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The Yukon Film Society (YFS) is excited to announce the 70 Years of Yukon Cinema kick-off event running from November 8th to 25th, 2024. There will be 2+ weeks of films and events to kick-off the year-long celebration of the Yukon Theatre’s 70th Anniversary and Yukon Film Society’s 40th Anniversary.
The Yukon Theatre opened its doors to the public with a sold-out screening of The Glenn Miller Story, directed by Anthony Mann, on Friday, December 3, 1954. The Yukon Theatre was Whitehorse's first purpose-built cinema for the community to gather for arts and entertainment. The Yukon Film Society was founded thirty years later, in 1984, by community-minded folks who wanted to bring independent, arthouse, and documentary filmmaking and films to northern audiences.
To commemorate these meaningful anniversaries, YFS is organizing this celebration to honour the longevity of filmgoing and filmmaking in the territory. The opening night will feature screenings of this year’s Yukon 48 Filmmaking Challenge, where participants have 48 hours to create a short film. This will be a licensed event, and we encourage Yukoners to come and support local talent and creativity!
This two-week kick-off celebration event will feature local, national, and international cinema from the past seven decades. The film programming represents the ways in which cinema has changed and progressed—by highlighting works created by underserved filmmakers—while also paying tribute tothe rich and expansive history of film and the artists who have altered, added, or experimented with the form, forever changing the medium. As such, at least two films from each decade will be shown,beginning in the 1950s and ending in the 2020s. Many of these films would have screened at the Yukon THeatre in the year of their original release. SOme of these are films that YFS presented at the Available Light Film Festival over its 23-year history. Additionally, the Yukon has its own rich history offilmmaking, which will be showcased by accompanying most features with a Yukon-made short film.
On November 15th, the Yukon Theatre will host a live music with film performance - an original live score for the silent film The Call of Cthulhu, by Yukon impresario, Garbageman.
A big cinematic highlight to this celebration will be the attendance of Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Atom Egoyan, who will be returning to the Yukon for the first time since 1992, for a special presentation of his acclaimed and recently restored 1997 film, The Sweet Hereafter, which will be
shown at the Yukon Arts Centre on Monday, November 25th. YFS is honoured to host this iconic Canadian filmmaker, who will participate in a Q&A after the screening and present a Master Class in filmmaking and directing during his visit. Yukon Film Society will be presenting Atom Egoyan's first feature Next of Kin on Sunday November 24th at the Yukon Cinema. This is 39 years after the 1985 screening and artist talk event with Egoyan hosted by the Yukon Film Society.
The fun doesn’t end with this celebration in November. There will be more events to be announced over the year. The full list of November films, concerts, and workshops is available at yukonfilmsociety.com. YFS invites you to celebrate their 40th anniversary and 70 years of the Yukon Theatre presenting cinema to Yukon and northern audiences!
YFS would like to thank the Yukon Arts Fund for their contributions and support!
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