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This celebration will take place over two weeks in November and will include experiences such as: 2 to 4 films from the past seven decades of the Yukon Cinema's time as a landmark community building; 24 Yukon-made shorts to play before the features; panel discussions and workshops moderated both by local and visiting filmmaking talent; and two silent-era films accompanied by live scores by northern musicians.
On Friday, December 3, 1954, the Yukon Theatre opened its doors to the public with a sold out screening of The Glenn Miller Story, directed by Anthony Mann. It was Whitehorse's first purpose-built space for the community to gather for arts & entertainment. The Yukon Film Society was founded thirty years later, in 1984, by community-minded folks who wanted to bring independent, arthouse and documentary films to Whitehorse to feed Yukoners' craving for engagement with the world outside the Territory and to experience films pushing the artform in new ways. To celebrate these meaningful anniversaries, YFS is organizing this festival to honour the longevity of filmgoing and filmmaking in the territory. Programming will represent the ways in which cinema has changed and progressed—by highlighting works created by underserved filmmakers—while also paying tribute to the rich and expansive history of film and the artists who have altered, added, or experimented with the form, forever changing the medium. As such, we will screen at least two films from each decade, beginning in the 1950s and ending in the 2020s.
Plus the 2024 Yukon 48: Film Challenge screening will coincide with the festival and kick off the event on the opening night.
Feature Films include:
Man with A Movie Camera (with live score by Hendrika), dir. Dziga Vertov, 1929
The Glenn Miller Story, dir. Anthony Mann, 1954
The Far Country, dir. Anthony Mann, 1954
Forbidden Planet, dir. Fred M Wilcox, 1956
The Seventh Seal, dir. Ingmar Bergman, 1957
Vertigo, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1958
8 ½, dir. Federico Fellini, 1963
A Hard Day’s Night, dir. Richard Lester, 1964
Buster Keaton Rides Again, dir. John Spotton, 1965
2001: A Space Odyssey, dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1968
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, dir. Mel Stuart, 1971
Days Of Heaven, dir. Terrence Malik, 1978
Apocalypse Now: Final Cut, dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 1979
The Evil Dead, dir. Sam Raimi, 1981
Blade Runner, dir. Ridley Scott, 1982
Purple Rain, dir. Albert Magnoli, 1984
Next of Kin, dir. Atom Egoyan, 1985
Pretty In Pink, dir. Howard Deutch, 1986
Dirty Dancing, dir. Emile Ardolino, 1987
Spaceballs, dir. Mel Brooks, 1987
Do the Right Thing, dir. Spike Lee, 1989
Paris is Burning, dir. Jennie Livingston, 1990
Goodfellas, dir. Martin Scorcese, 1990
Ed Wood, dir. Tim Burton, 1994
Titanic, dir. James Cameron, 1997
Boogie Nights, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997
The Big Lebowski, dir. Coen Brothers, 1998
Picturing a People, dir. Carol Geddes, 1997 (Yukon)
The Iron Giant, dir. Brad Bird, 1999
Best In Show, dir. Christopher Guest, 2000
Shrek, dir. Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson, 2002
The Call of Cthulhu (Livescore by Garbageman), dir. Andrew Leman, 2005
Water, dir. Deepa Mehta, 2005
A Drummers Dream, dir. John Walker, 2010
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, dir. Edgar Wright, 2010
Incendies, dir. Denis Villeneuve, 2010
Hunt for the Wilderpeople, dir. Taika Waititi, 2016
Sovereign Soil, dir. David Curtis, 2019 (Yukon)
Rumours, dir. Guy Maddin, Galen Johnson, Evan Johnson, 2024