Filmmakers honoured at 10th annual Saskatchewan Independent Film Awards

Many filmmakers across the province were celebrated over the weekend at the 10th annual Saskatchewan Independent Film Awards (SFIA).

The awards are a night that highlights the work of all independent filmmakers in the province.

Lucas Frison, an employee at CTV Regina, was nominated for Best Short Film for his work ‘Pen Pals.’

“It’s twelve minutes long. Fun, feel good film that was shot last year in July in Regina,” Frison said.

Preparation for the production took years.

“It’s a long process. Starting with when I started writing the script probably a couple of years ago,” Frison explained. “Month’s long pre-production and hiring a cast and crew. Then we shot for four days.”

Marjorie Roden won the inaugural Trudy Stewart Award for Indigenous Filmmaking for ‘Finding Margret.’

“My mother and I wrote the script together,” she told CTV News. “It’s one of the most outstanding moments I’ve had as a filmmaker to work with my mother in collaboration like this.”

Roden says the film tells the story of the real life struggles her mother faced.

“I’m dedicating it to my mother because the story that I told in that film was one of her tougher stories she had during her marriage to my father,” she explained.

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A jury of filmmakers were responsible for selecting the nominees and the winners.

“We often find that about half of the award winners are completely surprised that they won awards even though the quality and the caliber of their work is worthy of those awards,” said Hagere Selam Zegeye-Gebrehiwot, the executive director of the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative.

The festival say 60 submissions and ten different award categories for its 20th iteration.

“Saskatchewan is a very humble province and we are not short on talent, so to be able to gather and to celebrate people in this way is exciting,” said Zegeye-Gebrehiwot.

The awards took place at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. Next years’ celebration is expected to run in late November.