News

YFS Celebrates 30th Anniversary

October 15, 2014

This season marks the 30th anniversary of the Yukon Film Society (YFS), which began ‘showing films of social and political importance’ in 1984 and has increased its mandate over the years to include media art production training and professional development, the presentation of a broad range of independent cinema and media art and, since 1999, support to Yukon artists in the production of film and media art works. The Society is celebrating its 30-year history with a special project to support professional Yukon artists in the creation of new documentary works. Thanks to support from Canada Council for the Arts and Yukon Culture Quest, YFS has commissioned participating artists Marten Berkman, Allan Code, Carol Geddes, and Dan Sokolowski to create these works. The project aims to raise awareness locally, regionally, and nationally of the long history of YFS in shaping and supporting media art creation and presentation across the Territory. YFS Artistic Director, Andrew Connors explains, “YFS plays an important role in fostering renewed enthusiasm for the documentary tradition in the Yukon and in supporting artists with resources so they can explore new forms of engagement with audiences including interactive web-based experiences.” At least two of the commissioned works will be feature length narrative films and two will be released as interactive web-based documentaries. These commissioned works will premier at Available Light Film Festival in Whitehorse, February 2015, or at Dawson City International Short Film Festival, April 2015. Also marking this milestone anniversary will be the 3-day YFS Kitchen Party Film Festival: a celebration of Canadian cinema from each of the four decades that the society has been presenting films to Yukon audiences. Many are Available Light Film Festival favourites: from Sarah Polley’s personal documentary Stories We Tell, to Leanne Allison’s Porcupine Caribou Herd migration film Being Caribou, to the Oscar-nominated feature Monsieur Lazhar to Zacharias Kunuk’s ground-breaking Inuit feature film Atanarjuat (the Fast Runner), the YFS Kitchen Party Film Festival will include 14 films screening October 24 to 26 at the Yukon Arts Centre. YFS aims to make the event accessible to all patrons by presenting two events where admission is ‘by donation’: Being Caribou screens at 12pm on Friday October 24 and Carol Geddes’ ground breaking 1997 Yukon documentary Picturing a People: George Johnston, Tlingit Photographer screens at 2pm on Saturday October 25. Director Carol Geddes will be in attendance for the screening of Picturing a People. Another attending director will be Dennis Allen, whose National Film Board of Canada observational documentary about Fort McPherson CBQM screens at 3:30pm on Saturday October 25. Other classics of Canadian cinema screening at the YFS Kitchen Party include: Bruce McDonald’s renegade rock’n’roll odyssey Roadkill (starring Don McKellar, Valeria Buhagiar and Joey Ramone), Deepa Mehta’s stunning Oscar-nominated film Water, Guy Maddin’s dreamy docu-fantasia My Winnipeg, and the wildly praised coming-of-age film C.R.A.Z.Y. by Montreal’s Jean-Marc allée (Dallas Buyers Club). The Kitchen Party event includes YFS’ monthly screenings co-presented with the Yukon Arts Centre. Screening under the Available Light Cinema banner on Sunday October 26 is a new documentary by Canadian maverick, Ron Mann; Altman is a poetic in-depth look at the life and times of arguably one of the most important independent American directors of the last 50 years: Robert Altman. Sunday’s 3pm matinee is a classic for young and old: Fly Away Home a film about a Canadian inventor which stars Winnipeg-born, Anna Paquin. Visit the Screenings and Events section on our website for more details on the 30th anniversary Kitchen Party Film Festival.