YORKTON — The 78th annual Yorkton Film Festival celebrated Canadian and international filmmaking excellence May 24.
Saving the Animals of Ukraine emerged as the standout winner. The Anton Ptushkin-directed documentary claimed four prestigious Golden Sheaf Awards: Best of Festival, Documentary Social/Political, Director Non-Fiction and Outstanding Colour Grading.
The film looks into the impact of war on animals and the volunteers working to rescue them in Kyiv, Ukraine. The documentary was filmed during the ongoing conflict, capturing both the devastation and the resilience of those committed to saving lives—human and animal alike.
Accepting the Best of Festival award on behalf of the production, Saving the Animals of Ukraine producer Elizabeth Trojian of Yap Films expressed her overwhelming pride.
"I could not be prouder of this film and I could not be prouder of winning best of fest at Yorkton," said Trojian.
"I have over the years—thankfully, gratefully—won categories (at YFF). We have never ever won best of festival. This means so much, very very much," added Trojian.
Trojian extended gratitude to the festival organizers and key partners who helped bring the film to life.
"I need to thank the festival, the CBC, PBS Nature, and the funding bodies," said Trojian, "we really thank everyone who worked on this production."
As she accepted the Best Director, Non-Fiction award on behalf of Ptushkin, Trojian emphasized the filmmaker’s extraordinary commitment to telling this story despite the immense personal challenges of working in a war zone.
"I'm blown away," said Trojian, "this is Anton's first documentary that he's directed. He lived through a war. He lived in Kyiv every day he shot and directed this film. This is truly his passion. Truly an important story."
"He wanted me to let you all know that the people of Ukraine are so very grateful for this recognition. It is really a huge volunteer group of people in Ukraine, in Kyiv, that helped us make this film," added Trojian.
Versa Films secured the Ruth Shaw Best of Saskatchewan Award for its music video Perfect Soul by Spiritbox. The film also won in the Performing Arts and Entertainment category.
Director Dylan Hryciuk, upon accepting the Best of Saskatchewan award, admitted he had anticipated a different outcome.
"I placed my bets on basically everyone else," said Hryciuk, "this is crazy."
Hryciuk credited Spiritbox for his success, acknowledging their creative partnership that has yielded seven music videos and over 20 million views.
"They've changed my whole career. It's the reason why I have any sort of music video career," said Hryciuk.
Hryciuk also expressed gratitude to Creative Sask. for its vital support in making the project a reality.
"It truly speaks to what we can do in Saskatchewan in a place where people think film doesn't exist," said Hryciuk.
After receiving the Performing Arts and Entertainment award, Hryciuk reflected on the unique opportunity to continue making music videos in Saskatchewan.
"I'm just grateful to be here among all these talented artists from across Canada," said Hryciuk, adding, "I'm grateful that I get to do music videos at all, but to be able to do them in Saskatchewan is kind of an insane endeavor, and we're attracting bands from across North America to come shoot in Saskatchewan, which I think is really cool and really special."
In an earlier interview with Yorkton This Week, Hryciuk emphasized the significance of shooting Perfect Soul in Saskatchewan rather than larger film hubs such as Los Angeles or Vancouver.
"This video was particularly important for the band, who were planning to release it alongside their highly anticipated album announcement," said Hryciuk, "I was proud to be part of the push to film the majority of the project in Saskatchewan and to take advantage of our extraordinary Saskatchewan crew."
Among the 29 awards handed out at the gala, Tailor Made, directed by Quan Luong, was another standout winner. The documentary about Vietnamese refugee Tam Nguyen’s journey to Canada and his pursuit of excellence in tailoring won three major awards: the Kathleen Shannon Award, the Multicultural Award, and the Short Subject Non-Fiction Award.
Luong, who has been making short documentaries as both a cinematographer and filmmaker, expressed deep appreciation for the recognition.
"This is one of my first awards ever in my career," said Luong.
"This film is about an amazing story of a tailor who came to Canada—Winnipeg—as part of the 'boat people' from Vietnam as a refugee in the ‘80s and then devoted his life to helping others. It was an honour to tell his story, and I hope to work on meaningful projects like this again soon," added Luong.
Luong also shared his personal connection to Canada, celebrating his newfound Canadian citizenship.
"I've been lucky to call Canada home for the last nine years and recently became Canadian this year. This award is amazing to get. Thank you Yorkton Film Festival for all the recognition," said Luong.
Yorkton Film Festival Executive Director Randy Goulden said the festival’s success was evident in the engagement seen across multiple events.
"I think the success (of the YFF) can be measured by the discussions that you have in the panel rooms," said Goulden, "standing room only in some of our program screenings."
Goulden highlighted the strong attendance at the festival, noting that on-demand screening areas remained busy throughout the event.
"Our on-demand screens—we had 10—they were busy all the time, and what that says to me is that Yorkton is really loving when the film festival comes here. That they can watch good, Canadian film," said Goulden.
The annual gala was a full-house event, with audiences eager to take part in the celebrations.
"It's really difficult to turn someone around when they want to come to the film festival. They are so appreciative of everything that goes on here in our city, that they really want to be part of the Golden Sheaf Awards," said Goulden.
She added that witnessing emerging filmmakers win awards was particularly meaningful.
"We saw many young emerging filmmakers tonight win awards, and that's very special for us," said Goulden.
With a growing number of participants, Goulden estimates that over 5,500 people attended various events throughout the festival, held May 22-24 at the Gallagher Centre and the Painted Hand Casino.
Looking ahead, she said preparations are already underway for future editions of the festival.
"I think we're really looking forward to next year—2026, and then I'm already thinking of things and booking some things for 2027 because that's our 80th anniversary," said Goulden.
Goulden noted that the festival has been rebuilding attendance and submissions following the disruptions of COVID-19.
"It has slowly been building since post-COVID," said Goulden, adding, "the first few years—although we had submissions—we kept up our submissions post-COVID and even during COVID we had over 200, but this year we had over 300 films submitted, so that means more people coming to Yorkton with their films."
