YORKTON — The Yorkton Film Festival begins May 25 and features productions submitted from all over the world.
For productions produced in Saskatchewan, the Ruth Shaw Award is up for grabs. The winner of this award is determined by a panel of jurors chosen by the film council to select the best overall film of the festival produced in Saskatchewan, according to Wikipedia.
The CBC documentary 'Golden Opportunity' focuses on two baseball players from the 1950s who competed with the Indian Head Rockets, an all-black baseball team.
"To me this is a story about a pair of black gentlemen who came up here and ... had an opportunity to play ball," said Producer Bryan Eneas in an interview with Yorkton This Week, adding that it was an opportunity they may not have had at the time while in the United States.
"It's a little piece of Saskatchewan baseball history I really wasn't too aware of or familiar with," said Eneas, adding, "I wouldn't call myself a sports historian or a baseball historian but I do know a lot about the sport and it's kind of neat to see this little chapter of its history taking place here in the province."
Eneas said his interest in the story came by way of a media release and the documentary took about eight months to complete from start to finish and noted that a lot of help came from the Indian Head Museum when it came to making connections and contacts.
"It was so cool to be part of such a big team project," said Eneas.
As for the Ruth Shaw nomination, Eneas said he was honoured to be a part of a production up for the award.
"To have a feature here and to be nominated for this award ... it's so cool," said Eneas.
"I never go into projects thinking of the awards or what could come out of them in the end — I just want to tell great stories — to see enough folks throw themselves behind this and believe that the project deserves to be here — it's so cool to be a part of it."
"I'm very critical of the work that I do and it's one of the few that I look back at really fondly, really proud of what's out there what's circulating now," said Eneas, adding it's one of the projects he can't look back on and pick apart.
"We pulled this off way better than I thought we could."
The Yorkton Film Festival runs from May 25-27 and features multiple events throughout the city. For more information and to view the festival's program visit YorktonFilm.com.
