakowan was truly a labour of love. It took the right mixture of patience, curiosity and craft to tell this story,” a spokesperson on behalf of Solway said at the gala.

“To commit to this style of vérité filmmaking is a bold choice that requires everyone to be on board. This is a brave new space for Indigenous filmmaking as we strive towards Indigenous narrative sovereignty. To all in attendance, wherever you may be in your career, let it be known that Indigenous filmmakers have the right to tell Indigenous stories in their own style, structure and methodology.”

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The Ruth Shaw Best of Saskatchewan award was presented to Lowell Dean for his film Die Alone - a post-apocalyptic love story about a man with amnesia who teams up with a tough survivalist during a zombie-like outbreak.

In his acceptance speech, Dean said the movie took 10 years to create.

“I’d love to start by thanking the cast and crew. There was never a guarantee that we would get to make this movie, especially in Saskatchewan,” he said.

“The recent support that Creative Saskatchewan got, the increased incentive, is 100 per cent the reason we filmed here. We were looking at other provinces and that’s the reason we got to come home and make a movie with friends.”

Scenes were filmed in Regina, Katepwa, Qu’Appelle, Qu’Appelle Valley and other locations.

Another top winner at this year’s festival was Colin Mathews, whose film Never Use Alone won three Golden Sheaf awards – including Mental Health, Emerging Filmmaker and Best Performance, by actress Chelah Horsdal.

This was the festival’s 79^th year. The Yorkton Film Festival is one of the oldest film festivals in North America.